Statue of a Dictator (Aliyev Clan)

[Yervant1]

Arutz Sheva, Israel

March 4 2021

An open letter in defense of the good name of Armenia and its people

A group of Jewish and Israeli academics believe that Azerbaijan is behind a campaign to slander Armenia and have come to its defense. Op-ed.

Tags: Prof. Reuven Amitai

We the undersigned are Jewish and Israeli scholars in the field of Near and Middle Eastern studies. We are writing this open letter in defense of the honor and good name of a people and their country near our homeland: Armenia. We are writing this because there has been a campaign in the Israeli and Jewish press, we suspect funded by the government of Azerbaijan, to slander and defame the Armenians. One such article appeared on the Arutz Sheva website,(which, it should be added, also posted several articles explaining the Armenian viewpoint) in an article by Paul Miller on 23 February 2021, in the Jerusalem Post and Tablet.

 

The Armenians are an ancient civilization, and were the first to accept Christianity as their national faith. The Armenian Quarter in the Old City of our national capital, Jerusalem, has existed for fifteen hundred years. For sixteen centuries Armenians have written their language, which is distantly related to Greek, in a unique phonetic alphabet whose shape a scholar-saint perceived in a mystical vision. They carve delicate filigree crosses of volcanic stone. They have illuminated manuscripts that are treasures of world art.

 

The Armenians love to get together for sumptuous, hospitable dinners. They are a very sad people: as the nations around them converted to Islam and they did not, they became an island ravaged by invasions and depopulated by exile. Having lost independence, without political and military power, they created, as our people did, a kingdom of creativity, of good deeds. The far-flung Armenian community excelled in business, in medicine, and in the arts and letters— their name for diaspora comes from the Hebrew word galut. Although Armenia has no indigenous Jewish community, the presence of Hebrew religious terminology in Armenian suggests some very early connections.

 

A century ago, Ottoman Turkish nationalists used the First World War as a pretext to exterminate the Armenians, who were accused, as Jews often are, of being a disloyal fifth column. Some of the Turks’ Azerbaijani cousins participated in anti-Armenian pogroms in various places including a region called Mountainous Karabagh. A generation after the events, a Polish Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, coined the term “genocide” to describe what had been done to the Armenians and what was happening in the Second World War to our own people in Europe.

 

A Czech Jewish novelist, Franz Werfel, wrote The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a bestseller about the successful armed resistance of Armenian villagers to Turkish deportation orders. The book inspired both our Warsaw Ghetto fighters in 1943 and our Haganah as it prepared to fight a last stand on Carmel if the Nazis broke through to the Land of Israel.

 

In the wake of World War I, the Western powers courted Turkish friendship in the crusade against Communism. The United States abandoned its policy of advocacy of the destitute, homeless survivors of the Armenian massacres. At the eastern edge of historical Armenia, in the Soviet-ruled Transcaucasus, a little Soviet Armenian survivor state was founded.

 

It used to be said of Israel that it had more nightmares per square block than any other country. Armenia was somewhat like this: broken people beset by memories of horror, trying to plant trees, build cities, and make a new life. In Israel, we made the desert bloom; the Armenians did the same on their rocky soil, but they had to contend with collectivization, Stalinist purges, the heavy hand of Big Brother to the north, and the attentive ear of the secret police.

 

When the Soviet Union broke up, extreme nationalist ideologies and religious extremism rushed into minds vacated by seven decades of enforced Communist dogma. Pent up ethnic tensions erupted into war both inside and between many former Soviet republics, including the neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two newly-independent countries went to war over the Armenian-majority enclave of Karabagh in Azerbaijan, whose population had demanded autonomy. Some thirty thousand lives were lost; and the Armenians gained both Karabagh and a wide strategic buffer zone of the surrounding districts. Nearly a million Azerbaijani refugees were forced to flee their homes and farms.

 

Oil-rich, pro-Western Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, meanwhile became a trading partner and ally of Israel, offering our air force parking space near the Iranian border. The present Iranian regime spews anti-Semitic calumny and vows to destroy Israel: after World War II it would be insane not to take such existential threats seriously. Moreover, there is a large and very old Jewish community in Azerbaijan. We stress here that we do not take issue with the vital national interests of our country and we offer no apology to anyone on earth for defending ourselves.

 

In the autumn of 2020, Azerbaijan launched a war to retake Karabagh. Russia sold arms to both sides; Turkey massively supported Azerbaijan with men and materiel, including high-tech drones; and Israel, too, sold drones and other materiel to its ally. Russia has a defense pact with Armenia, but since Armenia proper was not invaded, Putin chose to stand aside. In this way he was perhaps pursuing a longer-term strategy of wooing Turkey away from NATO.

 

Azerbaijan inflicted a crushing and total defeat on the Armenians: Russia stepped in at the last moment to broker a ceasefire agreement and station some peacekeeping forces of its army in the area. This was not Israel’s war. We have correct relations with Armenia. We should not be taking sides.

 

Antisemitism is deep-rooted and endemic in Armenia, though no more so than it is in most Christian societies. Several of us, scholars in Armenian studies, have experienced such prejudice first hand and on numerous occasions. Unsurprisingly, the recent war served as a pretext for such attacks on Israel, notably in social media. Azerbaijan took advantage of this to mount a propaganda offensive in the Jewish and Israeli media. Articles ostensibly by various authors from different places seem, interestingly, all to harp on the same two or three points.

 

These articles mention recent vandalism of the modest Holocaust memorial in the Armenian capital, Erevan. That is true; but it would be hard to name a country, sadly, whose Holocaust memorials have not been vandalized. Not to justify vandalism at all, one still must point out that the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and research center in Israel carefully avoids all mention of the Armenian Genocide in its exhibits, despite the fact that Hitler was inspired by it in making his plans for the Final Solution. The more we know about the history of the Nazi movement, the more important a prototype – the murder of the Armenians – becomes.

 

The other main point the articles make is that Armenia erects statues and otherwise reveres the memory of Garegin Nzhdeh, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, or Dashnaktsutyun, who formed and commanded an Armenian unit in the Nazi army. In America in the 1930s, the Dashnaks organized a youth movement called the Race Worship Society. Although the party had a wide popular base and most Dashnaks did not participate in terrorist acts, its policies were often extremist. Dashnak hit men stabbed to death a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Archbishop Ghevont Tourian, in his church in New York while he was celebrating Mass on Christmas. His crime? He had voiced support for tiny, newborn Soviet Armenia. Thousands of Armenian Americans were outraged by the murder, many were in uniform fighting Hitler a few years later.

 

But here’s the thing. An Armenian boy, also a survivor, was among the thousands of horrified worshippers who witnessed the murder in the Holy Cross Church of Armenia in upper Manhattan. His name was Avedis Derounian, and the crime inspired him to vow to fight fascism in his adopted country, America. Using the name John Roy Carlson, he infiltrated a number of extreme right-wing, antisemitic organizations: the America Firsters, the Silver Shirts, the German-American Bund, the supporters of Father Coughlin and Charles Lindbergh. His book, Under Cover, became a bestseller and wakened Americans to the menace of Nazi sedition at home. After the war, Derounian went to the Middle East: his book From Cairo to Damascus exposes the close ties of the corrupt Arab regimes to escaped Nazi war criminals hoping to finish the job by destroying Israel. Derounian, hounded by red-baiting Dashnaks during the McCarthy era (the Dashnaks have since rebranded themselves as “leftist” and “progressive”), lived out his remaining years in quiet obscurity, often spending his days in the B’nai Brith library. The Azeri propagandists prefer to forget Derounian. But should we?

