During his speech on the 24th of December, Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev made a series of irredentistic statements on Armenia as historical Azerbaijani territories while opening the new administrative building of the Azerbaijani Community of Western Azerbaijan. By using the term "Western Azerbaijan", Aliyev referred to the territory of the modern Republic of Armenia. He argued that there is enough historical evidence to prove that the Western Azerbaijan is an Azerbaijani land.

Aliyev expressed confidence that the Western Azerbaijanis will return to their native lands with great enthusiasm and motivation. He pointed to the example of Aghali village of Zangilan district, where people, including children and young people, had never seen their native lands before, but still came. According to Aliyev, this is a typical trait of their nation – the land always draws people to itself. He also stated that Armenians tried to erase the historical legacy of the Azerbaijanis, but failed, since there is history, documents, and maps that prove that the Western Azerbaijan is an Azerbaijani territory.

Aliyev's statements have caused a heated debate in the region and sparked a discussion about the future of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relationship. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticized Aliyev's statement and considered it as undermining of the negotiation process between the two countries. According to some experts, Aliyev is trying to play the card of "Western Azerbaijan" in order to make Armenia to refuse on its territorial claims on Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory.