Pro-Armenians: Next Provocation

  22 March 2015    Read: 2186
Pro-Armenians: Next Provocation
Armenia has always been busy disseminating false information about Azerbaijan. Albeit Yerevan’s efforts bear no fruits, the process is ongoing. Most recently, pro-Armenian media started to use religious, ethnic and geopolitical factors as bogus arguments, while expressing anti-Azerbaijan views. The underlying theme is that, allegedly, Azerbaijan remains a source of threat in the South Caucasus. Here one may see an intention to position Azerbaijan close to Israel and thus, put Baku against Iran and Turkey. Moreover, there are attempts to impel certain constraints for Azerbaijan by exploiting religious and ethnic background factors. And it is no secret that insidious intentions of our adversaries are behind all of this. That being said, there is not an iota of doubt that they will fail in trying to derail Azerbaijan’s independence foreign policy.

Unavailing Policy: Yerevan’s Example

Armenia cannot escape the geopolitical impasse. The foreign policy carried out by the country’s leadership has engendered a multitude of problems and geopolitical processes around the world further compound the situation for Yerevan. The Armenian media frequently turn to this subject. In fact, the official Yerevan is accusing almost all the big powers for insufficiently buttressing its position. On one hand, it claims to seek good relations with all of them, and on the other hand, it unleashes its criticism upon them. In the meantime, in geopolitical terms, Armenia’s neighbor – Azerbaijan also seems to face unsubstantiated accusations.

They try to associate Azerbaijan with controversial topics in several directions, also using religious and ethnic elements. Apparently our adversary is aiming to employ some radical religious movements against Azerbaijan. To that end, it is being alleged that ``Israel is preparing Azerbaijan for a big war`` (see: Саркис Цатурян. Израиль готовит Азербайджан к Большой войне / ``Regnum``, 9 January 2015).

And this time Baku is put against Ankara and Tehran. Supposedly, Azerbaijan must prevent the rise of Tehran’s relevance in the region and in the meantime, foment separatism through supporting the Kurds in Turkey. Indeed, these preposterous allegations defy common sense, however, geopolitical and ideological aspects of the issue raise certain questions.

Azerbaijan develops relations with all the countries in the region (except in Armenia, for very well known reasons). Foreign policy course conceived by the national leader Heydar Aliyev bolsters necessary environment for that. Relations with Iran are continually progressing. Testimony to that is the scope of issues discussed and agreements signed during the recent meetings between the top leaders of both countries. The level of this relationship has only grown in 2014. President of Azerbaijan repeatedly stated his position on this issue and head of the Iranian state also reiterated the importance of cooperation with Baku.

So, what can be the motive of the pro-Armenian forces in trying to cast a shadow upon otherwise developing Iran-Azerbaijan relations? Why is that they are abusing the Israel factor to sow discord? The point is that even under the most extreme geopolitical circumstances Baku has been able to maintain a balance and ensure equal partnership with all the parties. Thus, some circles attempt to denigrate this success and create an image for Azerbaijan that is a source of regional threat.

Now, they are implying that Baku fails to conduct an independent foreign policy by claiming that Israel provides military assistance to Azerbaijan and urges the latter to act against the regional nations. Moreover, it’s being contended that Azerbaijan’s close cooperation with the Jewish can attract attention of radical religious groups. It is not a coincidence that pro-Armenian quarters are frequently emphasizing the support that Azerbaijan gets on different issues from the Jewish lobby in America.

Groundless Accusations: Religious, Ethnic Factors and Geopolitics

Therefore, this leads to two conclusions. First – an outside state is urging Azerbaijan to arm itself and that’s why Azerbaijan poses a threat to the South Caucasus. These are utter lies that certainly nobody believes in. However, it demonstrates that pro-Armenian forces recognize no borders in resorting to smear. They fail to mention that Armenia regularly receives, on favorable conditions, an enormous number of arms. Despite being significantly weaker in terms of capabilities, Armenia continues its aggression and seeks different ways of further arming the country. What should be Azerbaijan’s response? The self-defense measures must certainly be taken, that include the right to acquire arms from Israel.

Second – presenting of good relations between Azerbaijanis and the Jews in a special context signifies an odious intention. The aim is to provoke an anti-Azerbaijan sentiment within the Muslims. And all of this is suggested in light of the infamous terrorist attacks in France. The motive could be to direct the radical and fanatic religious groups against Azerbaijan.

That being said, such a baseless accusation cannot produce a real outcome, because Azerbaijan’s experience proves that it is a country of true tolerance in the region. Followers of various religions have peacefully coexisted here for centuries. Today, Azerbaijan is the only country of the region that, on a state level, substantially contributes to bolstering of multiculturalism. It is no coincidence that Baku hosts number of large-scale events dedicated to intercultural ties. How can that be ignored?

Indeed, the attempts by the pro-Armenian forces to instigate confrontation in Azerbaijan on religious grounds is not something new. They have been doing this for some time now. They even attempt to camouflage the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as the one of a religious nature. The entire world is a witness to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan’s lands. And it’s high time that it withdraws from those territories. Only instead, Armenia is busy with spreading of erroneous information bout Azerbaijan.

It is a fact that radical religious groups have spurred a renewed wave of terror in the Middle East. There is scarcely a corner of the universe that is immune from terrorism. Europe as well, is facing certain threats, in light of the events in Paris. In this setting, it is totally inadmissible that Azerbaijan be placed against the fellow Muslim brothers. It is fascinating that the opposing party alleges that the rights of the Christians are also violated. This shows that they do not refrain from forwarding accusations that are unsystematic and illogical.

Anti-Azerbaijan campaign does not just stop there. It is also on the geopolitical cooperation front that the pro-Armenian circles are spreading lies about Azerbaijan. Today, they speak about Russia-Iran-Turkey cooperation format being introduced in the region (see: Станислав Тарасов. Россия, Турция и Иран на пути к новому балансу сил / ``Regnum``, 8 January 2015). In what sense do these states seek the new balance?

This is the heart of the subject. Presumably, Azerbaijan plays both a negative role and also neglects the America’s influence. For the moment, let us leave the situation with the U.S. aside. But accusing Azerbaijan of selling oil to the Israelis through the Kurds is an utter nonsense. First and foremost, Azerbaijan treats all the peoples with great respect. The Kurdish community of the country is comprised of the worthy citizens and true adherents to the nation’s statehood.

If anything, associating the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline with certain ethnic factor is the biggest amateurism. This project is of relevance to the vast geopolitical region and with exclusively state-level participation. And every nation stands to benefit from it for the sake of its people. Thus, separate sales of substantial volumes of oil from Azerbaijan to Israel is an unfounded allegation, because the country’s energy exports are all transparent and without any hidden issues.

All of this demonstrates that by bringing up the issue of the new equilibrium of forces, Azerbaijan actually faces unsubstantiated allegations. Moreover, Azerbaijan would be the first to benefit from the development of Russia-Iran-Turkey cooperation because Baku has always been committed to the policy of solidification of regional cooperation. In this context, the efforts to damage its ties with Turkey due to the Kurdish issue are ill fated. Perhaps, they realize that Ankara-Baku relationship is the backbone of stability and cooperation in the South Caucasus.

To summarize, the achievements of Azerbaijan in the foreign policy and increase of its geopolitical prominence in the region bothers the pro-Armenian circles. They would very much like to see Azerbaijan in a predicament comparable to Armenia’s. Yet, it is unimaginable because the official Baku will not step back in its independent policy.

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