 

We agree that what Nzhdeh did was criminal. But he is being commemorated in Armenia, not for his record in World War II but for his previous military role in the defense of the nascent first Armenian Republic after the Genocide of 1915.

 

And it’s easy to twist a story: most of the Armenians who were recruited into the Nazi Wehrmacht were Red Army prisoners of war who would have been killed in concentration camps, had they not joined his unit. For most of them it was the only way to avoid certain death; and many used it to escape back to the Soviet lines. These desertions made Hitler so mistrustful of the Armenian division of the Wehrmacht that he had it assigned the dangerous and important task… of guarding vineyards in the south of France. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Soviet Armenians gave their lives in the fight against Hitler, rolling into battle in tanks with the name of the medieval Armenian epic hero David of Sasun painted on their sides. Many fought under Marshal Baghramian, commander of the Byelorussian front.

 

And back in France, north of those vineyards, a poet, factory worker, and survivor of the Armenian Genocide named Missak Manouchian was tasked by the Communist party with forming a unit to carry out especially dangerous missions for the Resistance. His comrades were Polish Jews and Spanish Civil War refugees. Manouchian and his fellow fighters for freedom were captured by the Gestapo, tortured, and killed. For years, Manouchian and his men were not thought “French” enough to be recognized by the country they died for. Now the propagandists of Azerbaijan, in painting the Armenians as Nazis, desecrate their memory anew.

 

It is easy to use a fact to tell a lie, as the Azerbaijan apologists do. We prefer to provide the truthful context to those facts, and to record the other facts that they omit. That is the difference between scholarship and propaganda, between truth and lies.

 

Azerbaijan is presented in this propaganda campaign as the best friend of the Jewish people. Again, that is not the true picture. We will adduce but one instance in which an Azeri community acted with deliberate and gratuitous hostility towards a defenceless Jew. Lev Nussimbaum grew up in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and moved after the Russian Revolution to Berlin. He converted to Islam, took the name Kurban Said, and published a romantic novel, Ali and Nino. The hero is a Muslim boy; and the villain of the book is a rich Armenian with a big, black, long, powerful… car. During the years of the Nazi regime, the local Azerbaijani community in Germany kept fingering poor Mr. Said to the Gestapo as a Jew. He escaped to Italy and survived there, miraculously, in hiding. You will not find this unedifying incident in the panegyrics to Azerbaijani philo-Semitism.

 

We cannot address all the misinformation streaming out of Baku. But we would like to declare here that we, precisely as Jews and Israelis, support the right of the Armenian people to live as a free nation in their home land. We respect their ancient, honorable, unique culture. We condemn the hateful slander directed against them. We also condemn all expressions of antisemitism, regardless of their pretext. We oppose aggression against the Armenians and believe our country should have no part of it. We will stand by their side.

 

The first casualty of war is truth. We know this; and we know, too, the old Hasidic saying that the truth is ubiquitous because wherever it tries to live, people run it out of town. And we can add to the dossier this Armenian proverb: If you tell the truth, keep one foot in the stirrup. (That is, so you can make a fast getaway.)

 

There have been many wars, and they keep on happening because truth is a casualty in all of them. But the truth, rather like us, the People of the Book, can’t be killed. It keeps coming back. The dictators Putin and Erdogan can do what they please in their unhappy countries, sacrificing the innocents to play their dirty games, but not here. We will not let Azerbaijan’s propaganda factory, however much oil money it pays its agents, run the truth out of Israel. And we have both feet out of the stirrups and planted firmly on this ground: we will continue to bear witness to the truth and we are not going anywhere, either.

Signed:

James Russell, Mashtots Professor emeritus of Armenian Studies, Harvard University

Michael Stone, Professor emeritus of Armenian Studies and of Comparative Religion, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Yoav Loeff, Instructor in Armenian Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Oded Steinberg,, Lecturer in International Relations and European Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Reuven Amitai, Professor of Middle Eastern History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/297895

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

March 22 2021

Posters presenting Armenian heritage as Azerbaijani removed from London metro

After the formal complaints put forward by the Embassy of Armenia as well as the UK-Armenian community organizations, the offensive posters at the London Underground, displaying Armenian historical and cultural heritage as Azerbaijani, have now been removed from the Transport for London (TfL) network, the Armenian Embassy in UK informs.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2021/03/22/posters-presenting-armenian-heritage-as-azerbaijani-removed-from-london-metro/

[Yervant1]

 

Asbarez.com

 

U.S. Religious Freedom Body Places Azerbaijan on ‘Watch List’

March 22, 2021

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/0324Ghazanchetsots.jpeg

The bombing of Ghazanchetots Cathedral by Azerbaijan was cited by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the State Department place Azerbaijan on its Special Watch List for its ongoing and systematic religious freedom violations. The report also cites the Azerbaijani attack on Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi.

The country update also details the many obstacles posed by mandatory registration and other restrictions on religious communities, the continued imprisonment of religious activists, and recent violations committed in the context of the renewed conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

The report highlights that during the renewed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh in 2020, the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi was hit twice by Azerbaijani forces. In December, Human Rights Watch concluded that the attack was intentional, constituting a war crime that should be investigated and prosecuted.

“The announcement of a ceasefire in early November formalized the territorial gains Azerbaijan had made militarily, and it set a staggered timeline for the cession of additional territories to Azerbaijan—raising concerns about the protection of various churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other religious and cultural sites scattered throughout the region,” said the report.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reportedly gave assurances to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that the country would protect Christian churches in these areas. However, some sites, such as a cemetery situated alongside an Armenian church in Hadrut, have already been vandalized, said the report. In late November, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization reiterated a call for the protection of heritage sites in the area, and it proposed dispatching a preliminary field mission to produce an inventory of such sites “as a prerequisite for effective protection of the region’s heritage.”

According the report, religious freedom in Azerbaijan remains severely impeded by problematic legislation, particularly the country’s 2009 law “On Freedom of Religious Beliefs,” which the government has shown little interest in revising.

http://asbarez.com/201314/u-s-religious-freedom-body-places-azerbaijan-on-watch-list/?fbclid=IwAR01tC7IVusl2XVvy4KCh-hWUoQG73zQx4dZPz_zC-xhA-h55eT0Ssyi3kg

[Yervant1]

Oil and bribe money hides the truth and keeps the world silent!

Panorama, Armenia

March 24 2021

Society 15:38 24/03/2021Region

Azerbaijani blogger: If Aliyev attempts to behead his own citizen in France, how can he guaranty the safety of Armenians in Karabakh?

Azerbaijani blogger Mahammad Mirzali, who is living in exile in France and was attacked days ago, shared of photo from a hospital on Twitter with a message: "If Ilham Aliyev attempts to have his own citizen beheaded in France, how can he guaranty the safety of Armenian’s in Karabakh?"

To remind, Mahammad Mirzali, an Azerbaijani blogger and critic of the Azerbaijani president, has been stabbed by a group of unknown men in the city of Nantes. The reports said that the attackers attempted to cut out his tongue. Regional French news outlet Ouest France reported on the incident without naming Mirzali.

