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Is Armenia Ready For The Second Artsakh War With Azerbaijan?

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  • Is Armenia Ready For The Second Artsakh War With Azerbaijan?

    IS ARMENIA READY FOR THE SECOND ARTSAKH WAR WITH AZERBAIJAN?
    By Appo Jabarian

    USA Armenian Life Magazine
    May 14, 2010

    Recently, Azerbaijan has intensified its anti-Armenian propaganda
    threatening to ignite a new war with Armenia over Artsakh (Nagorno
    Karabagh).

    A recent Google search on "Azerbaijan Threatens War," revealed
    over 182,000 results in the form of news items and articles on the
    internet. A second search with the key words "Aliyev Threatens War"
    brought to the surface over 90,700 e-references.

    The first war between Artsakh Armenians and Azerbaijan started in
    1988 with initial skirmishes and escalated into a full-blown war in
    1991 and ended in 1994 with a resounding Armenian military victory.

    The current Azeri dictator, President Ilham Aliyev is eager to show
    results on Artsakh-related negotiations in order to help perpetuate
    his illegitimate presidency.

    One of the main objectives of this renewed psychological war is to
    coerce Armenians of Artsakh to give up their legitimate rights to
    self-determination and to "voluntarily" submit the now-liberated
    Armenian territories back to Azeri occupation.

    There is no question that the best way for Armenians to avert war is
    to be ready for war.

    One lucid question can help us clarify whether the Armenian side is
    ready for war: "How ready are Armenia, Artsakh and Armenians?"

    When the new Baku adventure starts, we should be ready and united in
    purpose, but I don't see it - I hope I'm wrong in this, but I can't see
    any signs of consciousness of the peril - AND THE OPPORTUNITIES - that
    we should be absolutely ready for, recently noted a concerned Armenian.

    Both Artsakh and Armenia can be exposed to danger if collectively we do
    not take Azeri threats seriously. Any kind of vulnerability can spell
    trouble and can cause irretrievable damage to the Armenian statehood.

    Fueling this imminent danger is the misconception among certain
    confused officials in Yerevan that "pacifying" Turkey by gifting them
    Artsakh and Western Armenia will save the current Armenian state. One
    can clearly see the existence of that perverse mentality behind their
    football and protocol "diplomacy."

    Are the Armenian Army and its high command less naive than the
    country's political leadership? And are they more prepared?

    Do they know that no matter how many concessions we make, Turkey
    will not tolerate Armenia and Artsakh to become economically and
    politically viable states?

    Are they aware that denialist Turkey is only interested in reducing
    the current Armenian states into a single Turkish satrapy?

    The concerned Armenian wrote: "In such a scenario, fortress Artsakh,
    with or without its people, of course, cannot exist. And without
    Artsakh, Armenia's south is as good as gone and you are left with
    Yerevan and its surroundings, an ideal (Pan-Armenian Movement)
    H.H.Sh.-style 'business' arena -- an Armenian community permanently
    held hostage to Turkic whims; actually not 'permanently' as it will
    be finished off within a generation or two through assimilation or
    further migration under pressure, if not through Hamidian or Young
    Turk genocidal belly dancing."

    On April 24, 2010, denialist Turks "celebrated" the genocide of 1.5
    million Armenians in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC.

    According to Turkish news reports, Turkey's Ambassador Namik Tan
    welcomed the jubilant crowd into the Embassy following the two hour
    gathering. On the one hand, official Yerevan should not shy away from
    confronting the danger to being neighbors with an unrepentant Turkey;
    and on the other hand, as an effective deterrent to new acts of
    genocide, it's absolutely crucial that on May 18, the French Senate
    adopts the law penalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide and
    the international community follows suit.

    Present day Armenia can not be viable in the long term without at least
    Nakhitchevan and its rail and road links to Iran. In fact, Azerbaijan
    and Turkey will never reconcile themselves with the existence of
    an Armenian state as long as we are not at least conscious of this
    strategic truth or taking any steps to address this threat head-on. The
    consequences of 1921 must be remedied before we can tackle those of
    1915 and 1895, wrote the pro-Armenia activist.

    Back in 1921, the infamous Soviet dictator Josef Stalin carved Artsakh
    and Nakhitchevan out of then newly Sovietized Armenian Republic
    and arbitrarily "awarded" to the then newly-created Soviet Republic
    of Azerbaijan.

    Both Artsakh and Nakhitchevan effectively underwent the process of
    Stalinization. The indigenous Armenian populations were politically
    and economically harassed by the Baku-based Soviet authorities in
    order to gradually drive them out. The Azeris were totally successful
    in depopulating Nakhitchevan, but they failed in Artsakh.

    "Instead of considering a ruinous 'land for peace deal' (Aghdam,
    Fizuli, and other lowlands of Artsakh) which will only whet the Turkish
    appetite for the next stage of destroying Armenia, we must be ready
    to inflict such huge territorial losses on Azerbaijan on the eastern
    front in the coming war that it will be prepared to cede Nakhitchevan
    in exchange for ceasefire by, and peace with Armenia, and say a final
    'good bye' to the idea of having any borders with its 'big brother'
    Turkey, and reconcile itself, if it doesn't fall apart altogether,
    to being a small state on the Caspian shores beyond Kur river and
    under Armenian, Russian and Iranian domination," he elaborated.

    "That's when Armenia will gain strategic depth and weight in the eyes
    of the world - Russia, U.S., China and Europe in the first place. And
    that's the only time when Ankara might consider sitting down with the
    Armenian people as an equal and to seriously negotiate with us and
    make amends for Armenian Genocide by returning the forcibly occupied
    Armenian lands; by making restitution for the real and personal
    properties. ... In the coming war, the key to Armenia's survival
    lies in, No Compromise with the Turks, and in No Handing over of any
    Armenian territory to the Turks. We must do the opposite. We must be
    ready to defend and extend Armenia's borders to Kur river in the east,
    and Arax river in the southeast, and in the southwest through the
    liberation of Nakhitchevan with its strategic rail and road networks
    which will place us in a good position to take the next step for the
    liberation of Western Armenia," he concluded.

    But here is the burning question: Can the Armenian people convince
    the oligarchs in Yerevan with their essentially HHSh-style thinking
    and ideology to act in the best interests of their people? Will they
    somehow get enlightened enough to abstain from plundering their own
    poverty-stricken people with a get-rich-quick mentality?

    If they don't, their misdeeds will ruin Armenia. Their insatiable
    appetite and greed for more illegal riches will continue to strangulate
    Armenia, and by extension, the Diaspora.

    As for the Armenian defense forces, there is no question that they
    will certainly emulate the 1991-1994 generation of freedom fighters
    who were armed by something much more than any sophisticated war
    machine - a strong conviction that they are and will be fighting for
    the liberation of ancestral soil. Whereas, the Azeris will be fighting
    - or refuse to fight for the occupation of lands that belong to the
    indigenous Armenians.

    Whether Armenians like it or not, they are facing a new kind of
    multi-front Sardarapat war.
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