Category: Authors

The intention is different, the outcome is different!

Prof. Dr. Ata Atun

As a person who knows and recognizes the Greeks and Greek Cypriots, their family structures, cultures, beliefs, education, humor, mindset, religious beliefs and feelings, I started to do research in the British Archives on the economic embargo, threats and arrest attempts that the Greek Cypriots and Greeks wanted to implement in Cyprus.

The subject I researched was who incited Greece to land troops in Izmir on May 15, 1919, without looking at its size, “with the aim of occupying the Western half of Anatolia and invading its lands”.

You can understand who encouraged Greece and why after reading historical documents related to Greece and a few other countries in a parallel and synchronous manner. You don’t even need to read all of them. When you read eight or ten documents, the mystery and uncertainty emerge.

The summary of the incident is as follows; The founder of the First World War is the Great British Empire, in other words, today’s England.
His eyes are on the oil fields in the Middle East.

The big goal is to break up the Ottoman Empire, which the Western states have managed to wear down and weaken after years of joint efforts, to seize the Middle East and North Africa, and to prevent it from getting back on its feet and getting stronger.

In line with the goal drawn from the First World War, which was started with a fictional event, when the Ottoman Empire is defeated, it is time for the second stage and to seize the lands of the Empire. And it is time to do so, but for this, the British Empire needs another million soldiers, weapons and ammunition.

The British Empire has limited resources, its army is tired and some of them are deployed in many parts of the world for exploitation purposes. Since recalling its soldiers from the colonies would mean losing the colonies, another solution must be found. The most ingenious, applicable and not a burden on the British treasury solution would be to have the allies occupy Anatolia and keep the Ottoman army busy with these invaders.

The idea is immediately put into practice. The Greeks, Italians, French, Armenians and Russians descend on Anatolia.

Those who know know. When the Greeks feel that there are powerful people behind them, they think of themselves as lions, the kings of the forests, and in a state of power drunkenness they attack those they consider enemies. They gain courage, in a way… Their mindset has been like this for centuries.

Indeed, their dreams of occupying Anatolia and annexing it to the lands of the Kingdom of Greece, which began with a great show and ostentation by setting foot in Izmir on May 15, 1919, resulted in their having to flee Izmir, where they had set foot 3 years earlier, on September 9, 1922, leaving eighty percent of the Greek army buried underground in Anatolia.

They made the same mistake in Cyprus.
Thinking that they were the owners of the island, they attacked the Turkish Cypriots on the morning of December 21, 1963, in order to become the absolute ruler of the island of Cyprus and to annex the island to Greece. The Atlantic Alliance was behind them.

On March 4, 1964, with the decision taken by the United Nations, a subsidiary of the Atlantic Alliance, they believed themselves to be the legal government of the island and launched armed attacks on the Turkish Cypriots on August 6, 1964 and November 15, 1967, ending in disappointment, while the coup they launched on July 15, 1974, with the aim of annexing the island of Cyprus to Greece, ended in a great defeat and a national disaster for them.

It is clear that the Greeks and the Greeks have still not learned a lesson from the past.

With the Atlantic Alliance as their back, they have launched an economic and legal attack with the aim of financially destroying the Turkish Cypriots and making them dependent on them, and they are applying all the pressure they can. One of these is making an agreement with tour operators not to cross into the TRNC. However, it is certain that they will be under this mindless attack again at the end of the process.
They still do not even realize that they are forcing the Turkish Cypriots to annex to Turkey and become part of the Motherland in order to escape all kinds of isolation, embargo, economic pressure and restrictions that they are trying to impose.

Prof. Dr. (Civil Eng.), Assoc. Prof. Dr. (UA. Relation.) Ata ATUN
TRNC President Advisory Board Member
TRNC Republic Assembly 1st Term Deputy

August 27, 2024
Erdogan Is Said to Have Divine Attributes:“Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”

In his article in the Nordic Monitor, Abdullah Bozkurt wrote about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shrouding himself with the attributes of God, or Allah. Erdogan’s subservient inner circle reinforces that self-aggrandizing and exaggerated view by claiming that he has divine powers. The article is titled, “Turkey’s president suffers from a God complex, revered for attributes belonging to Allah and the Prophet.”