"I.Aliyev is a vicious dictator who had my family arrested to silence me. My brother-in-law was arrested and beaten up.I was being blackmailed by my sister’s intimate video recorded by the government. At last I was stabbed and almost beheaded in France. Ilham Alivev must be held accountable," Mirzali said in another tweet.

 

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/03/24/Azerbaijani-blogger-stabbed/2474621

 

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijan trying to eradicate or distort Artsakh’s millennia-old cultural heritage – Armenian FM

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19:32, 24 March, 2021

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenia highlights the creation of the commission on cultural diplomacy, ARMENPRESS reports Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Ayvazian announced at the National Assembly, answering the question of MP Tatevik Hayrapetyan about the goals of the commission.

‘’Now more than ever the development of our international cooperation and our involvement in the international community is important. In this sense, culture, as a factor of soft power, has a very important role and by the creation of this platform we submit a claim on making our culture an important factor in our diplomatic arsenal'', Ayvazian said.

Referring to the elimination of the Armenian historical heritage by Azerbaijan, Ayvazian noted that promotion of culture in the international arena is the key task of the commission.

‘’Artsakh’s historical-cultural heritage is the inseparable part of the universal culture. And its elimination, desecration or distortion must be strictly prevented. Both this platform and our every-day contacts are aimed the solution of this issue with international efforts.

It’s known that a full eviction of Armenians from the territories of Artsakh that have passed under Azerbaijani control has taken place. And today the elimination of cultural heritage has started, attempting to eliminate or distort the millennia-old cultural heritage of Artsakh and its belonging’’, the FM said.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1047031.html?fbclid=IwAR1Y9y2JQdqt00a2OS9uUQKb_1Zypx83f1J0Snb5QQd6f2Gp6xr_ifT2GQM

[Yervant1]

Yahoo! News

March 25 2021

Why did this church disappear?

Thu, March 25, 2021, 1:33 AM

BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher investigates the disappearance of an Armenian church that changed hands in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war. An online video shows the church was intact when Azerbaijan took back the disputed territory. Azerbaijan has said ethnic Armenians are welcome to stay in Nagorno-Karabakh but Armenia has accused it of damaging and destroying Armenian cultural heritage left behind in the region, including churches and monuments. Both sides accuse the other of war crimes. Video journalist: Abdujalil Abdurasulov

Video Transcript

- What does the map say?

JONAH FISHER: Well, the map says it should be on the top of here.

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- I think you show him the map.

JONAH FISHER: Yeah, a little bit further. OK, look. Just a little bit further on, there.

Well, the map says it should be on the top of here. Which seems rather unlikely. OK, so this looks to me like it could have been where that church was. OK, look here. It was definitely here. So we can see from the trees here, they're a very definite shape. You can see them over there, they match.

What happened to the church?

- What happened was the-- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- During the war it was destroyed.

JONAH FISHER: It can't have been destroyed during the war, because there are videos of the Azeris here.

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- No, it wouldn't happen.

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- They destroyed it themselves.

JONAH FISHER: Can I show you something from when we went there? You can see it's been totally destroyed.

HIKMET HAJIYEV: Because it's a proper geolocation, I don't know. It needs to be checked. A policy of occupation was committed by Armenia against Azerbaijani people. And you have seen the level of destruction in Jabrayil, Fuzuli. More than eight cities of Azerbaijan have been destroyed. It's like a Hiroshima, or nuclear bomb, massive, has been used.

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

JONAH FISHER: Perhaps you'd like to apologize for what Armenia did in those occupied territories?

ARA AIVAZIAN: During the war, there were, you know, wrongdoings on every side. If there was any case, it was, let's say, an individual approach. It was not a state policy about that.

JONAH FISHER: Having been there, can I just say, it looks very systematic.

ARA AIVAZIAN: The same happens now in the territories that fall under control of Azerbaijan, particularly in the villages and cities of Hadrut region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Watch the BBC video at link below

https://news.yahoo.com/why-did-church-disappear-233329285.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb&tsrc=fb

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

March 25 2021

Armenian Commission for UNESCO condemns ISIS-style destruction of monuments by Azerbaijan

Armenian National Commission for UNESCO has strongly condemned yet another act of cultural crime by Azerbaijan.

“Armenian monuments of Artsakh under Azerbaijani occupation are vandalized and destroyed in ISIS-style,” the Commission said on social media.

The comments come after the BBC found out the Armenian Holy Mother of God church disappeared after Azerbaijani got control over it. Destruction was complete. The same church was vandalized during the recent Azerbaijani aggression.

“The disappeared Armenian Church became a victim of an act of vandalism in the first place,” the Commission said.

https://en.armradio.am/2021/03/25/armenian-commission-for-unesco-condemns-erasure-of-church-under-azerbaijani-occupation/

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Panorama, Armenia

March 26 2021

Culture 12:21 26/03/2021Armenia

‘In liberated Artsakh Azeris' graves were not being destroyed’: Reference to BBC report

“In liberated Artsakh Azeris' graves were not being destroyed,” Facebook user Narine Arzumanyan said on Friday, referring to a part of the BBC News report “Nagorno-Karabakh: The mystery of the missing church”, which claimed the Armenians had allegedly destroyed the graves of Azerbaijanis.

“BBC News yesterday showed the totally demolished Armenian church in the territory of Artsakh occupied by Azerbaijan and then, to equate, some stones that Azerbaijanis were collecting and presenting as "ruined-by-Armenians-grave".

“These photos were taken at archeological site of Tigranakert in Artsakh years ago,” Arzumanyan wrote, sharing the photos.

BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher has investigated the disappearance of an Armenian church that fell under the control of Azerbaijan in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war. An online video shows Zoravor Surb Astvatsatsin Church near the town of Mekhakavan (Jebrayil) was intact when Azerbaijan occupied the territory.

“Azerbaijan has said ethnic Armenians are welcome to stay in Nagorno-Karabakh but Armenia has accused it of damaging and destroying Armenian cultural heritage left behind in the region, including churches and monuments. Both sides accuse the other of war crimes,” the BBC reported.

 

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/03/26/Artsakh-BBC-report/2475858

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

March 27 2021

Azerbaijani soldiers vandalize 19th century Armenian church

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has shared footage showing Azerbaijani sodliers vandalizing the St. Yeghishe Armenian Church in Mataghis, Artsakh (19th century).

“The Azerbaijani servicemen (the Turkish flag is also clearly visible on the uniform) are cynically vandalizing the Armenian church, openly showing the deliberate insult to the church and knowing that the church is Armenian,” the Ombudsman said.

“It is obvious that this is an act of open hatred, both on ethnic and religious grounds. Moreover, this is not a separate case, but a result of years of systematic policy of hatred and enmity in Azerbaijan, which continues today,” Tatoyan said.

The Human Rights Defender will present this case to the international bodies, noting that it is another proof that a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Armenians was carried out in Artsakh in September-November 2020.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2021/03/27/azerbaijani-soldiers-vandalize-19th-century-armenian-church/

 

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Azerbaijan, a So-Called Ally of Israel,

Friend of Jews, Betrays Israel at the UN

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

For three decades, the government of Israel and Jewish-American
leaders have been showering Azerbaijan with excessive and undeserved
praise for its alleged tolerance for its Jewish community and
friendship with Israel. There have been several visits by Israeli
leaders and prominent Jewish-Americans to Baku, glorifying the
government of Azerbaijan and flaunting the special affinity between
them.

