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AZERBAIJAN'S ALIYEV, ON KARABAKH FRONT LINE, RALLIES TROOPS
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 7 2014
August 7, 2014 - 5:00pm, by Joshua Kucera
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a morale-raising visit to
troops along the front lines of fighting with Armenia, escalating the
rhetoric around the recent conflict even while the shooting appears
to have died down.
On Wednesday, Aliyev visited troops near the Aghdam region (which
overeager Azerbaijani media had reported that its forces had already
won back) and, in a military uniform, delivered a stemwinder of a
speech, which he the next day summarized on twitter.
"We are not living in peace, we are living in a state of war. Everyone
must know this," he said. "The war is not over. Only the first stage
of it is. But the second stage may start too."
He also seemed to support the theory that the uptick in fighting was
intended to sharpen international attention on the conflict.
"Azerbaijani citizens are not pleased with the activity of mediators
because the main mission of mediators is to settle the conflict,
not to keep it in a frozen state and conduct confidence building
measures," he said. "The Azerbaijani army is showing its strength,
which is having an impact on the talks... If the Azerbaijani army
starts an offensive, the enemy will find itself in a very difficult
situation. This is known to us, the enemy and the mediators.
Therefore, I believe that the developments of recent days will prompt
mediators to take some action."
Nevertheless, fighting appears to have died down and Aliyev is
scheduled to meet with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in
Sochi, Russia, on Friday and Saturday.
In his frontline speech, Aliyev called Sargsyan a "fascist": "Today,
the fascist leadership, the military junta of Armenia is leading
its country into the abyss. They occupied our lands, but at the same
time they have occupied the entire Armenia. Armenian people should
get rid of the criminal and corrupt leadership."
Even in an atmosphere of increasing political repression in
Azerbaijan, the recent fighting has to some degree united Azeris
around the flag. In an interview with newspaper Yeni Musavat (via
BBC Monitoring), opposition politician Panah Huseyn said that this
was not the time for internal division:
"It is obvious that the current status quo will not persist. The
Azerbaijani public no longer wishes to tolerate a continued occupation
of the territories," he said.
Panah Huseyn said that many former soldiers have asked to join the
army. "To be frank, this is the first such moment in the past 20 years
when patriotism and fighting spirit are this high," he said. According
to him, hundreds of thousands of people are ready to rally, without
waiting for the government to sanction this.
"This wish of the people [to liberate Karabakh and adjacent Azerbaijani
districts] must be imparted to the entire world, including the
political forces in Azerbaijan. I believe that if there is such
a call, then hundreds of thousands of people will answer it," the
politician said.
He said there must be no domestic strife when fighting an external
enemy and cited a recent call for unity made by Isa Qambar, the
chairman of the major opposition Musavat party. "At this juncture
there is a need for national reconciliation in Azerbaijani society.
This brings about a unique chance. Of course, the authorities are
responsible for 90 out of 100 practical steps to be taken on this
matter. The authorities can do this... The Azerbaijani political
opposition realizes its responsibility concerning this matter. The
absolute majority of the opposition is of this opinion and what
we demand that the authorities take advantage of this situation,"
Huseyn said.
He said Azerbaijanis closely followed events in Ukraine and drew
parallels with it. "Part of Ukrainian territory is effectively under
occupation and operations are waged against this occupation using
all means. The international community does not oppose this. On the
contrary, they endorse ! these operations. This situation gives us
grounds to liberate our lands that were occupied in a more explicit
way than they were in Ukraine. Because the Armenian army occupied
our territory," Panah Huseyn told Yeni Musavat.
It's not the kind of atmosphere that encourages compromise. We'll
see what comes out of the Sochi meetings.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/69431
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 7 2014
August 7, 2014 - 5:00pm, by Joshua Kucera
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a morale-raising visit to
troops along the front lines of fighting with Armenia, escalating the
rhetoric around the recent conflict even while the shooting appears
to have died down.
On Wednesday, Aliyev visited troops near the Aghdam region (which
overeager Azerbaijani media had reported that its forces had already
won back) and, in a military uniform, delivered a stemwinder of a
speech, which he the next day summarized on twitter.
"We are not living in peace, we are living in a state of war. Everyone
must know this," he said. "The war is not over. Only the first stage
of it is. But the second stage may start too."
He also seemed to support the theory that the uptick in fighting was
intended to sharpen international attention on the conflict.
"Azerbaijani citizens are not pleased with the activity of mediators
because the main mission of mediators is to settle the conflict,
not to keep it in a frozen state and conduct confidence building
measures," he said. "The Azerbaijani army is showing its strength,
which is having an impact on the talks... If the Azerbaijani army
starts an offensive, the enemy will find itself in a very difficult
situation. This is known to us, the enemy and the mediators.
Therefore, I believe that the developments of recent days will prompt
mediators to take some action."
Nevertheless, fighting appears to have died down and Aliyev is
scheduled to meet with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in
Sochi, Russia, on Friday and Saturday.
In his frontline speech, Aliyev called Sargsyan a "fascist": "Today,
the fascist leadership, the military junta of Armenia is leading
its country into the abyss. They occupied our lands, but at the same
time they have occupied the entire Armenia. Armenian people should
get rid of the criminal and corrupt leadership."
Even in an atmosphere of increasing political repression in
Azerbaijan, the recent fighting has to some degree united Azeris
around the flag. In an interview with newspaper Yeni Musavat (via
BBC Monitoring), opposition politician Panah Huseyn said that this
was not the time for internal division:
"It is obvious that the current status quo will not persist. The
Azerbaijani public no longer wishes to tolerate a continued occupation
of the territories," he said.
Panah Huseyn said that many former soldiers have asked to join the
army. "To be frank, this is the first such moment in the past 20 years
when patriotism and fighting spirit are this high," he said. According
to him, hundreds of thousands of people are ready to rally, without
waiting for the government to sanction this.
"This wish of the people [to liberate Karabakh and adjacent Azerbaijani
districts] must be imparted to the entire world, including the
political forces in Azerbaijan. I believe that if there is such
a call, then hundreds of thousands of people will answer it," the
politician said.
He said there must be no domestic strife when fighting an external
enemy and cited a recent call for unity made by Isa Qambar, the
chairman of the major opposition Musavat party. "At this juncture
there is a need for national reconciliation in Azerbaijani society.
This brings about a unique chance. Of course, the authorities are
responsible for 90 out of 100 practical steps to be taken on this
matter. The authorities can do this... The Azerbaijani political
opposition realizes its responsibility concerning this matter. The
absolute majority of the opposition is of this opinion and what
we demand that the authorities take advantage of this situation,"
Huseyn said.
He said Azerbaijanis closely followed events in Ukraine and drew
parallels with it. "Part of Ukrainian territory is effectively under
occupation and operations are waged against this occupation using
all means. The international community does not oppose this. On the
contrary, they endorse ! these operations. This situation gives us
grounds to liberate our lands that were occupied in a more explicit
way than they were in Ukraine. Because the Armenian army occupied
our territory," Panah Huseyn told Yeni Musavat.
It's not the kind of atmosphere that encourages compromise. We'll
see what comes out of the Sochi meetings.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/69431