Bozkurt starts his article by describing Erdogan as “a leader who believes he possesses superior abilities and apparently suffers from a God complex… Erdogan has decimated the opposition, imprisoned his critics and opponents, consolidated all levers of power in his hands, destroyed checks and balances and become the sole decision-maker on all matters in his own country. His inflated view of his abilities and infallibility, coupled with the presence of yes-men surrounding him, reinforces his narcissistic personality and shores up his superiority complex. He considers himself the caliph, the leader of the entire Muslim community worldwide, and therefore believes he deserves special consideration.”

Bozkurt recalls that after Erdogan’s party’s (AKP) defeat in the March 2024 parliamentary elections, he said on April 17: “Ladies and gentlemen! Let everyone see and know this: nothing is over until we say it’s over.” This innocent sounding statement turns out to have “shocking ramifications… in the context of political Islamic circles, [challenging] the divine will of Allah, one of the six main pillars of Islam, which means Allah is the ultimate decision-maker and everything happens only according to His divine will. The remark reflects Erdogan’s inner thinking as he has become accustomed to being the final arbiter in Turkish matters after a long rule of near-absolute power. Erdogan did not utter these words in a vacuum; he has a long track record of seeing himself in such a godly manner. The worshipful praise from his followers has certainly contributed to shaping the president’s psyche.”

While speaking at a campaign rally in March 2024, Erdogan said, “We have come for mercy, not for wrath. Our mercy will prevail over our wrath.” By describing his government’s reaction to his critics and opponents in such a manner, Erdogan made “a direct reference to Allah’s unique attribute in the conventional Islamic school of thought, which was described in a saying of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad: ‘When Allah decreed the creation, He pledged Himself by writing in His Book which is laid down with Him: My Mercy prevails over My Wrath.’ Milli Gazete, the newspaper of the opposition Islamic political Saadet Party wrote: Erdogan ‘associating himself with the attributes of Allah astonished the audience.’”

Erdogan’s associates and senior members of his ruling party, engaging in sycophancy, make exaggerated statements reinforcing his claim of possessing superior powers. Here are some of the examples Bozkurt provided:

“In July 2011, the AKP’s then-Bursa deputy Huseyin Shahin stated after talking and visiting Erdogan that ‘even touching our esteemed Prime Minister [Erdogan], I believe, is an act of worship. I’m saying this because even his presence energizes us.’”

“Fevai Arslan, another lawmaker from Erdogan’s ruling AKP, said in January 2014, ‘There is Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a leader who embodies all the attributes of Allah. They wanted to thwart him.’”

“Zulfu Tolga Aghar, a long-time AKP lawmaker, likened Erdogan to God in a speech he made in August 2019, stating, ‘When we are told about the President, it feels like we are being told about Allah.’”

“Addressing some 1,500-party faithful in November 2009, Ismail Hakkı Eser, the AKP’s then-Aydın provincial office head, told the crowd, ‘Let no one doubt the love and respect our people under this roof have for our Prime Minister [Erdogan]. We are devoted to our Prime Minister; he is like a second prophet to us.’”

“Former EU affairs minister Egemen Baghish declared several cities to be holy, akin to the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Medina, in February 2013, saying, ‘Rize, Istanbul and Siirt are holy cities because these three cities have been instrumental in the birth of the greatest leader in the history of the Republic of Turkey.’ Rize is Erdogan’s family’s home province, while Istanbul is where he was brought up and entered politics. Siirt, his wife’s home province, is the constituency where he was elected to parliament for the first time in a March 2003 repeat election. Despite being incriminated in a multi-million dollar graft scheme, Erdogan stood by Baghish and appointed him ambassador to the Czech Republic.”

“Some went as far as saying that Erdogan surpassed the Islamic Prophet. Efkan Ala, then interior minister, said, ‘Prophet Muhammad was overtaken by pride, so God warned him. We, on the other hand, will not be tempted by pride.’ Ala’s successor, Suleyman Soylu, claimed in December 2021 that the work of the Erdogan government was the work of Allah. ‘Don’t just look at what we do. We don’t do it by ourselves. We believe that it is Allah who makes us do it.’”

“In February 2010, Oktay Saral, an AKP politician who governed the Of district of Trabzon province, called for the worship of Erdogan and said that a prayer of gratitude, similar to Muslim rituals for God, must be performed because Erdogan is the blessed leader of the Islamic world.”

“Some of Erdogan’s deputies likened his speeches to the Sunnah, which refers to the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad and is considered to be the second authoritative source of knowledge for Muslims after the holy Quran.”

