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Latvijas Avize, Latvia
May 9 2013
Strategic Choice
[Latvian daily praises government's support for Azerbaijan]
Commentary by Franks Gordons
The trio of Transcaucasian countries -- Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan -- are undergoing unending tensions in the arena of
"national" and international conflicts and debates.
Much interest was attracted by Latvian President Andris Berzins'
official visit to Azerbaijan in the company of an impressive
delegation of businesspeople. On the eve of the visit, Latvijas
Avizepublished a brilliant report by Egils Licitis about Azerbaijan as
a country which is rich with energy resources and is dynamic in
economic terms. Ina Oskaja from Vesti Segodniyaaccompanied the
President on the visit and then published a fairly positive report
about it under the title "Merci, Baku!"
Response to Visit
Although I believe that this visit was of great use to Latvia, the
fact is that it led the publicist Sandra Veinberga to be angry. She
has written that "President Berzins' foreign policy" (does he really
have a personal foreign policy?) is "an example of how European values
are sacrificed on the altar of caviar." On the Tvnet.lv portal,
Veinberga wrote about human rights violations in Azerbaijan, the cult
of personality of the "father of the nation," Heidar Aliyev, the
basically authoritarian regime that has been introduced by his son,
current President Ilham Aliyev, and the attacks which the government
has waged against the opposition.
Veinberga's mockery of the expensive caviar which the Aliyev dynasty
supposedly uses to bribe foreign guests, however, is pure demagoguery
if we take into account harsh global realities. The fact is that there
is a battle over influence in that region, and it is one in which
Russia, the United States, Turkey and Iran are all involved.
Status of Azerbaijan
Oil and gas pipelines which cross Azerbaijan are arteries of energy
resources that are being installed to avoid Russia. We also must not
forget this Transcaucasian country's "ticklish" situation with Iran
which, let us say, is an opponent to the Western world and is home to
at least 20 million Azerbaijanis in the North of the country. Latvia
is a NATO member state, and its geopolitical interests by no means
have to coincide with those of the Kremlin, to say nothing of the
ayatollahs in Teheran. Latvia faces a strategic choice here, and the
sad fact is that ethics must sometimes have to be sacrificed on the
altar of national, political and economic considerations.
Azerbaijan is neighbored by Armenia, and the indigenous nations of
those two countries are split apart and tormented by outrageous
hatred. On three occasions this has been manifested through bloodbaths
-- in 1905 and 1906, between 1918 and 1920, and between 1988 and 1994,
when the so-called Karabakh war ended with a fragile truce. The
Turkish regime slaughtered Armenians in Anatolia in 1895 and,
particularly, between 1915 and 1923, when as many as 1.5 million
Armenians perished. The Turks, true, claim that in truth, "only"
300,000 people died.
Here we must remember that both Turkey and the United States are in
NATO, and Barack Obama is prepared to admit that the Armenians
suffered that which they call "metstegern" or "great evil," but he
refuses to classify it as genocide. That is because Turkey, as an
American ally, has become "spiteful in semantic terms" -- the word
"genocide" is categorically unacceptable to it.
Response in Latvia
Here, now, we arrive once again at Vesti Segodniya, where grouchy
opinions have been expressed by Einars Graudins (who describes himself
as an unchanging "Soviet person"). Together with SC [Harmony Center]
MP Nikolajs Kabanovs, Graudins visited Armenia. He complains that the
Latvian Saeima [Parliament] has not recognized the aforementioned
genocide, and he eagerly defends Armenia's position on the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Graudins goes on to ask why the "world" has not
recognized the independence of the Republic of Karabakh (Arcahas in
Armenian), while many countries, including Latvia, have recognized the
independence of Kosovo, this "purely terroristic structure (!) in the
historical lands of the Serbs." Oh, comrade Graudins! Your formulation
is fully in the spirit of Russian imperialists, reminding us of the
words which Iran uses to describe Israel -- "this Zionist structure."
In conclusion, I will remind you that Armenia's strategic allies are
Russia and Iran. Draw your own conclusions.
