In the 20th century, Azerbaijanis were repeatedly subjected to genocides and deportations in the present-day territory of Armenia, being forcibly displaced from their historical and ethnic lands. However, they always engaged in a determined struggle to return to their homeland. Between 1918 and 1920, the Iravan Governorate Compatriots’ Organization, operating in Baku, undertook the function of defending the rights of Azerbaijanis who were subjected to ethnic cleansing in Western Azerbaijan. This organization appealed to international organizations and diplomatic missions active in the South Caucasus at the time, calling on them to put an end to the genocide carried out by the Dashnak Armenian state. Additionally, the organization provided aid to refugees who had fled to Azerbaijan in dire conditions to alleviate their financial hardships. The strong attachment of Azerbaijanis to their homeland was evident in the fact that, after the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia in 1920, one-third of the displaced Azerbaijanis could return to their native lands.

Approximately one-third of those who were resettled in Azerbaijan as a result of the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia between 1948 and 1953 managed to return to their homeland despite all the hardships they faced.

After the completion of the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in Western Azerbaijan between 1987 and 1991, several public organizations were established to address the problems and protect the rights of the displaced people who had sought refuge in Azerbaijan. However, the organizations operating in a fragmented manner were unable to provide practical assistance in solving the refugees' problems. During this period, the Azerbaijani leadership also displayed indifference to the plight of the refugees and left them to face their fate. In such a dire situation, the Refugee Society was established through the initiative of a group of intellectuals from Western Azerbaijan. Although the Azerbaijan Refugee Society was founded in December 1989, it was officially registered with the state in February 1992.

At the Azerbaijan Refugee Society, a precise statistical record has been compiled for each refugee family expelled from Western Azerbaijan, including names, surnames, and fathers' names, and an electronic database has been created. It has been documented that nearly 300,000 Azerbaijanis from over 170 villages inhabited solely by Azerbaijanis and nearly 100 mixed-population settlements (villages, towns, and cities) in the Armenian SSR were forcibly expelled from their native lands by Armenians, affecting 49,928 families. Records have been gathered on the killing of more than 200 Azerbaijanis by Armenian nationalists (including those shot, deliberately caused car accidents, and frozen to death on mountain roads) and the injury of over 400 Azerbaijanis. Testimonies regarding the burning and looting of Azerbaijani homes and properties have also been documented.

Today, the Western Azerbaijan Community, which unites all Azerbaijanis expelled from Western Azerbaijan at different times and their descendants, is the legal successor of the organization that was re-registered in September 2014 under the name "Azerbaijan Refugees Society Public Union." On August 3, 2022, during the General Assembly of the Public Union, the organization was renamed the "Western Azerbaijan Community," and the Community's new Charter was approved.

The Western Azerbaijan Community has adopted the "Concept of Return," a framework aimed at ensuring the safe, dignified, and peaceful return of Azerbaijanis expelled from the present-day territory of Armenia. According to this concept, the Community does not accept the injustices committed against Western Azerbaijanis over the past two centuries and rejects their consequences. Relying on the right to return as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Status of Refugees, and other key international instruments, the Community has declared its primary goal to be the facilitation of the return of expelled Azerbaijanis to their homeland. Furthermore, it seeks to ensure the protection of their individual and collective rights upon their return.

In the autumn of 2020, during the 44-day war conducted by the Azerbaijani army to liberate its territories from nearly 30 years of Armenian occupation, the myths of the "Victorious Armenian nation" and the "Invincible Armenian army" were shattered. The year 2020 was recorded as a turning point in the history of both the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples—marked as "Victory Day" in Azerbaijan and as a day of mourning in Armenia. On September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan fully restored its sovereignty through an anti-terror operation against the remnants of the Armenian armed forces and illegal armed groups in the Karabakh economic region. This new reality has paved the way for Azerbaijanis who were deported from Western Azerbaijan over time to realize their aspiration of returning to their historical homeland. International humanitarian law also provides a legal basis for this aspiration. Additionally, an investigative group has been established within the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan to examine crimes committed against Azerbaijanis in the territory of present-day Armenia. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Parliament has formed an Initiative Group for the Return to Western Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev, during a meeting with a group of intellectuals from Western Azerbaijan on December 24, 2022, stated: "Western Azerbaijan is our historical land, as confirmed by numerous historical documents, maps, and our history. Unfortunately, just as in Karabakh, Armenians have razed all our historical and religious monuments in Western Azerbaijan to the ground, attempting to erase the historical heritage of the Azerbaijani people. However, they have not succeeded in this because history exists, documents exist, and maps exist."

The Western Azerbaijan Community has made appeals to the Armenian government and international organizations. The United Nations Secretariat has distributed the Concept of Return of the Western Azerbaijan Community as an official document of the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council.

On January 7, 2025, in an interview with local television channels, President Ilham Aliyev stated that the fascist leadership of Armenia had carried out ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. He noted that the vast majority of villages once inhabited by Azerbaijanis are now completely deserted, with no one residing there. He emphasized that returning to these areas would not be a major problem, provided that the Armenian state recognizes the right of return and guarantees security for those who return. The president expressed hope that Western Azerbaijanis would return to their ancestral lands.

President Ilham Aliyev also stated that the issue of Western Azerbaijanis returning to their ancestral lands has already been included in both the international lexicon and the international agenda. The head of state emphasized that demanding the return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia to their homeland does not imply any territorial claim against Armenia. Rather, it should be approached from the human rights perspective, and this issue will remain on the agenda.

The Western Azerbaijan Community implements all legal mechanisms to ensure the return of our compatriots and their descendants, who have been subjected to ethnic cleansing, deportation, and genocide over the past 200 years and unjustly expelled from their ancestral lands, to their homeland.