Day: September 13, 2023

The vicious war against the Armenian Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) and Armenia by Azerbaijan, Turkey, and thousands of their jihadist terrorists has passed the one month mark.

The jihadis’ presence, which includes ISIS, is consistent with the debauched political cultures and national ambitions of Azerbaijan and Turkey.  It also tells us that the U.S./NATO/EU stance towards those countries continues to be dangerously passive.

Just days ago, right in our nation’s capital, Azeri demonstrators chanted “jihad, jihad, jihad” and flashed the hand signal of Turkey’s homicidal, neo-fascist Grey Wolves.

It’s not surprising.  Azerbaijan and Turkey are longtime Turkic allies of jihadist terrorists.

Turkic Jihadist Terror

• In the early 1990s, Azerbaijan deployed thousands of jihadis and terrorists, including Afghan Mujahedin, Chechens, and Grey Wolves against Artsakh’s Armenians who had voted for self-determination. Turkish army officers also took part.
• Al-Qaeda cells in Baku, Azerbaijan helped to plan the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. A dozen Americans and 212 others were killed.
• The U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center reports that ISIS ranks have included over 900 Azerbaijanis and 7,400 Turks.
• Ahmet S. Yayla, Turkey’s chief of counterterrorism from 2010-13, wrote: “Turkey was a central hub for the travel of over 50,000 ISIS foreign fighters, and the main source of ISIS logistical materials … making Turkey and ISIS practically allies.”
• Secret wiretaps revealed that Turkey has supplied ISIS in Syria via Ilhami Bali, codenamed Abu Bakr, a 36-year-old Saudi-born Turk.
• Columbia University has issued two valuable studies: ISIS-Turkey Links and Turkey-ISIS Oil

Today’s Turkic Jihadist Terror

• Since September, Azerbaijan and Turkey have brought in ISIS commander Sayf Balud, the Hamza and Sultan Murad Brigades, Syrian terrorists, and thousands of other jihadis to battle Armenians. Many were present even before September.
• Some of the jihadis had committed atrocities against Christian Armenians and Assyrians, Kurds, Yazidis, and others in Syria and elsewhere.
• Azerbaijan is using some jihadis as human shields for its soldiers. Others are thrust into battle while Azeris point guns at their backs to prevent retreat.
• Armenian forces have dealt them severe blows. One jihadi warned, “Jihadi, don’t come, we have been deceived, everything is a lie.  This is a meat grinder.”

Artsakh’s Ordeals

In the early 1920s, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin transferred the ancient Armenian territory of Artsakh (96% Armenian) to Azerbaijan to indulge Turkey.  No country/people named Azerbaijan/Azeri had ever existed before 1918.

Artsakh’s Armenians subsequently suffered brutal repression, deportations, and mass murders under Soviet Azerbaijan’s scimitar.  By 1988, Armenians had been reduced to 76% of the population.  All this was due to raw, ethno-racial, Azeri fanaticism.

Artsakh’s Armenians voted in 1988 and 1991 for self-determination and independence from Azerbaijan according to Soviet law and then international law.  Armenians won the ensuing war.

Note that Azerbaijan claims not only Artsakh but Armenia too.

Artsakh and Armenia are reformist democracies.  Dictatorial Azerbaijan is light-years away from that.  Turkey is a similar political and human rights disaster.

If you lived in Artsakh, would you ever agree to Azeri rule?  Of course not.

America’s Global War for Terror

The Global War on Terror (GWOT) has been American foreign policy’s pièce de résistance since 2001.  Supposedly, therefore, regimes that use jihadis/terrorists against civilized people should become pariahs.

Yet American administrations and Congress have acted largely deaf, dumb, and blind regarding Turkey and Azerbaijan’s support for jihadis/terrorists.

In 2016, I presented evidence to Richard M. Mills, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, that Turkey supported ISIS.  He foolishly lied and denied it all.

The U.S. (and Europe) fawn over Azerbaijan’s gas and oil deposits and westbound pipelines despite its sickening record on jihadis and human rights.

Our government lies about our GWOT, but we remain silent.  What kind of people are we?

Rename the GWOT to GWFT: the Global War for Terror.

Azerbaijan has signed and is violating the “UN Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries.”  Neither the UN, State Department, nor Congress has spoken up.

America provides “counterterrorism” assistance to Azerbaijan.  Thus, Americans pay it to fight terrorists while Azerbaijan turns around and hires terrorists.  This is sick stuff in which we as Americans are complicit.

Now consider the jihad against Armenian/Armenia/Artsakh by Israel and the Jewish American lobby.

The Kosher Jihad

Countless Jewish academicians, writers, human rights advocates, and elected officials have supported Armenian Genocide recognition and helped Armenians in other ways.  Not so for top Jewish organizations such as the ADL, AIPAC, AJC, and JINSA.