This is hypocrisy of the highest form. The truth is that relations
between Azerbaijan and Israel have nothing to do with the treatment of
Jews in Baku. The two countries are basically engaged in mutual
exploitation, ignoring all humanitarian and ethical concerns.
Azerbaijan has purchased billions of dollars of advanced lethal
weapons from Israel in exchange for the sale of Azeri oil to Israel,
which imports 40% of its oil from Azerbaijan. It is disgraceful that
descendants of the Holocaust are arming Azerbaijan to kill survivors
of the Armenian Genocide for a fistful of dollars!

Israel has two other reasons for maintaining good relations with
Azerbaijan. The first is Israel’s interest in gathering intelligence
on Iran and having access to Azerbaijan’s airfields in case of an
Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear stockpile. This is probably what
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev meant when he compared his
country’s relations with Israel to an iceberg: “Nine-tenths of it is
below the surface.” Israel’s second reason is to cultivate good
relations with a Muslim country, given the Arab-Israeli conflict and
its isolation from the Muslim world. However, in light of the recent
rapprochement between Israel and several Arab nations, the value of
Azerbaijan to Israel in this regard is diminishing.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan expects to maximize its political
interests in the United States by benefiting from the influence of
Israel and Jewish-Americans in Washington, to counter the
Armenian-American lobby.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan and Israel are concealing some of the
irritants in their relationship. First of all, Israel has opened its
Embassy in Baku in 1993, whereas Azerbaijan has refused to open its
Embassy or even a Consulate in Israel, out of concern for its
relations with Arab and Muslim nations, particularly Iran. This fact
alone belies the supposed friendly relations between the two
countries.

Another contradiction is Azerbaijan’s anti-Israel votes and speeches
at the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Azerbaijan’s most recent critical action of Israel occurred at the
United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on
March 18, 2021.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a frequent apologist for Azerbaijan,
quickly condemned the Azeri Representative’s remarks at the UN by
harshly accusing Azerbaijan of committing “a virtual ‘blood-libel’
against the Jewish state.”

Speaking on item 7 of the Council’s agenda, “human rights situation in
Palestine and other occupied Arab territories,” Kamran Seyfullayev,
Third Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the UN in
Geneva, gave a three-minute speech on March 18, in which he severely
criticized the treatment of Palestinians by the State of Israel. Here
is what he said:

“I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) [Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is the
Chairman of the movement which is composed of 120 countries].

“For many years, the Non-Aligned Movement has maintained a firm
position of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just
cause, and the condemnation of massive, flagrant and systematic
violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law
committed by Israel.

“The NAM also underscores the need to continue providing political,
economic and humanitarian support to assist the Palestinian people and
to bolster their resilience and efforts aimed at achieving their
legitimate national aspirations, including their inalienable right to
self-determination and freedom in their independent State of
Palestine.

“We recognize and commend the efforts of the United Nations and its
agencies and particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine refugees in the Near East and the Committee of Exercise
of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people. The Movement
encourages continuation of their support. The NAM takes note with
appreciation of the report of the Secretary General presented to the
43rd Session of the Human Rights Council on the Israeli settlements in
the occupied Syrian Golan.

“The NAM expresses its grave concern at the continuing Israeli
settlement policy and related activities, including the expansion of
settlements, the expropriation of land, the demolition of houses, and
the confiscation and destruction of property, which has changed the
physical character and demographic composition of the occupied
territories and the occupied Syrian Golan.

“The General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights
Council have all confirmed that the construction and expansion of
Israeli settlements and other related activities in the occupied
Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan are illegal under
international law. The NAM is also deeply concerned over numerous UN
official reports, particularly by the recent report of the Secretary
General, which have reaffirmed the continued human rights violations
of the Palestinian people by Israeli force, throughout the occupied
State of Palestine.

“In this regard, the NAM urges the international community to exert
its pressure in order to cease immediately the continuation of this
illegal trend by Israel which is a blatant violation of international
law.

“Furthermore, the NAM strongly believes that Israel, as the occupying
power, has to be held accountable for its continued grave and
systematic violations of both international human rights law and
international humanitarian law in all occupied Arab territories,
including Syrian Golan.

“The NAM emphasizes that Israel, as the occupying power, should
immediately release all Palestinian prisoners, particularly children
and women. It should also cease serious violations of international
law and fully lift the blockade of Gaza to remedy the ongoing punitive
measures against the civilian population and release Palestinian
children in detention in accordance with international standards, in
particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“In conclusion, the NAM extends its full support to the Government of
the State of Palestine in its ongoing efforts to put an end to the
occupation of the land of the State of Palestine and realize the
legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

It is ironic that the Simon Wiesenthal Center officials, after years
of kowtowing to Azerbaijan, repeatedly visiting that country, and
praising it as a close friend of Israel, are now complaining about
Baku’s harsh criticism of Israel. I hope Jewish and Israeli leaders
realize that they have been fooled by Azerbaijan all these years and
learn the valuable lesson that a wolf in sheep’s clothing cannot be
trusted. They should also realize that, as the saying goes, when you
go to bed with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Israeli and Jewish
officials do not seem to have learned anything from their experience
of being deceived by Turkey. After decades of backing Turkey, even
going as far shamefully blocking the congressional recognition of the
Armenian Genocide, Israeli and Jewish officials are now accusing
Turkey of anti-Semitism and hostility to Israel. Armenians kept
warning them for years, to no avail, not to trust Turkey and that they
will be stabbed in the back when they least suspect it. In this vulgar
game of mutual exploitation, Israelis and Jewish Americans got the
short end of the stick. The same thing is happening now in their
relations with Azerbaijan. It will only get worse, unless they quickly
come to their senses.

Not everything should be measured by oil, weapons and money. There is
something much more valuable like humanity, justice and truthfulness
than financial gain and self-interest. But in this selfish world, it
is too much to expect such decent behavior.

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

April 3 2021

Aliyev fueling anti-Armenian sentiments among Turkic-speaking and Muslim countries – Artsakh MFA

The statement by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States is of serious concern in terms of establishing lasting peace and stability in the region, Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The President of Azerbaijan continues to fuel anti-Armenian sentiments not only within Azerbaijan, but also in the societies of Turkic-speaking and Muslim countries. By doing so, the leader of Azerbaijan deliberately attaches ethnic and religious elements to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, attempting to unite the Turkic and Muslim worlds around the aspirations of Azerbaijan,” the Foreign Ministry stated.

It said “Aliyev purposefully transfers the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and Armenophobia to the dimension of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Islamism, thus attaching elements of radicalism to these ideologies.”

“In this context, the first serious geopolitical claim of the criminal trinity of Azerbaijan, Turkey and international terrorists was the large-scale military aggression unleashed against the Republic of Artsakh on September 27, 2020. This is followed by the expansionist aspirations also for different regions of the Republic of Armenia, in particular, Syunik,” the statement reads.

The Foreign Ministry stated that without adequate steps by the international community, similar actions will surely take place in other regions as well, which are fraught with unpredictable consequences for global peace and stability.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2021/04/03/aliyev-fueling-anti-armenian-sentiments-among-turkic-speaking-and-muslim-countries-artsakh-mfa/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia
April 12 2021

Baku’s newly-opened “park” a proof of state supported Armenophobia – Ombudsman

The so-called “Park” dedicated to the Artsakh war in Baku is a proof of Azerbaijani genocidal policy and state supported Armenophobia:, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan said in a statement.

