Baku: A recent survey has revealed that an overwhelming 93.1% of Western Azerbaijanis felt compelled to leave their ancestral lands under duress.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, this significant finding was shared by the Center with APA.

The survey, conducted from January 9-12, 2025, involved 1,000 Western Azerbaijanis and utilized a sampling frame proportional to the population distribution in their historical regions and cities. Employing a computer-assisted telephone interview method, the data were collected ensuring the process was voluntary and the participants’ anonymity was maintained. Respondents were informed that their feedback would contribute to a generalized form solely for research purposes. With the survey covering a representative sample, the results bear an error margin of 3% within a 95% confidence interval.

The survey results assert that the Armenian government’s policies, which have been described as ethnic cleansing, led to Azerbaijanis being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands through violence, pressure, and threats. The survey further identifies that only 0.7% of the respondents who emigrated did so voluntarily before 1988, while 6.2% struggled to answer the question regarding the circumstances of their departure.

The data indicates that the Armenian government’s deportation and ethnic cleansing policies intensified notably in 1988. A substantial 87.1% of survey participants reported leaving their lands that year, with 3.0% departing before 1960 and 9.9% between 1960 and 1987.

The survey highlights 1988 as the peak of the Armenian leadership’s ethnic cleansing and forced migration policies. The survey notes that the expulsion of the majority of Azerbaijanis from their lands had profound and lasting impacts on the ethnic and social fabric of the region.