Bozkurt added: “There have been dozens of instances of God-like attributions made for Erdogan during his more than two decades of rule in Turkey. None of them were challenged by Erdogan himself, who appeared to enjoy such praise. In his self-perception, perhaps he feels like a god or a God-chosen messenger who came to power to lead Muslims all over the world.”

“Compounding matters further is that President Erdogan is surrounded by yes-men and women who worship him and dare not utter views that would displease him. The profile of people he has chosen to include in his inner circle paints a picture of those who shy away from critical thinking and avoid challenging views in the governance of the country. In reality, Erdogan is nothing but a thug, a narcissistic dictator who abuses religion for his political ambitions while enriching his family members and associates with billions of dollars through pervasive corruption in his administration and profits from all sorts of illicit business activities and criminal enterprises,” Bozkurt concluded.

August 17, 2024
Turkey Allocated $544 Million to Invigorate Its Communities in Foreign Countries

Two months ago, I wrote an analysis titled: “Turkey is Backing its Citizens Abroad, While Armenia is Alienating its Diaspora.” It was based on an article by Abdullah Bozkurt in the Nordic Monitor: “Turkey is expanding its Diaspora engagement to promote political goals abroad.”

Last week, Bozkurt published a follow-up article titled: “Turkey poised to intensify its interference in the domestic affairs of other countries using the Turkish Diaspora.” It provides further details about the Turkish government’s efforts to set up proxy groups using its citizens abroad. In contrast, Armenia is alienating its Diaspora by creating rifts and banning some of them from entering the country. Given the serious crisis Armenia is in, its government should be doing everything possible to entice compatriots abroad to visit their homeland, invest in the country, and bring over their knowledge and skills. The Diaspora is a valuable asset for Armenia, not a ‘milking cow.’

The powerful Turkish State, which doesn’t really need the help of its citizens abroad, is nurturing and strengthening its Diaspora. The Turkish government has allocated a budget of $544.2 million for the years 2024-28 to its Diaspora agency, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB in Turkish). Its strategic plan is “to foster a stronger allegiance to Turkey on the part of people in the Turkish Diaspora, with increased financial and other support from the Erdogan government.”

Bozkurt explained that the real aim of the Turkish government is “to exert greater influence over the domestic politics of European nations by actively supporting Turkish and Muslim communities in their political engagement, as revealed by the head of the government’s diaspora agency during testimony before a parliamentary committee.” Abdullah Eren, head of YTB, told the Turkish Parliament on July 17 that he “could reveal more in a closed-door session, from which the record of his comments would not be made public.”

The reason for Eren’s secrecy is that YTB is “supported by Turkish agencies that work with Diaspora groups, such as the Turkish intelligence organization MIT, Foreign Service, Maarif Foundation, Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), Yunus Emre Institute and Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency.” The aim is “to place more pro-Turkish politicians on the political map abroad. Their efforts are particularly focused on Europe, where the bulk of Turkish Diaspora groups reside. In the last decade the Erdogan government has supported the establishment of smaller political parties in Europe, particularly those driven by religious agendas. It has endorsed candidates working in established mainstream parties, expecting them to act as proxies for Turkish government policies. However, the results have been unsatisfactory so far, prompting the Turkish government to vow increased efforts to fulfill what it describes as a strategic goal.”

According to Seda Goren Boluk, the chair of the parliamentary committee overseeing YTB, “the target population in the Diaspora is nearly 40 million, consisting of approximately 7 million Turks and over 30 million people from related [Muslim] communities in other countries. She vowed to do everything possible to address issues concerning Diaspora groups in order to empower the Turkish nation.”

According to a YTB survey, “among the youth in the Turkish Diaspora, estimated to be around 2 million strong and now in its fourth generation, one-third of respondents expressed a desire to be proactive in the politics of European countries and sustain their campaigns.” Another third of the Turkish youth abroad “intends to conceal their true intentions and launch their campaigns on behalf of Turkey only after securing key positions in mainstream political parties.” The last third said that they have zero interest in getting involved in politics.

To encourage Turkish youth to get involved in the politics of the countries they live in, Eren cited the example of “Serap Guler, a German politician of Turkish background in the CDU [Christian Democratic Union] and a member of the Bundestag [German Parliament] since 2021. Despite expressing some criticism towards Turkey in the past, Guler has maintained contact with the Turkish embassy and Turkish government institutions.”

