Azeri Activity BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

[Yervant1]

Azeri Activity

 

Friday, November 16th, 2012

http://asbarez.com/106605/azeri-activity/

 

 

 

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

 

With all the election related activity, my focus had gotten directed

away from Turkic activities, but it's time to remedy that.

 

You probably aren't surprised by the fact that Azerbaijan has violated

the ceasefire regime 6000 times over just the first five months of

2012. That's after registering a 2100% (no decimal point error!)

increase in such violations from 2006 to 2011. And, more and more of

those breaches have been along the Republic of Armenia's borders, not

just the Nagorno Gharapagh Republic's.

 

You probably aren't surprised by the fact that Azerbaijan has refused

to withdraw its snipers from the borders, leading to an ongoing series

of untimely deaths. Plus, they are putting their kids through sniper

training, with anyone over 15 being eligible.

 

You probably aren't surprised by the fact that Azerbaijan has

continued its hatemongering against anything Armenian as evidenced by

the country's president's declaration that `our main enemies are

Armenians of the world', the hero's welcome received by the axe

murderer of a sleeping Armenian, the threats to shoot down CIVILIAN

aircraft flying into Sdepanagerd, and the multibillion dollar spending

spree on military hardware - all directed against Armenia. Who else

would they use it against? Iran? Russia?

 

You probably aren't surprised by the fact that Azerbaijan has secured

a puff-piece in Forbes, the noted business magazine, written by one

Hilary Kramer who is goo-goo-eyed over her impending exposure to

`cuisine and music' at a gala dinner hosted by the Azerbaijan America

Alliance (AAA). She writes fawningly about the oil-money fueled

`development' in the country and how underappreciated an ally poor old

Azerbaijan is! Not a word about the country's horrible human rights

record, warmongering, and genocidal activities. This is what scads of

money buys for a regime that is as debased as Azerbaijan's.

 

But...

 

You probably will be surprised that U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan,

Mornigstar, was denied access to the site in Julfa where Azerbaijan

destroyed a centuries old cemetery. What's really insufferable is that

the best this representative of the U.S. could muster, by way of a

reaction in an embassy press release, is, `I regret that the

authorities, citing security reasons, made it impossible for me to

visit the site and personally see what is there'. How pathetic is

that? Contact the State Department and tell them to instruct their

ambassador to develop a spine!

 

You probably will be surprised that at a regular U.S. state Department

briefing, responding to a question about the threats against civilian

aviation (regarding flights into/out of the new Sdepanagerd airport),

the spokesperson said `... the United States urges the parties to find a

diplomatic solution to issues relating to the operation of the

airport...' Wow, really, what a brilliant suggestion, who would have

ever thought of such a thing? Innocent lives are being threatened by a

government that canonizes axe murderers, and all we get is this lame

platitude.

 

You probably will be surprised that three members of the U.S. House of

Representatives - Rep. Hultgren (R-IL), Rep. Poe (R-TX), and Rep. Green

(D-TX) - have received a total of twenty contacts from foreign agents

or their hired representatives (in this case, mostly of Azerbaijan).

This kind of interaction must be reported by law, but there doesn't

seem to be much substance since the typical report, at least in the

compilation I saw, is quite opaque. Here's a sample: `Khayal

Sharif-zadeh from Azerbaijan America Alliance Corporation contacted

Luke Murry from Representative Poe's office on behalf of the

government of Azerbaijan regarding Update on the Alliance's Progress'.

This is probably the most worrisome phenomenon. Something may be

brewing, especially with the kind of money that Azeri and Turkish

outfits and agents are spending on their propaganda efforts. On the

other hand, this reveals that AAA is nothing more than a front for the

government of Azerbaijan. Also interesting is that one of the contacts

made was by none other than our old nemesis, former Speaker of the

House, Dennis Hastert, regarding Turkey.