The so-called “exhibition-park” related to the September-November 2020 war was opened in Baku on April 12, 2021.

“In the “Park”, along with the Armenian military equipment, mannequins of the Armenian military servicemen have been displayed, all of which presented in a degrading manner, in a manner violating human dignity. This is done to ensure the widest possible publicity,” the Ombudsman said.

“It is obvious from the published videos and photos of the “Park” that the exhibition was designed to increase and encourage hatred and animosity towards the population of Armenia and Artsakh, the citizens of Armenia. Exhibitions are with cynicism to publicly humiliate the memory of the victims of the war, the missing persons and the captives, to violate the rights and dignity of their families,” Tatoyan said.

Personal belongings of the soldiers of Armenia and Artsakh are displayed with the same cynicism, and the helmets of the killed soldiers are displayed knowing that it will cause additional suffering to their families, to the Armenia and Artsakh society, and will generate new hatred in the Azerbaijani society.

“The Azerbaijani authorities also showed scenes of Armenian prisoners in the opened “park.” This step is especially reprehensible against the background that in Azerbaijan, prisoners of war and civilians continue to be held illegally, in gross violation of international human rights requirements.,” the Human Rights Defender stressed.

It is obvious to the Azerbaijani authorities that this sensitive issue would cause mental pain and suffering to the families of the missing persons and captives, as well as to the Armenian society in general, he added.

Numerous complaints and alarms regarding the content have been addressed to the RA Human Rights Defender, alarming posts on social networks have been registered.

The monitoring of the Armenia’s Human Rights Defender’s Staff revealed posts on Azerbaijani social networks about the exhibition, which only welcomed and encouraged the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan, and the comments testified to the obvious hatred and hostility towards Armenians.

“The opening of such a “park” clearly confirms the fact of institutional hatred towards Armenians in Azerbaijan and existence of a state policy of propaganda of animosity. This policy has been consistently implemented for years, confirmed by concrete evidence,” the Ombudsman stated.

According to him, the consequences of this policy are the atrocities and torture, killings of Armenian military servicemen and civilians by Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the 2020 September-November war; the 2016 April war or other Azerbaijani armed attacks.

“State-sponsored hostility was the reason why the Azerbaijani military brutally tortured and killed Armenian servicemen and civilians with open faces and with exceptional cynicism, without even thinking about responsibility, and being confident that they would only be praised for that,” Arman Tatoyan noted.

Therefore, according to him, the demonstrations in the “park” dedicated to the September-November 2020 war clearly reaffirm the Azerbaijani genocidal policy towards the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh.

“This absolutely vicious phenomenon proves once again that we must not allow ourselves to be intoxicated with false Azerbaijani peace building initiatives; they are just veils for the international community,” the Human Rights Defender said.

This statement of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender will be sent to international bodies, with a special note that these steps of Azerbaijani authorities are horrible phenomena leading to torture, cruelty, absolutely disturb peace and solidarity in the region.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2021/04/13/bakus-newly-opened-park-a-proof-of-state-supported-armenophobia-ombudsman/

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

The National Interest magazine draws parallels between Ilham Aliyev and Saddam Hussein

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21:40, 16 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. The National Interest magazine has published an article about Azerbaijani president Olham Aliyev and the ''park-museum'' opened in Baku at his initiative. ARMENPRESS reports the author of the article Michael Rubin compared Ilahm Aliyev with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the ''park-museum'' of Baku with Baghdad's “Victory Arch,” known to locals as the Swords of Qadisiyah.

''Aliyev, who never served in the military even as his peers fought in the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, strolls around in military fatigues showing off captured Armenian equipment and wax models of Armenian soldiers before addressing assembled troops. The centerpiece of the “Park of Trophies” is an arch made from the helmets of killed and captured Armenian soldiers. That Azerbaijan continues to hold illegally 260 prisoners of war (POWs) and kidnapped civilians, some of whom it might have killed in captivity, underscores the tastelessness of the display'', reads the article.

Commissioned in 1985 and opened four years later, Swords of Qadisiyah, which stands taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, consisted of forearms molded from Saddam Hussein’s own and fists holding crossed swords made from steel derived from the melted weaponry of fallen Iraqi soldiers. Five thousand Iranian helmets taken off the battlefield completed the monument. Hussein’s speech initiating its construction was little different from Aliyev’s: “Brave Iraqis have recorded the most legendary exploits in defense of their land and holy beliefs,” Hussein declared on April 22, 1985. “We have chosen that Iraqis will pass under their fluttering flag protected by their swords which have cut through the necks of the aggressors.” Aliyev, for his part, declared at the park's inaguration on Monday, “Everyone who visits the park of military trophies will see the strength of our army, will see our willpower, and how hard it was to achieve victory.”

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1049341.html?fbclid=IwAR0yuriIcA1PW68IVvXoz5XqCHLGd_auUFJRhtJ_l9k3xv0WMegZ-okEq7s

[Yervant1]

The National Interest

April 16 2021

Is Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev the new Saddam Hussein?

Dictators have their own strategies to distract and deceive the United States with charm, charisma, caviar and cocktails.

by Michael Rubin

Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev is proud. On April 12, 2021, Azerbaijani public television station ITV broadcast an hour-long program inaugurating a new museum in Baku to celebrate Azerbaijan’s victory in the forty-four-day Nagorno-Karabakh War. Aliyev, who never served in the military even as his peers fought in the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, strolls around in military fatigues showing off captured Armenian equipment and wax models of Armenian soldiers before addressing assembled troops. The centerpiece of the “Park of Trophies” is an arch made from the helmets of killed and captured Armenian soldiers. That Azerbaijan continues to hold illegally 260 prisoners of war (POWs) and kidnapped civilians, some of whom it might have killed in captivity, underscores the tastelessness of the display.

Aliyev is not the first to construct such a display. In his 1991 work The Monument, a study of the public art of a totalitarian society, Kanan Makiya, the son of a famous architect and a prominent Iraqi intellectual, profiled the “Victory Arch,” known to locals as the Swords of Qadisiyah. Commissioned in 1985 and opened four years later, the monument, which stands taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, consisted of forearms molded from Saddam Hussein’s own and fists holding crossed swords made from steel derived from the melted weaponry of fallen Iraqi soldiers. Five thousand Iranian helmets taken off the battlefield completed the monument. Hussein’s speech initiating its construction was little different from Aliyev’s: “Brave Iraqis have recorded the most legendary exploits in defense of their land and holy beliefs,” Hussein declared on April 22, 1985. “We have chosen that Iraqis will pass under their fluttering flag protected by their swords which have cut through the necks of the aggressors.” Aliyev, for his part, declared at the park’s inauguration on Monday, “Everyone who visits the park of military trophies will see the strength of our army, will see our willpower, and how hard it was to achieve victory.” As for POWs, I was the Pentagon Iraq desk officer on duty when the mass graves of Kuwaiti prisoners whom Hussein had seized were found.

