In Baku, Sheikh Allahshukur Pashazade presents a book on the “Irevan Qaziyat” and calls for its restoration
- Published
- Place
- Baku, Azerbaijan
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
The head of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, presented the book “History of the Irevan Qaziyat” in Baku on 2 November. It was published in Azerbaijani and English with the “Western Azerbaijan Community”, the organisation that uses that name for the territory of Armenia. The qaziyat was the Muslim religious and judicial institution of Yerevan. According to the state agency AZERTAC and the APA and Report agencies, Pashazade described its restoration as a “historical necessity” and a “requirement of the time”. He said he supports the policy of “return” of Azerbaijanis to their “historical lands”. The book draws on the Board’s archives and documents from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Russia. Isa Habibbeyli, president of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, claimed the documents prove the Erivan province belonged to “Azerbaijani lands”.
Analysis
The rhetoric is not new, but it carries more weight when voiced by the country’s top religious authority and its Academy of Sciences, in the middle of the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process. In Yerevan, “Western Azerbaijan” talk is seen as a veiled territorial claim, at odds with the mutual recognition of borders in the peace agreement initialled in 2025. Baku, for its part, presents the “return” as a humanitarian right.
Possible consequences
No legal effect, but a fresh argument for those in Armenia who doubt Baku’s intentions.