The overcome the legal and political challenges of Turks living overseas, YTB urged the Turkish government “to utilize its diplomatic influence and public diplomacy tools to exert pressure on foreign countries to lift these restrictions on Turkish Diaspora groups.”

YTB “has already been collaborating with numerous groups operating in Europe and other continents, providing them with funding, logistical, and technical support to enhance their effectiveness.” YTB participated in Ankara in early May “in a program organized by the Union of International Democrats, an organization that acts as a foreign interest group representing Erdogan’s ruling AKP abroad.”

YTB “brings 4,000 young men and women to Turkey every year under various schemes for training and education in camps maintained by Turkey’s Ministry for Youth and Sports. According to Eren, many young Turkish engineers studying in Europe have been enrolled in internship programs in what he termed ‘critical industries,’ such as defense and military technologies. He identified state-owned defense contractors like Aselsan and Tusash as venues where these individuals were recruited for internships.”

Eren stated that “groups critical of and opposed to the Erdogan government [are] a threat to achieving YTB’s stated goals since they undermine the Turkish government’s policies in the Diaspora. This includes the Gulen movement, Kurdish opposition groups, and Alevis.”

It remains to be seen how governments in Europe and the United States will deal with the Erdogan government’s proxy groups which are considered to be unregistered foreign agents.

August 17, 2024
Should Pashinyan Go to Baku at Aliyev’s Invitation to Attend an Int’l Conference?

Hikmet Hajiyev, Head of Foreign Policy Department of Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, announced on July 21 that Armenia was officially invited to the United Nations’ International Conference on Climate Change (COP29) to be held in Baku, Nov. 11-22. Hajiyev said that the invitation was sent by Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, to the Armenian Foreign Ministry. Even though all UN members are automatically invited, Hajiyev made it sound like Azerbaijan was doing a special favor to Armenia by describing the invitation as a “goodwill and inclusive approach in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.” Hajiyev added: “Now is the time for the Armenian authorities to make a decision.”

Armenian officials have not issued a formal response to the invitation. They have made two evasive comments: The spokeswoman of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: “such a visit is not planned in the work agenda of the Prime Minister,” and the spokeswoman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told a journalist: “we will inform you in case the issue is addressed.”

Baku claims that there will be 70-80,000 tourists visiting Baku on that occasion. Thousands of journalists, delegates of international environmental organizations, high-ranking officials of various governments and dozens of heads of state from around the world are expected to attend the Conference. 198 countries are parties to the Convention on Climate Change.

On Dec. 7, 2023, the Armenian Prime Minister’s office and the Azerbaijani President’s administration had issued a joint declaration disclosing that in return for Armenia not exercising its veto power on Azerbaijan hosting the Climate conference, Azerbaijan would release 32 Armenian Prisoners of War held in Baku, and Armenia in turn would release two Azeri soldiers who were captured after crossing Armenia’s border and murdering an Armenian citizen. In addition, Azerbaijan agreed to support Armenia’s candidacy to the Eastern Europe Group‘s Bureau of COP29. At the time, I wrote that Pres. Aliyev was so obsessed with holding this prestigious international conference in Baku that Armenia should have insisted that Azerbaijan release all of the Armenian Prisoners of War held in Baku since the 2020 war as well as the eight high-ranking Artsakh officials held since September 2023.

In recent months, at several international gatherings, Pres. Aliyev has boasted about Azerbaijan hosting the COP29 Conference, attributing that to “the increasing international respect for his country, two and a half month after” its occupation and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. “Chairing the COP29 and holding this event in Baku is a clear example of the great trust that the international community has in our country. Almost 200 countries unanimously supported our candidacy,” Aliyev bragged.

Pashinyan will respond to Azerbaijan’s invitation to participate in the COP29 Conference in Baku at a press conference in August, according to the Government Information and Public Relations Department of Armenia.

Azeri officials have raised the possibility of Pashinyan and Aliyev signing during the November Conference in Baku a preliminary agreement outlining the basic principles of an eventual peace treaty. Hajiyev is touting the idea of “COP Truce,” suspending all hostilities around the world during the conference, similar to the concept of “Olympic Truce” to promote its false image as a peacemaker. At the end of May, Elchin Amirbekov, the Azerbaijani president’s Special Envoy, mentioned that the Conference could be a good opportunity for signing a peace treaty with Armenia.