The similarities between Hussein and Aliyev are increasingly hard to dismiss. Years before he became an avowed enemy, Hussein intrigued the State Department who saw him as a pragmatic moderate. In an April 1975 meeting, for example, Assistant Secretary of State Alfred Atherton for Near Eastern Affairs told Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, “Hussein is a rather remarkable person . . . he’s a very ruthless and—very recently, obviously—pragmatic, intelligent power.” The United States holds much the same assessment toward Aliyev.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan dispatched Donald Rumsfeld, at the time a former secretary of defense, to meet with Hussein. Rumsfeld was impressed. “I began to think that through increased contacts we might be able to persuade the Iraqis to lean toward the United States and eventually modify their behavior,” he recalled. Undersecretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger told Hussein’s envoy not to take seriously American condemnation of chemical weapons. The recent history of the Minsk Group shows U.S. officials likewise seemingly downplaying concerns about Azeri violations of its international agreements.

In both cases, the State Department was willing to ignore the treatment of minorities. When reports surfaced regarding Hussein’s use of chemical weapons against Iraq’s Kurdish population, one American diplomat explained, “The approach we want to take is that, ‘We want to have a good relationship with you, but that this sort of thing makes it very difficult.’” Meanwhile, the State Department remains silent as Aliyev calls the Armenian genocide false.

There has also been a similar sense of dictator chic surrounding Hussein’s Iraq and Aliyev’s Azerbaijan. In December 1985, the Washington Post Magazine gave a swooning account of a dinner party hosted by Iraqi ambassador Nizar Hamdoon whose outreach was targeting influential Jewish American and pro-Israeli figures. Today, the Azerbaijani embassy in Washington regularly targets the same audience. Journalists and diplomats both recognize Aliyev’s “caviar diplomacy.”

Both Hussein and Aliyev also sought glory through territorial conquest while blaming their victims. When Hussein bragged about decapitating Iranian aggressors, he omitted that Iraq started the war with a surprise attack. Likewise, Aliyev suggests that Armenians were the aggressors when it was Azeri forces, in conjunction with Turkish support, who launched a multipronged, surprise attack on Nagorno-Karabakh on the centennial anniversary of the Ottoman invasion of Armenia. Both Hussein and Aliyev were also irredentists. American diplomats dismissed Hussein’s repeated statements that Kuwait was a wayward Iraqi province as rhetoric excess right up to Iraq’s surprise invasion of Kuwait; today, the State Department ignores Aliyev’s statements laying claim to the entirety of Armenia.

The parallels go further. While diplomats considered both Hussein and Aliyev secular moderates, both sought to channel Islamist extremism to their benefit. Years before the Islamic State beheaded women deemed un-Islamic, the Fedayeen Hussein would decapitate women, many professionals, whom the Baathist regime deemed “prostitutes” for refusing to veil. During the most recent conflict, Aliyev imported and dispatched Al Qaeda-linked mercenaries from Syria.

Enumerating the similarities between Hussein and Aliyev is not just an intellectual exercise, but rather a warning. While the State Department debates its strategies toward other countries, seldom does it recognize that dictators have their own strategies to distract and deceive the United States with charm, charisma, caviar and cocktails. They believe Americans naïve for allowing themselves to be distracted by a paper-thin patina while they pursue other agendas. Should American officials continue to calibrate policy to the style of Azeri officials rather than the reality of their policies, however, the world will likely see another war of aggression by Azerbaijan, just as Hussein launched his own against Kuwait more than three decades ago.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). You can follow him on Twitter: @mrubin1971.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/azerbaijan%E2%80%99s-ilham-aliyev-new-saddam-hussein-182853?fbclid=IwAR2HSE6Fc9Xv3oVfKGTCZch3tinQ2734p6qHiFk0d3LCPgJByMDKJrysl44

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/azerbaijan%E2%80%99s-ilham-aliyev-new-saddam-hussein-182853

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Dutch FM describes Ilham Aliyev's behavior in ''Military Trophies Park'' very unpleasant

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19:00, 19 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok described the ''park'' in Baku and the scene of Ilham Aliyev being photographed in front of the wax mannequins of Armenian soldiers as very unpleasant, ARMENPRESS reports Minister Stef Blok referred to the issue at the parliament, during answering the questions of the MPs.

‘’Those were very unpleasant images. Regarding this conflict, I have announced earlier that I call on the sides to reach a settlement in the sidelines of the OSCE Misnk Group through negotiations and refrain from behavior that will make the final solution impossible’’, the Minister said.

A so-called "exhibition-park" related to the September-November 2020 war was opened in Baku on April 12, 2021.

In the "park", along with the Armenian military equipment, mannequins of the Armenian military servicemen have been displayed, all of which presented in a degrading manner, in a manner violating human dignity.

It is obvious from the published videos and photos of the "Park" that the exhibition was designed to increase and encourage hatred and animosity towards the population of Armenia and Artsakh, the citizens of Armenia. Exhibitions are with cynicism to publicly humiliate the memory of the victims of the war, the rights of missing persons and captives, to violate the rights and dignity of their families.

Personal belongings of the soldiers of Armenia and Artsakh are displayed with the same cynicism, and the helmets of the killed soldiers are displayed knowing that it will cause additional suffering to their families, to the Armenian and Artsakh society, and will generate new hatred in the Azerbaijani society.

The Azerbaijani authorities also showed scenes of Armenian prisoners in the opened "park". This step is especially reprehensible against the background that in Azerbaijan, prisoners of war and civilians continue to be held illegally, in gross violation of international human rights requirements.

It is obvious to the Azerbaijani authorities that this sensitive issue would cause mental pain and suffering to the families of the missing persons and captives, as well as to the Armenian society in general.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1049527.html?fbclid=IwAR3DzLg5nQu6PD2UcjGrROJyQw7gM1WtTi-ZObKwiW0fYcNd8cjzu-e3zcg

[Yervant1]

Asbarez.com

Aliyev Threatens to Take Zangezur by Force ‘Whether Armenia Wants it or Not’

April 20, 2021

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/042000031578.jpeg

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan posing in front of a camera for an interview with AZTV on April 20

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Tuesday threatened to take Zangezur by force, “whether Armenia wants it or not,” adding to his latest threats against Armenia proper since the signing of the November 9 agreement that ended military actions in Karabakh.

“The creation of the Zangezur corridor fully meets our national, historical and future interests. We will be implementing the Zangezur Corridor, whether Armenia wants it or not. If Armenia wants to, we will solve this issue more easily, if it does not, we will solve it by force, ”Aliyev said during a nationally televised interview with the state-run AZTV on Tuesday.

“Just as before and during the war, I said that they must free themselves from our lands, or we will expel them by force. And so it happened. The same will be the fate of the Zangezur corridor,” added Aliyev.

“Our main rival is time, because the construction of a railway and a highway takes time. Therefore, all forces have been mobilized to implement this project. Thus, the Azerbaijani people will return to Zangezur, which was taken away from us 101 years ago,” stressed Aliyev.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry was quick to condemn Aliyev’s “zeal to use force.”

“Such statements do serious harm to regional peace and stability. They reveal the false nature of Azerbaijan’s recent peace statements,” Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Armenia will take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Naghdalyan vowed. “We are in permanent contacts with our strategic ally [Russia] and with all of our partners who are interested in peace in the South Caucasus,” she stressed.

