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AZERBAIJAN STEPS UP "ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA"
by Vardan Grigoryan
Hayots Ashkharh
Oct 8 2008
Armenia
After the Russian-Georgian armed conflict, the Azerbaijani government,
which has temporarily lost its foreign policy reference marks and
propaganda, has recovered and shifted to a coordinated offensive again.
By immediately responding to the situation at all "fronts", Azerbaijan
started to apply a strategy of pushing the countries interested
in the region to put pressure on Armenia on the issue of Nagornyy
Karabakh. If it is not difficult to expect that in the example of
Turkey, the latest expression of which was President Abdullah Gul's
saying that the opening of the [Turkish-Armenian] border depends on the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. This statement was made in New
York. Meanwhile, Baku's first steps for having a deal with Russia on
this issue has failed because of the excessive appetite of Azerbaijan.
Irrespective of this, as Baku's reaction to a recent statement by
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has shown, they [Azerbaijan]
still have the hope that they will succeed in using the existing
situation in the region to extort concessions from Armenia on all
disputed issues in the negotiations.
The logic which the head of the foreign relations department of the
Azerbaijani presidential executive staff, Novruz Mammadov, mentioned
while responding to Lavrov's words, is based on the hypothesis that
after the Russian-Georgian war only Armenia has to make concessions
to open communications bypassing Georgia, which are needed by Russia.
A question arises: Is it possible to open the same communications
without Armenia's consent? The Baku propagandists say that the talk is
not about consent but about a wish, because Armenia's communications
and its economic situation have considerably deteriorated after the
Russian-Georgian armed conflict.
It is painful that the same idea was mentioned in the recent statement
by the Russian foreign minister. Lavrov said in particular that as a
result of the August events the problems with the supply of Armenian
goods through Georgia show "the urgency and the absolute necessity
of a quick settlement" of the Karabakh conflict.
Meanwhile, basic economic calculations show that Azerbaijan has
incurred at least twice as bigger losses due to the August events, as
a result of which oil supplies to both the Georgian Qulevi terminal
on the coast of the Black Sea and the operation of the Baku-Ceyhan
[oil pipeline] stopped. So in its current PR company to settle the
Karabakh issue in a speedy way and at the expense of Armenia only,
Azerbaijan in fact uses Russia's interest in the opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border and in breaking the isolation of the Russian
military base in [the Armenian town of] Gyumri - trying to "furnish"
it with tales about Armenia's grave economic situation.
The false report announced by the head of the Patriotic Union of
Azerbaijani Cossacks, V. Mereshkin, that as though Armenians lay
claim to Russian territories, in particular, to the city of Armavir
in Krasnodar Territory, are attempts to use "the Russian playing
card". Such false reports were disseminated by Baku also in the 1990s
and even in the beginning of the 20th century.
[Passage omitted: reiteration of Azerbaijan's attempts to use the
Russian factor.]
Another target of the anti-Armenian propaganda is Israel, where a
book by a well-known Azerbaijani history-builder, Rovsan Mustafayev,
was published about the "genocide" of mountain Jews by Armenians in
1918. At issue is the misrepresentation of the well-known military
campaign by the Baku Commune [a Bolshevik government which ruled Baku
in 1918] in order to prevent the massacre of Armenians and Russians
by Turkish and Tatar officers in Quba and Samaxi [towns in Azerbaijan].
It is clear that the Jewish people, which preserved the memory of
the Holocaust, is extremely sensitive to such topics. Therefore,
the Armenian side and, first of all, our scientists and the Armenian
community of Jerusalem should publish corresponding articles in
the Israeli press and show with facts that in reality Turks and
Azerbaijanis massacred Jews after conquering Baku on 15 September 1918.
