A joint conference with the Western Azerbaijan Community was held at the Caucasus Muslims Board (CMB).
The ceremony began with the sounding of the National Anthem and the recitation of verses from the "Holy Quran."
Speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman of the CMB, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, stated that the establishment of the Western Azerbaijan Community in 2022 is a manifestation of the head of state's far-sighted policy, and the return of our compatriots to their native lands is an important direction of state policy. He pointed out that the Caucasus Muslims Board regularly brings the truths about Western Azerbaijan to the agenda on international platforms.
The Chairman of the Western Azerbaijan Community, Aziz Alakbarli, speaking about the rich historical and cultural heritage of Iravan and Western Azerbaijan in general, noted that mosques, cemeteries, and architectural monuments that existed in these territories have been systematically destroyed. He emphasized that the protection and restoration of this heritage is of great importance not only in a national context but also in the context of international law and human rights. Touching upon the significance of the ceremony, the community chairman stated that such meetings play a special role in strengthening public solidarity, promoting historical truths, and encouraging the idea of return on a broader scale.
Deputy Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Iravan Qadi Bakhtiyar Najafov, provided detailed information about the historical roots and activities of the Iravan Qadi Office. He stated that the Iravan Qadi Office played a special role in the religious and spiritual life of the Muslim community in the region. Presenting facts based on archival documents, the Qadi emphasized that there were many mosques and religious educational institutions in the Iravan district, and as a result of deportations, this rich heritage and the activities of institutional religious administration were discontinued.
Bakhtiyar Najafov noted that extensive research is currently being conducted on the history of the Iravan Qadi Office, and a book dedicated to this topic will be presented to the public soon. The work has been systematically compiled based on archival materials and historical sources and is already fully ready for printing. The book, rich with scientifically based information about the formation, activity, and historical heritage of the Iravan Qadi Office, will serve to protect historical truths.
Other speakers emphasized that the issue of Western Azerbaijan holds a special place in the state's strategic agenda and is of strategic importance in terms of national solidarity, historical justice, and the return of our compatriots to their native lands. At the same time, noting the importance of preserving historical truths, strengthening awareness, and the organization of the community, they shared their personal memories, observations, and messages of support with the participants.

Speech of Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh:
National Anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan // Quran Recitation

Dear Members of Parliament, state and public figures! ……
Respected Qadis, Authorized Representatives, Imams!
Honorable ceremony participants!

