BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 31. An electronic map of Western Azerbaijan (historical Azerbaijani lands in modern-day Armenia) has been prepared, Chairman of the Western Azerbaijan Community, MP Aziz Alakbarli said, Trend reports.
He made the remark during public hearings themed "Toponyms of Western Azerbaijan: From Historical Distortion to Restoring Justice" held in the Azerbaijani Parliament.
"Over the past 200 years, Armenians carried out ethnic cleansing in this region. Armenians have consistently shown a biased attitude towards Azerbaijani and Turkic-origin place names. There is clear evidence of the long-term Armenian renaming of Turkic toponyms in Western Azerbaijan, which is now part of Armenia, with the aim of erasing Azerbaijani heritage in these lands," the MP noted.
Alakbarli also highlighted that in January 1978, the Armenian SSR issued a decree renaming 93 settlements.
He further emphasized that renaming these toponyms was illegal.
The electronic map of Western Azerbaijan includes the original geographic names, added the MP.
Previously, Armenian toponyms for areas of birth of Azerbaijanis from Western Azerbaijan have been replaced with Azerbaijani ones in their IDs.
Stay up to date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel