In Armenia, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who presents himself as the leader of the "Holy Struggle" movement, has made a statement from a racist and xenophobic position regarding Western Azerbaijanis and their right to return.

Axar.az reports that this information is provided by the Western Azerbaijan Community.

"This dilettante, whose role as either a religious figure or politician is unclear, has voiced radical opinions about our compatriots. He has distorted the peaceful return of over 300,000 Western Azerbaijanis to their ancestral lands, attempting to cloak it in a political and xenophobic narrative," the statement said.

The Western Azerbaijan Community condemns Bagrat Galstanyan's statement and calls on the archbishop to refrain from such racist attitudes. Instead of representing and promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation as a religious figure, the archbishop's chauvinistic stance reflects the dominance of such racist attitudes within the Armenian Gregorian Church and society.

The community also demands that the Armenian government prevent such racist tendencies on its territory due to the harm they cause to the peace process.