Two to three years ago, the idea of the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” began to appear in the speeches of the Azerbaijani president, and it was cynically invented as a response to Armenia’s demand to return to Nagorno-Karabakh. Thomas de Waal, a leading researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on Caucasus issues, expressed such an opinion on the air of Armenian News-NEWS.am’s "Factor of Power" program.

“It seems to me that this conversation is slowly dying out in Azerbaijan. In my opinion, external advisors, in the person the US and Europe, are urging [Azerbaijani president Ilham] Aliyev not to raise this issue, and we are hearing about it less and less. This is also connected with the upcoming [parliamentary] elections in Armenia, so as not to aggravate the situation,” de Waal added.

According to the analyst, the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” is an unrealistic project.