During his press conference on May 7, Pashinyan said that Yerevan agrees to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan before November. However, the Armenian Foreign Ministry warned on June 19 that “Azerbaijan will do everything possible to abort the process of signing a peace treaty with Armenia in November during the COP29 Summit in Baku in order to unleash a new aggression against the Republic of Armenia.”

It is not known what Pashinyan will announce in August regarding his possible participation in the Baku Conference in November. However, in my opinion, Pashinyan should avoid falling in the trap set by Aliyev to gain bonus points in front of a worldwide audience at the expense of Armenia by showcasing the attendance of Pashinyan or his representative in the Conference in Baku. This would be a major coup for Aliyev, acting as a peacemaker, while continuing to make regular threats to Armenia and escalating his demands for concessions from Armenia. Furthermore, signing a piece of paper under the guise of a peace treaty will not obstruct Aliyev from any future attacks on Armenia.

I believe that no Armenian official should consider going to Baku, while Azerbaijan is holding dozens of Armenian Prisoners of War and occupying parts of the Republic of Armenia since 2021. Without Azerbaijan first releasing all of the Armenian prisoners and withdrawing from Armenia, no Armenian official should go to Azerbaijan nor hold any kind of meeting or negotiation with Baku.

A less desirable alternative would be for Pashinyan or his representative to go to Baku and demand to address the international conference of 196 nations, condemning Azerbaijan’s repeated threats to invade Armenia, castigating its occupation of Artsakh, ethnic cleansing of 120,000 Artsakh Armenians, refusal to allow them to return to their ancestral homeland under international guarantees, not releasing all of the Armenian Prisoners of War, and not withdrawing the Azeri troops from Armenia.

However, there is a good chance that Azerbaijan may renege on its promise to allow Armenia’s representative to address the conference at the last minute. A much better option for Armenia would be to refuse to attend the conference unless Azerbaijan releases the Armenian Prisoners of War and withdraws its troops from Armenia in advance of the conference.

August 9, 2024
Armenia’s Top Leaders on Vacation: Some Hope They Wouldn’t Come Back

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s office surprisingly announced that he was going on a long vacation from July 15 to August 12. More shockingly, several other officials of Armenia had decided to go on vacation at the same time, leaving the country without its top leadership.

I would have had no concern if Pashinyan had gone on a one or even two-week long vacation. Everyone needs a break from time to time. But, the top leader of the country going on vacation for almost a month is incredible. I have not heard of the leader of any country in the world having gone on a 29-day vacation.

Besides the astonishing length of the absence of the Prime Minister from office, I have three other concerns:

1)    There seems to be no basic understanding that several of the country’s leaders cannot be absent from office at the same time. What if, God forbid, would a war break out or some other serious emergency occur? Normally, when the leader of any country is temporarily absent, his deputy performs his functions — not in Armenia. Several members of the Armenia media reported that the Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, who is supposed to replace the Prime Minister during his absence, has also gone on vacation for nine days during the same period. Fortunately, there is a second Deputy Prime Minister who will fulfill the duties of Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Speaker of the Parliament, Alen Simonyan, decided to go on vacation for 20 days from July 16 to August 5. He will be replaced by Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan (July 16-22) and Deputy Speaker Hakob Arshakyan (July 23-August 5). Also on vacation are Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan (for 10 days) and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (until July 22).

2)    If the leaders of Switzerland were to be absent from their offices for days, weeks or even months, nothing untoward would happen, since the country is located in a peaceful part of the world. Regrettably, Armenia is located in a precarious region with constant threats from Azerbaijan. Armenia’s leaders have to be constantly on alert and work diligently to solve its myriad problems. Under these circumstances, their going on lengthy and simultaneous vacations is reckless and irresponsible.

3)    Finally, Pashinyan announced last month that Armenia is ready to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan in one month. Why would he then turn around and go on vacation for a month? Shouldn’t he be in his office, if, by a miracle, Pres. Aliyev agreed to sign such a treaty which I believe is not only useless, but also contrary to Armenia’s interests? Aliyev is cleverly stringing along the signing of a peace treaty to extort endless concessions from Armenia!

Even though the leadership’s wholesale absence entails a major risk for the country, many Armenians are not too concerned. On the contrary, they are happy that the leaders are away from office so they can do less damage to the country’s interests. Some members of the public are hoping that these leaders would remain on permanent vacation and not return to their positions.

