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AMERICAN BLOGGER: AZERBAIJAN EXERCISES FALSIFICATIONS BY PROPAGATING IMAGE OF VICTIM
19:48 16/02/2015 >> SOCIETY
"The Assembly of Friends of Azerbaijan," an affiliate of Turkish
lobbying organization, associated with Fethullah Gulen, an influential
Muslim spiritual figure, sent invitations to Kansas Legislators to
attend a meeting titled "Remember the Khojalu Tragedy." American
blogger of "Defining the Narrative" carried out a personal research,
ending up urging his friends in the Kansas Legislature not to be
misled by the Azerbaijani propaganda, as long as the events in Khojalu
were "not a genocide by any stretch of the imagination," unlike the
Armenian Genocide committed by the Turks in 1915. He also warned
that some of the photos presented during the event, could possibly
be taken in other places, in Kosovo for instance, in 1999.
It's noted in the article, that today Armenia is in good relations with
pretty much everyone other than its neighbors -Turkey and Azerbaijan,
who have blockaded the Armenians for 20 years following a war over
Nagorno Karabakh which left Armenia in control of NK; Azerbaijan is
unwilling to let it go.
The Azerbaijanis and the Turks call the Khojalu battle everything
from a tragedy, to a massacre, to genocide, the article reads. The
loss of civilian life in a war-zone is indeed a tragedy, but this
hardly constitutes a "genocide." Especially, if the town of 6,000
had been warned beforehand to be evacuated, and a safe corridor was
available for that purpose.
Citing an excerpt from the Human Rights Watch 1993 report, the author
points out to the fact, that indiscriminate attacks commenced from
both sides. He also cites the British journalist Thomas de Waal,
who noted that the events in Khojalu were a result of a spontaneous,
rather than deliberately planned action.
"But the Azerbaijani websites such as 'Azerbaijan.az' serve as a
propaganda tool to absolve Azerbaijan of any wrong doing, playing
the victim, while placing all the blame for Khojaly at the feet of
Armenia. Did I mention there were somewhere between 1000-3000 Jihadi
mercenaries from Afghanistan and Chechnya fighting with the Azeri's
during the war?" the blogger writes.
Also, making a research over the situation in Azerbaijan, the blogger
writes that the country is run by an autocratic regime of a clan
who controls just about everything including the banks, the oil,
the government, education and the media propaganda machine. The
clan run Heydar Aliyev Foundation propagates a favorable narrative
to perspective international partners and allies. Also SOCAR (the
State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic) hosted a large-scale
lobbying event in Baku. According to an article posted on the website
"The Washington Diplomat", 317 delegates from 42 states, including
11 sitting members of Congress, 75 state representatives and three
ex-insiders of White House - political strategist David Plouffe,
former press secretary Robert Gibbs and ex-deputy chief of staff Jim
Messina took part in the event. The article read that Plouffe, Messina
and Gibbs were given five-figure sums to speak at the forum, praising
Azerbaijan. All in all, $1.5 million were spent on holding the event.
In its turn, CASILIPS (Citizens against Special Interest Lobbying
in Public Schools) noted that the organizer of the event was Kemal
Oksuz ("Kevin" Oksuz), who is a major player in the Gulen Movement
in Azerbaijan and has connections in various states.
On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.
Population of the village of Khojalu, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others)
was kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by
the authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as
human shields later.
Residents of Khojalu coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defense forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.
Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2015/02/16/azerbaijan-blogger/
From: Baghdasarian
19:48 16/02/2015 >> SOCIETY
"The Assembly of Friends of Azerbaijan," an affiliate of Turkish
lobbying organization, associated with Fethullah Gulen, an influential
Muslim spiritual figure, sent invitations to Kansas Legislators to
attend a meeting titled "Remember the Khojalu Tragedy." American
blogger of "Defining the Narrative" carried out a personal research,
ending up urging his friends in the Kansas Legislature not to be
misled by the Azerbaijani propaganda, as long as the events in Khojalu
were "not a genocide by any stretch of the imagination," unlike the
Armenian Genocide committed by the Turks in 1915. He also warned
that some of the photos presented during the event, could possibly
be taken in other places, in Kosovo for instance, in 1999.
It's noted in the article, that today Armenia is in good relations with
pretty much everyone other than its neighbors -Turkey and Azerbaijan,
who have blockaded the Armenians for 20 years following a war over
Nagorno Karabakh which left Armenia in control of NK; Azerbaijan is
unwilling to let it go.
The Azerbaijanis and the Turks call the Khojalu battle everything
from a tragedy, to a massacre, to genocide, the article reads. The
loss of civilian life in a war-zone is indeed a tragedy, but this
hardly constitutes a "genocide." Especially, if the town of 6,000
had been warned beforehand to be evacuated, and a safe corridor was
available for that purpose.
Citing an excerpt from the Human Rights Watch 1993 report, the author
points out to the fact, that indiscriminate attacks commenced from
both sides. He also cites the British journalist Thomas de Waal,
who noted that the events in Khojalu were a result of a spontaneous,
rather than deliberately planned action.
"But the Azerbaijani websites such as 'Azerbaijan.az' serve as a
propaganda tool to absolve Azerbaijan of any wrong doing, playing
the victim, while placing all the blame for Khojaly at the feet of
Armenia. Did I mention there were somewhere between 1000-3000 Jihadi
mercenaries from Afghanistan and Chechnya fighting with the Azeri's
during the war?" the blogger writes.
Also, making a research over the situation in Azerbaijan, the blogger
writes that the country is run by an autocratic regime of a clan
who controls just about everything including the banks, the oil,
the government, education and the media propaganda machine. The
clan run Heydar Aliyev Foundation propagates a favorable narrative
to perspective international partners and allies. Also SOCAR (the
State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic) hosted a large-scale
lobbying event in Baku. According to an article posted on the website
"The Washington Diplomat", 317 delegates from 42 states, including
11 sitting members of Congress, 75 state representatives and three
ex-insiders of White House - political strategist David Plouffe,
former press secretary Robert Gibbs and ex-deputy chief of staff Jim
Messina took part in the event. The article read that Plouffe, Messina
and Gibbs were given five-figure sums to speak at the forum, praising
Azerbaijan. All in all, $1.5 million were spent on holding the event.
In its turn, CASILIPS (Citizens against Special Interest Lobbying
in Public Schools) noted that the organizer of the event was Kemal
Oksuz ("Kevin" Oksuz), who is a major player in the Gulen Movement
in Azerbaijan and has connections in various states.
On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.
Population of the village of Khojalu, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others)
was kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by
the authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as
human shields later.
Residents of Khojalu coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defense forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.
Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2015/02/16/azerbaijan-blogger/
From: Baghdasarian