Azerbaijan is doing the right thing by presenting the issue of return of Western Azerbaijanis to their homeland in Armenia at the international level, Hungarian expert Zoltan Egeresi told Vestnik Kavkaza correspondent Marina Lagutina on the sidelines of the 2nd international conference of the Western Azerbaijan Community titled "The Right to Return: Advancing Justice for Azerbaijanis Expelled from Armenia" held in Baku.
"Today's conference is organized in a very interesting way. The huge number of participants and discussion sessions demonstrate that the Azerbaijani state is investing a lot in gathering all manner of people from almost all over the world and showing the importance of the problem of the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from Armenia. From this perspective, the conference is great," he said in the first place.
"The return of Azerbaijani refugees to Armenia is a very difficult issue that really needs to be discussed at the international level. Azerbaijanis had to leave Armenia almost 40 years ago, and this problem has not been resolved ever since. It will be difficult for them to return now - but keeping the issue on the international agenda paves the way for a solution to the Western Azerbaijan Community problem," Zoltan Egeresi noted.
The expert emphasized that the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia implies the establishment of interethnic relations.
"I think that people-to-people relations are very important. In the past, a number of NGOs worked to bring the two nations closer together. Because of the geopolitical situation and historical differences, I think this issue should be decided by the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia. But NGOs and civil society can contribute to this process. We should not ignore them, although this is mainly a government responsibility," he concluded.