Some of the readers feel that I am too critical of Pashinyan. While it is true that no one is perfect, starting from me, the Prime Minister goes to extensive lengths to make egregious errors and baseless statements which would have been laughable, if they did not have such serious consequences. Hundreds of such examples come to mind. Let us just mention the latest example when the Prime Minister along with his wife attended the UEFA’s Soccer championship game on July 14 in Berlin.

Pashinyan, obsessed with social media, regularly posts on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter (X), and YouTube, all of his speeches, meetings, and visits. Unlike other world leaders, he walks around with one or two cell phones in his hand.

During the soccer match in Berlin, he placed his cell phone in front of him and videotaped, not the match, but his own face, adding a bizarre song to the video by a 31-year-old female American singer known as Tinashe. Wikipedia described the song titled, “Nasty,” as “an understated R&B and rhythmic pop song on which Tinashe ‘rap-sings’ about searching for someone to match her sexual energy, which she alternately calls her ‘freak’ and her ‘nasty’, while also using several double entendres. The song has a ‘robotic’ hook and, in its second verse, she details a sexually charged date night, singing ‘Shotgun, my thighs on the seat, I ain’t got nothin’ underneath, Looks like you’re ’bout to spend the night, Looks like, I’m ’bout to change your life.’”

Why would the Prime Minister of Armenia add such an inappropriate song to his video that has “Nasty” lyrics, with the word “nasty’ repeated 59 times in the song?

Surprisingly, Pashinyan’s video along with the song, “Nasty,” was reported by TV channel 5 in Los Angeles. The headline of the segment on TV was: “Pashinyan & wife in Berlin at Euro Soccer Finals, Listening to ‘Nasty’ Song.” The TV channel asked: “What do the 2024 European Championship final, Tinashe and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have in common?” My answer: Absolutely nothing!

Channel 5 reported that Pashinyan posted on TikTok a second video showing the victory celebration at the end of the soccer match, once again adding the song “Nasty.” The TV channel stated: “It is not known why he chose the one-time Crescenta Valley High School student’s song as the background music for the two videos. It is also not known how exactly he found the song in the first place.”

It is almost impossible to explain the Prime Minister’s actions and motives. Maybe, he is looking for a Hollywood gig after he is no longer Prime Minister.

August 9, 2024
A Fresh Example of Armenian Dirty Propaganda

By Azer HASRET

We in Azerbaijan see and know what does mean Armenian fake propaganda because we face it at the everyday level and usually try to answer in a related manner. But the Armenian propaganda machine uses even any tiny shell to spread lies and fake information about Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and other Turkic countries…

Now I’m providing an example of the fake propaganda action by Armenians once more.

On August 1, 2024, there was a regular State Department Press Briefing at the White House. Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson made a brief introduction and afterwards answered the questions of journalists.

Let’s see a question by a journalist (maybe Armenian, we don’t know):

Question: “There are Armenian POWs in the jails of Azerbaijan for four years by now, and there are Armenian local politicians from Nagorno-Karabakh again in the prisons of Azerbaijan for nearly one year after Azerbaijan launched another unprovoked attack last fall. According to Freedom House, after Karabakh territory came under Azerbaijani control, Karabakh is the most unfree territory in the world. It’s worse than North Korea. It’s worse than Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, you name it”.

This is the first part of the question. The person addressing the question claims that “there are Armenian POWs in the jails of Azerbaijan”.

Are there any?

Not of course! Because all POWs captured during the 44-day war of 2020 were returned to Armenia! Thus, Azerbaijan does not have any single Armenian POW at its disposal…

But why does Armenian propaganda claim that Azerbaijan has the Armenian POWs?

This is purely for propaganda purposes! Armenians know that they need to bring this issue to the attention of the world in a way where people can think that Azerbaijan is so inhumane and keeps POWs. Of course, many million people around the world do not know the realities in the region. Even most of them don’t know where Armenia is, who Armenians are, and so on. But propaganda works anyway…

Then this very “journalist” quotes the Freedom House claiming that “Karabakh is the most unfree territory in the world. It’s worse than North Korea. It’s worse than Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan”.

Are we surprised?

No!