Today's meeting is dedicated to one of the events of great importance for the Caucasus Muslims Board and our entire religious community.
After the Karabakh Victory won by our heroic army under the leadership of the Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the heart of every Azerbaijani beats with even greater pride and honor due to the restoration of historical justice. The liberation of the sacred Motherland from occupation, the freeing of our mosques and places of worship from captivity, the sounding of the Adhan in our ancestral lands, the revival of our cities and villages, and the Great Return have ended the decades-long longing of the Azerbaijani people. Thanks be to God, through the Grace and help of the Almighty, the leadership of our esteemed head of state, and the valuable activities of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, our people have achieved these dreams. May the Great Lord have mercy on our heroic martyrs who gave their lives for the Motherland and our compatriots who were victims of deportation, and may He grant healing to our veterans!
Today, the most important task before us is to work together for this victory to be permanent and sustainable. After the restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Azerbaijani state, one of the primary issues of great importance is the provision of our cultural and spiritual sovereignty in our historical territories and the restoration of justice on the religious and spiritual plane. Especially the return to Karabakh, Zangezur, and Western Azerbaijan lands has very exceptional significance, and in this work, certain duties fall upon us, the religious figures.
First of all, it should be said that the establishment of the Western Azerbaijan Community in 2022, while being a brilliant manifestation of the far-sighted statehood policy of our head of state Mr. Ilham Aliyev, was also the most effective response to the revanchist calls and biased accusations of the Armenian church and diaspora that still continue. The Western Azerbaijan Community, led by the well-known socio-political and scientific figure, the esteemed Aziz teacher, is an organization that performs exceptional services in bringing the restoration of historical truths and our cultural heritage to the agenda. The core of the organization consists of well-known, influential persons representing our science and culture, the intellectual elite of Western Azerbaijan. It is commendable that purposeful work is being carried out on an international level by our state, directly under the leadership of the wise leader of our people Mr. Ilham Aliyev, as well as by the Western Azerbaijan Community, for the organization of our compatriots deported from Armenia and their return to their native lands.
As the Caucasus Muslims Board, we always build our activities and international relations in accordance with the interests and benefits of the Azerbaijani state and the state's strategic line. Recently, in all ceremonies implemented by the CMB in accordance with the political will of our state and the head of the country Mr. Ilham Aliyev regarding the issue of Western Azerbaijan, the rights and interests of the Western Azerbaijan community and the religious-spiritual aspects of the problem are brought to the agenda; the situation regarding our religious monuments in Western Azerbaijan and the right of our compatriots to visit their ancestral homelands, historical mosques, and Muslim cemeteries are specifically emphasized.
During the period of independence, the National Leader Heydar Aliyev always approached the issue of Western Azerbaijani lands, the promotion of the cultural-historical and especially religious heritage there, and the return of our compatriots to their homelands with attention and kept them on the agenda. He emphasized with confidence that we would definitely return to our homelands. As the President of Azerbaijan, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev emphasized: "Iravan is our historical land, and we Azerbaijanis must return to these historical lands. This is our political and strategic goal, and we must gradually approach this goal." After the issue of the return of our compatriots from Western Azerbaijan was confirmed as an important direction of state policy by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the CMB is further expanding its activities in this field.
From the very first day the first institution of Muslims in the Caucasus—the Transcaucasian Muslim Spiritual Board—was established in 1872, the Iravan Qadi Office was one of the important qadi offices within the administration. This was due to the fact that the majority of the population settled at that time in the territory currently covered by the modern Republic of Armenia—the ancient Azerbaijani land of the Iravan district—consisted precisely of Muslims. According to the archival materials of the Spiritual Board, in the second half of the 19th century, more than 300 mosques, dozens of madrasas, and other shrines and pirs belonging to the religion of Islam were operating in the Iravan province. Sheikh-ul-Islam Fazil Iravani, one of the great Islamic scholars of his time, established the famous madrasa in Iravan and the Near East that is still known by his name today. Well-known religious figures such as Akhund Sheikh Mehdi Qazizade in the Uchmuazzin (currently Echmiadzin) district and Akhund Molla Gurban Jannatzade in the New Bayazid district led the community. Even taking these into account, when the Soviet government allowed the restoration of the activities of the Caucasus Muslim Spiritual Board in 1943, it intended for two of the 17 mosques to be opened specifically in Armenia—in Iravan and Krasnoselsk. It is no coincidence that the Spiritual Board appointed the most influential and prestigious religious figures of the Caucasus—Akhund Abbas Farajov, Haji Ibrahim, and Akbar Babayev—to the position of Iravan Qadi. In 1978, at the congress of the Caucasus Muslims Board, the position of Naxchivan and Iravan Qadi was entrusted to me as the Qadi of the Board.
As a result of the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from the territory of Armenia in 1988–1990, all the rights and freedoms of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim population in the region, including the freedom of religious belief, were encroached upon. Mosques, shrines, pirs, cemeteries, and other Islamic monuments were destroyed, our national-cultural wealth was plundered, and the traces of the Muslim civilization created over centuries began to be erased. In such a situation, the Iravan Qadi Office was also forced to stop its activities.
After our territories occupied by Armenia were liberated under the leadership of the Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief, His Excellency President Ilham Aliyev, and our state sovereignty was fully restored, the process of mass return of our internally displaced persons and refugees to their native lands has begun. Today, with the tireless efforts of our head of state and his comrade-in-arms Mehriban Aliyeva, our mosques and shrines in the liberated territories are being restored, and new mosques are being built. We pray that our mosques in Western Azerbaijan will also be restored and that we will be granted the opportunity to worship there, Inshallah!
The Caucasus Muslims Board, together with the members of the Council of Qadis, imams, and the heads of religious confessions in our country, and with the participation of scientific and public figures, organizes meetings and conferences within the country and in foreign countries. In these ceremonies, support for the policy of the return of our compatriots who were subjected to a forced refugee life to Western Azerbaijan and their ancestral lands is demonstrated, and recommendations are given on keeping the subject constantly in focus and carrying out practical propaganda work. For the purpose of further strengthening this propaganda, the Council of Qadis of the Caucasus Muslims Board, expressing the will of the Muslims of the region, put forward the proposal for the restoration of the Iravan Qadi Office and the entrustment of the execution of qadi powers to the Deputy Chairman of the CMB, Bakhtiyar Mustafa oglu Najafov, and the Council of Qadis unanimously accepted this proposal. Haji Bakhtiyar Najafov is of Iravan descent on his father's side and Naxchivan descent on his mother's side; he is a member of a family deported from Echmiadzin. He is a religious figure with higher religious education and possesses high prestige in society. The Council of Qadis has great confidence in this candidate, and he represents the Caucasus Muslims Board in the Western Azerbaijan Community and actively participates in the community's work.
Honorable ceremony participants! For your information, I should note that after Azerbaijan restored its independence, taking into account the wishes of the muftis of the North Caucasus and Derbent, which historically fall within the Board's sphere of influence, as well as the Azerbaijanis of the region, the activities of our representative offices and qadi offices have expanded in accordance with the Law on Freedom of Religious Belief. Currently, representative offices and qadi offices of the Caucasus Muslims Board are operating in Istanbul, Tbilisi, Batumi, and Derbent. Work continues toward expanding our geographical coverage—currently, we are conducting negotiations with the intention of establishing our representative office in the Vatican. The Caucasus Muslims Board is the only regional socio-religious organization operating with its center in Baku, Azerbaijan, which includes Muslims from Georgia, Armenia, and the North Caucasus in addition to Azerbaijan.
Honorable ceremony participants! As a result of the close assistance of the Azerbaijani leadership and the efforts of the Caucasus Muslims Board, forty thousand pages of archival documents regarding the history of the CMB were brought to our country from Tbilisi between 2009 and 2014, as well as 500 pages of documents regarding the history of Azerbaijan from Turkish archives. The esteemed Professor Anar Isgenderov, our late employee Mugaddas Payizov, and others had great labor in this difficult and complex work. We bring to your attention that our activities in the indicated direction are being intensively continued and developed today as well. Our intention is to live in peace in the region, revive our national-cultural heritage, and convey historical truths to future generations. For this purpose, a special commission has been established under the leadership of Mufti Haji Salman Musayev, and propaganda work related to Western Azerbaijan has been noted as a necessary part of the annual action plan. The commission envisages the publication of relevant books and brochures and the organization of relevant ceremonies in Baku, Naxchivan, and the regions. In the coming days, the book "History of the Iravan Qadi Office," one of our latest publications, will be presented to your attention. (The authors will provide information about the book).
Once again, I say "Welcome" to you and wish that the steps of the blessed Ramadan and Novruz, which we are on the eve of, will be auspicious and successful for each of you.