Thus, unlike the Armenian PR campaign, which has recently been focused
on searching for schemes for expanding peace and cooperation in the
region, Azerbaijan persistently continues spreading anti-Armenian
calumny. These are aimed at pitting Armenia against all its neighbours,
friends and even neutral countries.
by Vardan Grigoryan
Hayots Ashkharh
Oct 8 2008
Armenia
After the Russian-Georgian armed conflict, the Azerbaijani government,
which has temporarily lost its foreign policy reference marks and
propaganda, has recovered and shifted to a coordinated offensive again.
By immediately responding to the situation at all "fronts", Azerbaijan
started to apply a strategy of pushing the countries interested
in the region to put pressure on Armenia on the issue of Nagornyy
Karabakh. If it is not difficult to expect that in the example of
Turkey, the latest expression of which was President Abdullah Gul's
saying that the opening of the [Turkish-Armenian] border depends on the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. This statement was made in New
York. Meanwhile, Baku's first steps for having a deal with Russia on
this issue has failed because of the excessive appetite of Azerbaijan.
Irrespective of this, as Baku's reaction to a recent statement by
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has shown, they [Azerbaijan]
still have the hope that they will succeed in using the existing
situation in the region to extort concessions from Armenia on all
disputed issues in the negotiations.
The logic which the head of the foreign relations department of the
Azerbaijani presidential executive staff, Novruz Mammadov, mentioned
while responding to Lavrov's words, is based on the hypothesis that
after the Russian-Georgian war only Armenia has to make concessions
to open communications bypassing Georgia, which are needed by Russia.
A question arises: Is it possible to open the same communications
without Armenia's consent? The Baku propagandists say that the talk is
not about consent but about a wish, because Armenia's communications
and its economic situation have considerably deteriorated after the
Russian-Georgian armed conflict.
It is painful that the same idea was mentioned in the recent statement
by the Russian foreign minister. Lavrov said in particular that as a
result of the August events the problems with the supply of Armenian
goods through Georgia show "the urgency and the absolute necessity
of a quick settlement" of the Karabakh conflict.
Meanwhile, basic economic calculations show that Azerbaijan has
incurred at least twice as bigger losses due to the August events, as
a result of which oil supplies to both the Georgian Qulevi terminal
on the coast of the Black Sea and the operation of the Baku-Ceyhan
[oil pipeline] stopped. So in its current PR company to settle the
Karabakh issue in a speedy way and at the expense of Armenia only,
Azerbaijan in fact uses Russia's interest in the opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border and in breaking the isolation of the Russian
military base in [the Armenian town of] Gyumri - trying to "furnish"
it with tales about Armenia's grave economic situation.
The false report announced by the head of the Patriotic Union of
Azerbaijani Cossacks, V. Mereshkin, that as though Armenians lay
claim to Russian territories, in particular, to the city of Armavir
in Krasnodar Territory, are attempts to use "the Russian playing
card". Such false reports were disseminated by Baku also in the 1990s
and even in the beginning of the 20th century.
[Passage omitted: reiteration of Azerbaijan's attempts to use the
Russian factor.]
Another target of the anti-Armenian propaganda is Israel, where a
book by a well-known Azerbaijani history-builder, Rovsan Mustafayev,
was published about the "genocide" of mountain Jews by Armenians in
1918. At issue is the misrepresentation of the well-known military
campaign by the Baku Commune [a Bolshevik government which ruled Baku
in 1918] in order to prevent the massacre of Armenians and Russians
by Turkish and Tatar officers in Quba and Samaxi [towns in Azerbaijan].
It is clear that the Jewish people, which preserved the memory of
the Holocaust, is extremely sensitive to such topics. Therefore,
the Armenian side and, first of all, our scientists and the Armenian
community of Jerusalem should publish corresponding articles in
the Israeli press and show with facts that in reality Turks and
Azerbaijanis massacred Jews after conquering Baku on 15 September 1918.
Thus, unlike the Armenian PR campaign, which has recently been focused
on searching for schemes for expanding peace and cooperation in the
region, Azerbaijan persistently continues spreading anti-Armenian
calumny. These are aimed at pitting Armenia against all its neighbours,
friends and even neutral countries.