Naghdalyan emphasized that Aliyev’s latest threat was voices ahead of the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan said Aliyev’s remarks in Tuesday point to Azerbaijan’s continued advancement of its “genocidal policy,” adding that the statement “contains intimidation of the entire population of Armenia, which is absolutely prohibited under international law. All this is done by openly distorting historical facts, presenting Zangezur as an Azerbaijani historical territory.”

Tatoyan cited further belligerent statements by Aliyev, who last week, on few occasions, said that all Armenians suffer from “psychological disorders, they are full of poison, are incomprehensible, are savages, are arrogant, have no morals.” while saying that the people Azerbaijan are “more superior.”

Tatoyan called Aliyev’s remarks a reflection of his “fascist policy,” calling on international organizations, especially those with human rights mandates, to take action.

“International organizations must take into account that it was their silence that contributed to more of the Azerbaijani atrocities during the war, and the incredible gross violations of human rights. This is the reason why the President of Azerbaijan makes such absolutely aggressive statements that undermine the foundations of international law,” said Tatoyan.

http://asbarez.com/201904/aliyev-threatens-to-take-zangezur-by-force-whether-armenia-wants-it-or-not/?fbclid=IwAR00hNSyCux8XTW0UoOHURko5LbX-1viCsBVOdD2x7-6bJaIxf84hHRc4Lo

[Yervant1]

 

The National Interest

May 3 2021

 

Blinken’s Cynicism Post-Genocide Recognition Emboldens Further Aggression

State Department Secretary Antony Blinken has signalled to Azerbaijan that it will face no consequence—and, indeed, reap a reward—for holding a couple hundred prisoners-of-war long after the date on which they were to be released.

by Michael Rubin

Armenians and the Armenian diaspora in the United States celebrated President Joe Biden’s formal recognition of the Ottoman-era genocide against Anatolia’s Armenian population. For Armenians, the move was important not only for historical justice but also because Turkish and Azerbaijani actions and rhetoric suggested a desire to continue the genocide. Their celebration was short-lived. Just two days later, Armenians and the U.S. Congress learned not from the State Department but rather from Azeri media that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had quietly waived Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act to enable continued military aid to Azerbaijan despite in contravention of both the letter and spirit of the law. The move represents State Department cynicism at its worst and, rather than assuage both sides, will hemorrhage trust, further reduce American influence across the region, and could actually increase the likelihood for renewed conflict.

Many opponents of Biden’s Armenian genocide recognition opposed the move for one of four reasons.

First, some scholars question whether the Young Turk leaders in the Ottoman Empire planned and coordinated the genocide. Recent archival work, however, suggests beyond any reasonable doubt that they did.

Second, some suggest contemporary diplomats from World War I-era Allied Powers exaggerated atrocity reports to sully the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide museum in Yerevan, however, has chronicled numerous instances in which German diplomats and officials—allied with the Ottomans during the war—reported the Turks’ deliberate slaughter of Armenians. This is similar to what Armenia’s American and French counterparts did.

Third, while it is true that some Armenians had risen up against Ottoman Empire, there were frequent national liberation movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; none justified genocide.

Finally, some scholars and foreign policy specialists put the debate aside and simply argue that the United States needs Turkey and Azerbaijan as a bulwark against Russia. Armenia, they allege, is under Russia’s influence. This is lazy, however. Under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has repeatedly compromised American interests to Russia (and Iran). Meanwhile, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev has in recent years increased trade with Russia by several orders of magnitude.

Certainly, by any reasonable standard—historical accuracy, morality, or self-interested realism—Armenia genocide recognition was justified but what about the Section 907 waiver?

Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act determined that U.S. aid “may not be provided to the Government of Azerbaijan until the President determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.” The origin of such language lies in the fighting and ethnic cleansing that occurred against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s collapse and fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia sparked by the petition and then plebiscite of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh seeking either unity with Armenia or independence.

In the wake of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress amended the Freedom Support Act to enable a waiver to Section 907. The amendment called for a designated State Department official to waive the prohibitions on Azerbaijan if it “is necessary to support United States efforts to counter international terrorism; is necessary to support the operational readiness of United States Armed Forces or coalition partners to counter international terrorism; is important to Azerbaijan's border security; and will not undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan or be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.”

Azerbaijan and Turkey’s surprise September invasion of Armenian-held portion of Nagorno-Karabakh certainly hampered “ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” Aliyev dismissed the idea of further negotiations after his territorial re-conquest and then belittled on Azeri television the American co-chair of the Minsk Group, the organization charged with negotiating a diplomatic resolution to the problem. There could be no more clear violation. Nor does the realist desire to embrace Azerbaijan as a counter-terror hub make sense given Aliyev’s acceptance and utilization of Syrian mercenaries, some of whom fought for Al Qaeda-affiliated groups or the Islamic State.

Blinken knew he was wrong. If he thought he could easily defend his actions, then he would not have surprised Congress but made his case openly. Perhaps within the State Department, diplomats argued that waiving Section 907 and continuing foreign aid and military assistance was necessary to keep Azerbaijan at the bargaining table. Put aside the violation of U.S. law and the insult to Congress. In reality, what Blinken’s waiver does is undercut future diplomacy for it sets a new standard that Azerbaijan can expect to act without consequence so long as they kill fewer than seven thousand men and only displace a few hundred thousand.

Further, Blinken signals to Azerbaijan that it will face no consequence—and, indeed, reap a reward—for holding a couple hundred prisoners-of-war long after the date on which they were to be released. In effect, what Blinken and his Caucasus team have done is undercut the possibility of meaningful diplomacy and rewarded terror and hostage-taking. Nor will the ramifications be limited to the South Caucasus. Blinken, with one fell swoop, has not only undercut the moral clarity and emphasis on human rights tied to the Armenian genocide resolution, but he has also signaled not only to Azerbaijan but also to Turkey, Russia, Iran, and other aggressors that the State Department stands for nothing and U.S. law without meaning.

Moral equivalency is not sophisticated. For the United States’ position in the world, it can be disastrous.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/blinken%E2%80%99s-cynicism-post-genocide-recognition-emboldens-further-aggression-184283

[Yervant1]

JAM News

May 5 2021

Azerbaijani prisoner of conscience Bayram Mammadov found dead in Istanbul

• JAMnew, Baku
  

On the night of May 5, the body of former Azerbaijani political prisoner Bayram Mammadov was removed from the water in Istanbul.

The police are investigating the causes of the death of the young activist.

• 
  

Bayram Mammadov became famous in Azerbaijan in 2016, when he was detained together with Qiyas Ibrahim after they left an inscription ‘Happy slaves day’ on a monument to Heydar Aliyev on the eve of the ex-president’s birthday.

Later, the court sentenced both activists to long terms of imprisonment, accusing them of drug dealing. Bayram Mammadov and Qiyas Ibrahim were pardoned in 2019.

Several months ago, Bayram Mammadov went to Turkey, and in two days he was going to return to Baku.

His friends say the death was unlikely to be suicide.

“While in Istanbul, I visited Bayram the other day. We talked for a long time. He got into a master’s degree program in Europe. He was preparing for this program in Istanbul. He was busy, so he even closed his social media accounts. He had big plans for the homeland. He said that he would return to Azerbaijan after receiving a good education.

“So far, the details of the incident are unknown, but sites close to the government are already writing that it was suicide. But the investigation has not even begun yet.

