For decades, the Armenian diaspora has been one of the most politically active communities in Europe and North America. Yet, rather than using its influence to foster reconciliation in the South Caucasus, it continues to weaponise its networks against peace. While the government in Yerevan publicly speaks of “normalisation” with Azerbaijan, the diaspora’s lobbying circles across Europe and the United States pursue a different goal entirely. This is the resurrection of an irredentist cause that history, law, and reality have already buried.

The most recent example of this came from Amsterdam, where members of the Party of European Socialists, heavily influenced by Armenian lobbyists, issued a declaration demanding the release of war criminals arrested in Azerbaijan for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even calling for the “return of Armenians to Artsakh.” That single word - Artsakh - exposes the fundamental illegality of their position. It is not an official toponym recognised by any state or international organisation. It is a politically loaded term, deliberately used to challenge Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and to perpetuate the illusion that an entity independent of Baku ever existed within its sovereign borders.

Such rhetoric is not merely inaccurate; it is dangerous. It undermines the fragile progress achieved since the 2020 and 2023 peace processes and plays directly into the hands of those in Yerevan who still dream of rewriting borders through political manoeuvring. Every call for the “release of prisoners” or the “return to Artsakh” fuels division and delays reconciliation between the two nations that have suffered enough from decades of conflict.

The truth is far less flattering to the lobbyists’ narrative. The so-called “prisoners of war” they refer to are not innocent civilians or political detainees. They are individuals charged with serious crimes under........

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