 

It's time to start pushing back. If you live in the congressional

districts of any of the three people named above, call them, visit

them, write them. Make sure they know you're watching. That has a very

sobering effect on any elected official who wants to keep their seat!

It's up to us as citizens to counteract the massive, money- and lies-

based anti-Armenian campaign of Ilham Aliyev and what is laughably

referred to as the Republic of Azerbaijan.

[Yervant1]

http://asbarez.com/App/Asbarez/images/asbarez_01_460x101.jpg

 

Friday, March 8th, 2013

 

 

Turkish Ego

 

 

 

http://asbarez.com/App/Asbarez/eng/2013/03/Garen-Y.1-200x300.jpg

Garen Yegparian

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Once upon a time, bands of marauding horsemen started moving westward across Asia. They gained infamy for their brutality and established dominion over many native peoples.

Eventually, these horsemen became known as the Ak Koyunluh, Kara Koyunlu, Osmanluh, etc. Turks, or in other places Tatars, and eventually, in our time, even Azeris.

Of course they eventually settled down and, to maintain control, viciously assimilated the indigenous populations they had conquered.

Over time, the momentum and control generated by massacres and destruction faded. They actually had to govern, but weren’t very good at it. So while people outside their oppressive rule flourished, they languished or came to be ruled by others, some of whom were their former subjects. The best known example is the “sick man of Europe” as the Ottoman Empire came to be recognized.

In one last massive act of brutality, that empire committed genocide in a misguided effort to “save itself” from its own people! Then a world war came along and provided an opportunity for some enterprising Turks to reestablish their “glory” by taking advantage of the opening provided by the aftermath of that war— the beginning of the end for traditional empires.

Thus were born Turkey and Azerbaijan (T &A). But, they had a severe problem. Most nations, as they constitute states, have a history they can look upon with pride. What did T & A have? Murder and destruction and the abhorrence of all those they had mistreated for centuries. What were they to do?

Humans being creative, they came up with the idea of fabricating a totally non-factual history— something that their people could at least be proud of, a narrative that could be passed on to children who can sense bad things and avoid them. Unfortunately, such mythology cannot last, so a huge dose of pride- and ego- building accompanied the introduction of the new “history” so that people would fight to protect this concocted past.

Now, T & A have a double problem— a phony past and incredibly delicate ego, hence things like Section 301 of Turkey’s constitution (that makes it illegal to insult Turkey, the Turkish ethnicity, or Turkish government institutions) or the mistreatment of Ekrem Eylisli, the noted novelist who was stripped of his honors by Azerbaijani authorities when he dared write the truth about Azerbaijan’s murderous anti-Armenian doings, thereby “insulting” the country. This is also why megalomaniacs like Erdogan and Aliyev end up as leaders of their countries.

T & A are in the unenviable position of having to try to perpetuate the unsustainable. They have to whip up propaganda non-stop. They have to create enemies, internal and external. They have to feed their populace a constant diet of hate— hate against truth tellers, hate against Armenians, hate against minorities, hate against gays, hate against Jews, hate against Kurds, hate against… well, you get it, any target will do.

This frenzy of ego, fallacy, and hate is a toxic brew. You can see it, taste it, firsthand if you read postings by Turks (of either country) on various online sites. You can perceive it in the example a friend from Turkey once told me. Supposedly, the best way to drive a Turk into a fit of rage is to claim that Ataturk, the “founder” of today’s Turkey, was gay. Imagine the cognitive dissonance occurring in someone’s head who has been taught, simultaneously, to think of Ataturk as something like a god and of gays as people to be hated. Think also of the disconnect that any human will perceive when being taught how glorious his/her nation is, while seeing helpless people being murdered for no other reason than they are Armenian. Similarly, think of the disconnect when someone is taught how great their country is, while that same country glorifies someone who axe-murders a sleeping colleague.

I pity these poor people, but also extend my hand to them to come clean, with our help, so we can all return to our homes, rebuild our nations, and live decent lives.