[Translated from Latvian]
From: A. Papazian
May 9 2013
Strategic Choice
[Latvian daily praises government's support for Azerbaijan]
Commentary by Franks Gordons
The trio of Transcaucasian countries -- Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan -- are undergoing unending tensions in the arena of
"national" and international conflicts and debates.
Much interest was attracted by Latvian President Andris Berzins'
official visit to Azerbaijan in the company of an impressive
delegation of businesspeople. On the eve of the visit, Latvijas
Avizepublished a brilliant report by Egils Licitis about Azerbaijan as
a country which is rich with energy resources and is dynamic in
economic terms. Ina Oskaja from Vesti Segodniyaaccompanied the
President on the visit and then published a fairly positive report
about it under the title "Merci, Baku!"
Response to Visit
Although I believe that this visit was of great use to Latvia, the
fact is that it led the publicist Sandra Veinberga to be angry. She
has written that "President Berzins' foreign policy" (does he really
have a personal foreign policy?) is "an example of how European values
are sacrificed on the altar of caviar." On the Tvnet.lv portal,
Veinberga wrote about human rights violations in Azerbaijan, the cult
of personality of the "father of the nation," Heidar Aliyev, the
basically authoritarian regime that has been introduced by his son,
current President Ilham Aliyev, and the attacks which the government
has waged against the opposition.
Veinberga's mockery of the expensive caviar which the Aliyev dynasty
supposedly uses to bribe foreign guests, however, is pure demagoguery
if we take into account harsh global realities. The fact is that there
is a battle over influence in that region, and it is one in which
Russia, the United States, Turkey and Iran are all involved.
Status of Azerbaijan
Oil and gas pipelines which cross Azerbaijan are arteries of energy
resources that are being installed to avoid Russia. We also must not
forget this Transcaucasian country's "ticklish" situation with Iran
which, let us say, is an opponent to the Western world and is home to
at least 20 million Azerbaijanis in the North of the country. Latvia
is a NATO member state, and its geopolitical interests by no means
have to coincide with those of the Kremlin, to say nothing of the
ayatollahs in Teheran. Latvia faces a strategic choice here, and the
sad fact is that ethics must sometimes have to be sacrificed on the
altar of national, political and economic considerations.
Azerbaijan is neighbored by Armenia, and the indigenous nations of
those two countries are split apart and tormented by outrageous
hatred. On three occasions this has been manifested through bloodbaths
-- in 1905 and 1906, between 1918 and 1920, and between 1988 and 1994,
when the so-called Karabakh war ended with a fragile truce. The
Turkish regime slaughtered Armenians in Anatolia in 1895 and,
particularly, between 1915 and 1923, when as many as 1.5 million
Armenians perished. The Turks, true, claim that in truth, "only"
300,000 people died.
Here we must remember that both Turkey and the United States are in
NATO, and Barack Obama is prepared to admit that the Armenians
suffered that which they call "metstegern" or "great evil," but he
refuses to classify it as genocide. That is because Turkey, as an
American ally, has become "spiteful in semantic terms" -- the word
"genocide" is categorically unacceptable to it.
Response in Latvia
Here, now, we arrive once again at Vesti Segodniya, where grouchy
opinions have been expressed by Einars Graudins (who describes himself
as an unchanging "Soviet person"). Together with SC [Harmony Center]
MP Nikolajs Kabanovs, Graudins visited Armenia. He complains that the
Latvian Saeima [Parliament] has not recognized the aforementioned
genocide, and he eagerly defends Armenia's position on the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Graudins goes on to ask why the "world" has not
recognized the independence of the Republic of Karabakh (Arcahas in
Armenian), while many countries, including Latvia, have recognized the
independence of Kosovo, this "purely terroristic structure (!) in the
historical lands of the Serbs." Oh, comrade Graudins! Your formulation
is fully in the spirit of Russian imperialists, reminding us of the
words which Iran uses to describe Israel -- "this Zionist structure."
In conclusion, I will remind you that Armenia's strategic allies are
Russia and Iran. Draw your own conclusions.
[Translated from Latvian]
From: A. Papazian