“It is not known how Bayram ended up on the shore during a period when it is impossible to go outside in Turkey. On the other side where it all happened, there are usually a hundred policemen on duty. How did it happen that they did not stop Bayram, after all, it is forbidden to go out? There is not a single witness to the incident.

“What is the purpose of those who circulate the news of suicide? I talked with friends, tomorrow we will find out the details, ”Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, now living in Germany, wrote on his Facebook page.

Bayram Mammadov

https://jam-news.net/azerbaijani-prisoner-of-conscience-bayram-mammadov-found-dead-in-istanbul/

[Yervant1]

I wonder who might be the culprits! Go ahead and guess, it's easy.

Public Radio of Armenia

May 8 2021



Armenian gravestones in Russia’s Yaroslavl Region vandalized



Unknown persons vandalised gravestones in the territory of the Armenian cemetery in the village of Kurba in Russia’s Yaroslavl Region. About 50 tombs were damaged.

The Armenian Embassy in Russia has condemned the act of vandalism, describing it as a clearly provocative action and an encroachment on spiritual values.

“It can lead to various consequences, negatively affecting efforts to preserve interethnic harmony,” the Embassy said.

“We are confident that the law enforcement agencies of the Yaroslavl Region will take all the necessary steps to bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible,” the Embassy said, adding that such acts should be condemned to prevent recurrence.

https://en.armradio.am/2021/05/08/armenian-gravestones-in-russias-yaroslavl-region-vandalized/

 

[Yervant1]

What kind of humans does this? Nonhumans!!!!!!!

Public Radio of Armenia

May 10 2021



Azerbaijanis using Armenian gravestones to build roads, Artsakh’s
Foreign Minister says



We have information that the Azerbaijanis are barbarically destroying
the historical and cultural monuments, cemeteries and gravestones of
Artsakh, Foreign Minister David Babayan said in an interview with
Artsakhpress.

The Foreign Minister noted that the Azerbaijanis are using gravestones
as construction material for roads.

“This is another manifestation of cultural genocide and barbarism with
a political purpose. They are not only completely destroying the
Armenian trace, but are also using it for economic purposes, the
Foreign Minister said, calling it a gross violation of international
and moral norms.

David Babayan said that according to various reports, the gravestones
are particularly being used for construction of te Hadrut-Shushi road.

“There is evidence showing that the Azerbaijani are demolishing the
Hadrut cemetery. This information makes it necessary for the
international community to carry out monitoring mission and get
acquainted with the reality on the ground. It must be implemented by
various government agencies. We have sent numerous letters to various
international organizations regarding the Armenian cultural genocide
committed by Azerbaijan. There is some progress,” the Foreign Minister
said, adding that it is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.armradio.am/2021/05/10/azerbaijanis-using-armenian-gravestones-to-build-roads-artsakhs-foreign-minister-says/__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!7Qby4l7SH3SONRwFiwJWEGrTzGrQ3qD4ifH1Jo238lYMpWMlr17nXnTDg-S6Yw$

 

[Yervant1]

Panorama, Armenia
May 10 2021

Armenian military expert: We must voice our complaints to all international organizations ‘day and night’

Armenian military expert, Turkologist Karen Hovhannisyan calls for efforts to bring Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to account for the war crimes committed during last year's 44-day war in Artsakh.

“Baku dictator and war criminal Aliyev must become the first war criminal convicted during his lifetime. Today, we must put this issue on the agenda and voice our complaints to all international organizations day and night,” he wrote on Facebook late on Sunday.

The expert said the accusations against Aliyev should include not only the targeted attacks on civilians and hospitals in Artsakh, but also the orders for murder and destruction on religious grounds.

“The names of the killed civilian captives released a few days ago make it clear that many of these people were elderly couples, who did not manage to flee their homes, which belonged to them since the Soviet period. And those people were tortured and killed on religious grounds and for their nationality.

“In addition, there is much evidence that servicemen of Azerbaijan’s regular army not only tortured the surviving and captured Armenian soldiers, but also mutilated and burnt the bodies of the dead servicemen,” the expert said.

“Such a practice of terrorist groups carried out by the Azerbaijani forces during the martial law, that is, when Aliyev was the commander-in-chief, suggests that it was Aliyev who gave all these orders, and the videos that are repeatedly spreading on the internet are evidence of the fulfillment of these orders.

“Today we must create big problems for Azerbaijan in this regard, as well as demand the establishment of multidisciplinary expert commissions from international organizations for every inch of the border drawn using GPS,” Hovhannisyan said.

 

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/05/10/Karen-Hovhannisyan/2499320

[Yervant1]

Panorama, Armenia

May 11 2021

Aliyev threatens France and Canada - “Let them mind their own business”

Sometimes countries located at the other end of the world make statements about the processes taking place in Azerbaijan, and this is unacceptable, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijan Television during his trip to Nakhijevan, the local sources reported.

“I can refer to Canada as an example. I was recently informed that the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had made a statement on Azerbaijan and our internal affairs. What right does it have to do that? Who gave it such a right? What does Canada consider itself to be? Is it perhaps a superpower we didn’t know of. It is probably a second Luxembourg, a second superpower we didn’t know of. Let them mind their own business,” Aliyev was quoted as saying.

The Azerbaijani president also rejected the latest statement of France’s Foreign Ministry as unacceptable.

“We have repeatedly expressed our objection to the French side to leave us alone. They should mind their own business. The chairman of the French Senate comes to Yerevan where he declares that the French Senate will recognize Nagorno-Karabakh. When we appeal to the French government over this issue, when we express our protest, we are told not to pay attention to that because it is a legislative body and its statements do not reflect the position of the French government. But what about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Doesn’t it reflect the position of the government? What kind of statements are these? Let them go and mind their own business,” Aliyev added.

To remind, Foreign Ministries of Canada and France recently called for releasing all Armenian prisoners of war who are currently held captive in Azerbaijan.

 

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/05/11/Aliyev-threatens-France-Canada/2500084

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia
May 17 2021

Centuries-old Armenian cemetery north of Shushi partially destroyed – Caucasus Heritage Watch

The Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) says it has made a high-confidence assessment that a centuries-old Armenian cemetery north of Shushi has been partially destroyed. A portion of the grounds on the west side of a road leading into the city was leveled in the construction of a building complex.

The expansive cemetery, which spans both sides of the road, contained 96 tombstones dating 1834-1920 and two 12-13th century cross stones (khachkars), including the tombs of noble Armenian families (meliks).

CHW has made a high-confidence assessment that a centuries-old Armenian cemetery north of Shusha/Shushi has been partially destroyed. A portion of the grounds on the west side of a road leading into the city was leveled in the construction of a building complex. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/AbG8eV1V18

— CaucasusHeritageWatch (@CaucasusHW) May 17, 2021

Although the construction occurred in an area shaded by tree cover, imagery from Feb 2021 (middle image) reveals a dense array of tombstones, and documentation provided by Monument Watch, in Yerevan, details specific plots in the location.

Neither the number of damaged tombs nor the affected plots can be determined with available data, CHW says. It calls on the President of Azerbaijan and UNESCO to directly assess the extent of the damage and preserve this historic site.

CHW is a team of researchers at Cornell and Purdue Universities. Their mission is to monitor and document endangered and damaged cultural heritage using satellite imagery.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2021/05/17/centuries-old-armenian-cemetery-north-of-shushi-partially-destroyed-caucasus-heritage-watch/