Last week, a group of Azerbaijani experts visited Armenia. The event was aimed at advancing the peace agenda in line with the spirit of the Joint Statement adopted in Washington on August 8, 2025, and was the first meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society representatives in this format.
Subsequently, the issue of reciprocal visits by deputies also came to the fore. At that time, the statements of MP Hikmət Babaoğlu, who spoke to Modern.az regarding the matter, caused a scandal in the Armenian media.
"I have memories in every inch of Armenia's Amasia region. I want to physically touch those memories again. I want to see again the great material and cultural heritage representatives inherited from our ancestors. Therefore, I would gladly go to Armenia,” he stated.
The deputy's statements were misinterpreted by Armenian experts and certain circles in Armenia.
In his statement to Modern.az, Hikmət Babaoğlu explained the reason for his statements being perceived as a territorial claim as a misunderstanding:
“This is also understandable. Because after a 30-year conflict, the initial steps taken for peace will be somewhat difficult. However, such a step was taken at the public level, and a group of Azerbaijani experts has already visited Armenia. In my statement to the media, I welcomed and appreciated this. I was also sincere in my answer to the question, “Would you like to go to Armenia?” Indeed, Armenia is also my homeland. I was born in those lands, and no one can change this reality. One of the biggest events that peace will bring will be its support at the public level. This will create an environment of mutual trust, cooperation, and integration. Therefore, it is important for reciprocal visits to be continuous. When I said Armenia is my homeland, I used the official name of the neighboring country. There is no anti-peace stance here. It seems that the lexicon I used when touching upon historical issues was not well-received in Armenia.”
The parliamentarian emphasized that today we should focus more on peace:
“The issue of toponyms remained somewhat unclear to me. There is the Shirak province in Armenia's new administrative division. However, I am not informed about how administrative divisions such as Amasia, Gukasyan, and others are structured within the province. Therefore, when I mentioned Amasia, I did not deliberately distort the administrative division. I referred to the name of the official administrative territory that existed since the Soviet era. For this reason, such episodic misunderstandings were met with some emotional reaction in the Armenian media. I believe that we will be able to put this stage behind us and take decisive steps towards peace.”
