Leaked Files Reveal Baku’s “Western Azerbaijan” Campaign as State-Run Propaganda Plot Against Armenia

Leaked Azerbaijani government documents obtained by OC Media have exposed how Baku’s Presidential Administration is funding and coordinating a propaganda campaign called “Western Azerbaijan” — a narrative that disguises territorial ambitions against Armenia as a humanitarian initiative.

What Azerbaijan claims is a cultural or refugee movement is, in reality, a state-controlled strategy aimed at justifying future claims on Armenian land. The campaign uses the term “Western Azerbaijan” to refer not to Azerbaijani territory, but to parts — or even all — of the Republic of Armenia.

The Azerbaijani government frames the campaign as an effort to support the “safe and dignified return” of Azerbaijanis who left Armenia during the Soviet collapse. But documents reviewed by OC Media show that this message is tightly managed by Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration, with the goal of keeping nationalist sentiment alive and preparing public opinion for possible future aggression.

In practice, “Western Azerbaijan” functions as part of a broader strategy to deny Armenia’s sovereignty and rewrite regional history. Azerbaijani officials, led by President Ilham Aliyev, have repeatedly described Yerevan and Syunik as “historic Azerbaijani lands.” This rhetoric — coming directly from the country’s leadership — shows that the so-called “return campaign” is not about refugees or reconciliation, but about territorial expansion.

According to the leaked records, Azerbaijan’s government directly funded conferences, media campaigns, and the creation of digital propaganda platforms to spread the “Western Azerbaijan” message internationally.

In December 2023, the regime hosted an expensive international conference in Baku titled “Ensuring the Safe and Dignified Return of Azerbaijanis Expelled from Armenia.” More than ₼109,000 (around $65,000) in state funds were spent on hotels, branding, and online promotion. Participants were flown in from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, including academics, Russian-linked analysts, and even a representative from the region of Donetsk in Ukraine, currently under Russian control. 

Government-funded groups were tasked with promoting the campaign’s messages online through a portal called Virtual Western Azerbaijan. Yet despite heavy spending, OC Media found little real international engagement — most foreign attendees simply echoed Baku’s talking points while in Azerbaijan, and ignored the subject after returning home.

The so-called Western Azerbaijan Community (WAC) was originally a small refugee organization from the late 1980s. It was inactive for decades until 2022, when the Azerbaijani government revived and rebranded it under direct state supervision. That same year, parliament formed a “return policy” working group aimed at promoting resettlement into Armenia.

Soon after, President Aliyev began incorporating the narrative into his national speeches. He described Armenia as “historical Azerbaijani land” and called the Armenian state “fascist” for refusing to allow this supposed “return.” In his own words, “We live as neighbors to such a fascist state… either the Armenian leadership will destroy it, or we will.”

Such language not only reveals deep hostility but also lays the ideological groundwork for renewed aggression — similar to the rhetoric Azerbaijan used before attacking Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and seizing Artsakh completely in 2023.

As peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan advanced in 2025, the “Western Azerbaijan” campaign was used as a political bargaining chip. Experts cited by OC Media said the Azerbaijani regime deliberately keeps the narrative alive to control public opinion and justify hostility toward Armenia.

Vafa Naghiyeva, a researcher at the University of Leipzig, explained that the campaign serves as a tool to preserve a “permanent post-war mentality” — keeping Azerbaijani society emotionally mobilized around an invented sense of injustice. This allows the regime to maintain nationalist unity and deflect attention from internal repression and corruption.

Even after international peace negotiations intensified, the campaign did not stop. Azerbaijani state-linked organizations organized events in Europe, including Germany and Brussels, to promote the “Western Azerbaijan” message. State media exaggerated attendance numbers and portrayed these propaganda gatherings as signs of growing international support.

At one such event, WAC leader and ruling party MP Aziz Alakbarli declared that Armenia “has no other choice but to reckon with Azerbaijan and its President,” threatening that the Armenian state could face destruction if it refuses to accept Baku’s conditions. His statement clearly demonstrates that the campaign is not about refugees, but about coercion and dominance.

The “Western Azerbaijan” campaign exposes the true nature of Azerbaijan’s regional policy — one that seeks to erase Armenia’s identity and sovereignty under the guise of humanitarian concern. The documents reviewed by OC Media confirm that this narrative is not grassroots but a top-down political weapon designed to manipulate both domestic and international audiences.

Azerbaijan’s irredentist ambitions, combined with its militarized rhetoric and history of aggression, make the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” project a direct threat to Armenia’s territorial integrity and to lasting peace in the South Caucasus.

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