Because this very Freedom House is a propaganda tool as well to suppress new emerging democracies. This organization has been known for its pro-Armenian stance for dozens of years! It was and is supporting Armenian separatism while being silent about more than 250 thousand Azerbaijanis forcefully expelled from Armenia and those 750 thousand IDPs forced off from Karabakh by Armenian occupants!

Just for a reminder, starting from 1988 Armenia expelled all Azerbaijanis from its territory. Hundreds of Azerbaijanis were killed, and their homes were looted by Armenians. This move served as the start of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict back in those years. Then Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands early in the 1990s and forced out 750 thousand inhabitants! Azerbaijan managed to free its lands from Armenia’s occupation only after 30 years and during this movement, Armenian inhabitants (approximately 70 thousand people) voluntarily left Karabakh while Azerbaijan repeatedly asked them to stay…

So why the Freedom House is claiming that Karabakh is the most unfree territory? Those 750 thousand Azerbaijanis need to return to Karabakh but can’t because Armenians have wiped off any single home in that territory. That’s why very few people live there and there can’t be any evolution regarding freedoms in that area. The lands freed from Armenian occupation are covered with landmines and even it’s dangerous to walk around.

Let’s see why and how the Freedom House decided that “Karabakh is worse than North Korea”.

Maybe because the Freedom House’s Vice President for Policy and Advocacy is Annie Wilcox Boyajian, whose husband is an Armenian for example?..

This was the first part of the question of blackmailing Azerbaijan. But a “journalist” continues further with his attempt to blackmail Azerbaijan. Let’s see the second part of the question.

Question: “So the question is whether you follow this situation with the collapse of liberties and civil society in Nagorno-Karabakh, if you have any comments on this, and is there anything that this administration can do to help the detained Armenians in – that are jailed in Azerbaijan, whether to – you can help them to release – to be released or assist in any other form? Thank you”.

“Liberties and civil society in Nagorno-Karabakh”? Isn’t this a bit strange? Who can speak about the liberties and civil society in any territory that was under the occupation of a foreign country? In our case, we speak about the Azerbaijani Karabakh region which was under Armenia’s occupation for about 30 years and thus there couldn’t be any sign of liberties and civil society. But this Armenian propaganda mouthpiece claims that “liberties and civil society collapsed” in Karabakh…

What is good, Vedant Patel’s answer was quite accurate, and the terms used were selected very carefully. Let’s see.

MR PATEL: “So, on the context of the broader situation in the South Caucasus, this is something that the Secretary and the department continue to be deeply engaged on. I don’t have any updates for you as it relates to that process. And look, when it comes to detainees, we have been clear and consistent that any country needs to treat all detainees humanely, with dignity, and in accordance with international law, and needs to respect detainees’ human rights, and that continues to be true in this case as well”.

No single word about the so-called POWs! And no mention of Azerbaijan!

The State Department and the US Administration know quite well what is what in the South Caucasus!

And now let’s be clear with those detainees to whom Vedant Patel is paying attention. Yes, Azerbaijan has Armenian detainees. But they are not the citizens of Armenia (except one) and none of them was captured during the war actions. All of them are tried for being a part of an organized crime against civilians which caused the killing of hundreds of people. At the same time, they are citizens of Azerbaijan of Armenian origin, and they need to answer for those killings before the court. This is very simple and understandable, and the US Administration and other major international actors have quite enough information about this…

Now let’s pay attention to the report by Armenian media which claims that Vedant Patel spoke about “Armenian POWs”.

The headline at the News.am reads: “Patel: US State Department is deeply engaged on matter of Armenian POWs held by Azerbaijan”.

Further, the news reads: “On the context of the broader situation in the South Caucasus, the US Secretary of State and the Department continue to be deeply engaged on the matter of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) being held in Azerbaijan. Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, noted about this at Thursday’s Department press briefing”.

Did Vedant Patel use the wording like “Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) being held in Azerbaijan”?

Not of course!

We have quoted Vedant Patel’s answer to this question in full and as we mentioned above, he was quite accurate in using the terms. But the Armenian fake propaganda machine claims, that Vedant Patel spoke about “Armenian POWs”…

So, this is a way how Armenian propaganda works. Most people who read Armenian-style “news” usually don’t investigate the origins. It is usual and understandable for all people around the world. Because those not engaged in politics and news-making are not professionals and they used to believe the media. And Armenians use this opportunity for their ugly propaganda…

August 2, 2024