Opposition MP: Historic photos of Armenia and Artsakh used in Prague  to promote Azerbaijani narratives

ArmInfo.Numerous historical photographs from Artsakh and Armenia were displayed at a street exhibition organized by Azerbaijani circles on a central square in Prague, presented as evidence of the cultural presence of  Azerbaijanis in their so-called "historic homeland."

This was reported on her Facebook page by Lilit Galstyan, a member of the  National Assembly from the opposition "Armenia" faction.

The MP expressed her conviction that this is a consequence of the  Armenian authorities' failure to include key issues on their  agenda—ranging from the return of Armenian prisoners of war to the  right of Armenians to return to their historic homeland in Artsakh.

"As long as the official political agenda of Armenia effectively  lacks the issue of returning Armenian prisoners of war and other  detained persons subjected to illegal imprisonment and torture in  Baku; as long as there is no place on official Yerevan's agenda for  protecting the cultural heritage of Artsakh; as long as official  Yerevan either remains silent on various international platforms or,  moreover, hinders and refuses to raise the issue of the ongoing  destruction of Armenian cultural and spiritual heritage in Artsakh;  as long as official Armenia does not speak about the right of Artsakh  Armenians to return; as long as the ruling regime officially  announces and leads a hostile campaign against one of the key pillars  of our identity—the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC)—the artificially  created genocidal state of Azerbaijan continues to appropriate our  centuries-old heritage while strengthening the narrative and ideology  of the so- called 'Western Azerbaijan' on international platforms. As  they say, a holy place is never empty,'" Galstyan wrote.

According to her, it is against the backdrop of the Armenian  authorities' defeatist diplomacy and the complete absence of identity  and national rights protection on their agenda that Azerbaijan has  transitioned to an offensive and expansionist policy, appropriating  everything belonging to the Armenian people—from territories to  civilizational heritage.

In this context, she recalled Azerbaijan's state policy of  eradicating the Armenian footprint and everything Armenian, which is  directed and coordinated personally by the president of that  authoritarian country.

"Azerbaijan is consistently implementing this strategy, and its  diplomacy operates aggressively and proactively. In the international  arena, effectively with the connivance of the Armenian authorities,  Baku is intensively working to legitimize the genocide in Artsakh,  including the destruction of its spiritual and cultural heritage,"  the MP recalled.

Meanwhile, she noted, a prison-state model is increasingly taking  root within Armenia itself, where opposition politicians and any  dissent are persecuted.  "Thus, official Yerevan, on the one hand,  silences the conversation about the real Azerbaijani- Turkish threat,  and on the other hand, suppresses society's will in an atmosphere of  fear and legal arbitrariness. All of this has a price, and all of us  will have to pay it. The concept of the so-called 'Western  Azerbaijan' has already spread to our territories. One must be blind  not to see this," the MP concluded.