For decades, they have diminished/denied the Armenian Genocide and colluded with Turkey and Israel to defeat Armenian Genocide resolutions in Congress.  The ADL and AJC have relented a bit, though insincerely and only under pressure.

For years, Israel and most of these organizations, led by AJC, have supported Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev has given his country’s highest award to AJC Executive Director David Harris.

Israel demands worldwide recognition of and legislation on the Holocaust but refuses to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Israel is probably Azerbaijan’s biggest weapons supplier.  Israeli cluster bombs — usually banned under international law — are killing Artsakh’s civilians.

As Azerbaijan runs short of weapons and ammo, Israel is now sending more.

There are 24 righteous Armenians in Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial but no Azeris.  No problem, bomb the Armenian goyem anyway using Israeli weapons.

Meanwhile, scores of Jewish and Israeli writers defame Armenia and Armenian Americans.

Israel always complains it’s the victim of terrorists and jihadis.  Now it’s on the same side as the jihadis and terrorists in Azerbaijan.

Countless Americans, including Christians, sell their souls to the Jewish lobby for political expediency, money, and career advancement and dare not whisper a word of dissent. You know who you are.

Meanwhile, Armenian Genocide 2.0 beckons.

Artsakh’s ombudsman correctly notes that “various representatives of the international community are either blind or incapable.”

How long will this remain so?

Much of the author’s work can be found at http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/David_Boyajian.

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What You Need To Know: 

The ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of food, fuel, and medical supplies from reaching the Armenian statelet of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, and home to around 120,000 people has today triggered the creation of a new anarchist group – Anarchist Artsakh. 

The blockade dates back to Soviet-era territorial claims both Azerbaijan and Armenia have to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is situated inside Azerbaijan, but in which, ethnic Armenians make up 95 per cent of the population. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, both nations took up arms against one another over the area.

The first Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, (1991-94) left Armenia with the majority of the autonomous zone. Following a 2010 strategic partnership agreement with Azerbaijan Turkey has become a key player in the conflict, supplying Azerbaijan with military aid when fighting broke out again in July 2020. This material support, alongside the aid of Syrian mercenaries, enabled Azerbaijan to recapture swaths of the Nagorno-Karabakh before a ceasefire was brokered by Russia in November 2020. The gains made by Azerbaijan in 2020 left Nagorno-Karabakh surrounded. 

Anarchist Artsakh:

The group, in their first post on Telegram stated, “Comrades! A new front of anarchist resistance is maturing. This time Artsakh. For almost a year now, the fascist government of Azerbaijan has kept the local Armenian population under complete blockade, seeking forced submission from the Armenians. 

The dictatorial power of Ilham Aliyev is actually starving our people in order to subjugate them, assimilate them and deprive them of the freedom for which we have fought for a very long time. In the territories occupied in 2020, the occupiers are destroying our cultural objects in order to erase our traces from our own lands. 

We already had the sad experience of living under the rule of the Azerbaijani leadership in the 1980s – 1990s. We will no longer allow the fascists to enslave our people. We – Armenian anarchists – will fight for the freedom of our (and not only our) people. Most likely, the Azerbaijani tyrants will soon begin a ground operation on the territory of Artsakh. We are trying to organise ourselves to resist the onslaught of the imperialists.

Comrades! We ask you to support us in our fight. After all, solidarity is our main weapon. Help spread the word about the chaos going on. Glory and freedom to all oppressed peoples!” 

The current siege is the result of the December 2022 blocking of the Lachin Corridor, a lifeline between Armenia and Artsakh by Azerbaijan, which claims that Armenia has been using the corridor to smuggle arms. 

Russian Mediation?: 

However, on early Tuesday, a truck carrying Russian humanitarian aid was given access through Azerbaijani territory to the besieged region’s capital, Stepanakert. According to DW, the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed the aid package represents “a first step” to resolving the crisis. It is unclear if this move by Russia will satisfy the clearly frustrated members of Anarchist Artsakh. 

What and whom Armenia serves is still opaque. The
pseudo-independent state, which once had ninety percent of its
border territory under the control of Russia, today is gradually
breaking away from the influence of Russia and trying to hand over
its territories to the West.

We would not be wrong if we say that 2020 is the year when
Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity and simultaneously a
period that political players swapped over Armenia. The 30-year
occupation seemed to have led Armenia into a deep sleep under the
shadow of Russia, and its inability to wake up from that sleep has
kept it far off the political ground in the region. In addition,
Armenia’s lack of appreciation for the opportunities it had and its
short-sighted behavior left it in a desperate situation. The
question is, why has Armenia never been able to benefit from the
fact that it is surrounded by countries with strong economies in
the South Caucasus, such as Azerbaijan in particular?

Although the answer to this question needs an in-depth
interpretation, it can be enough to consider the events happening
today. If we look at recent events, we can witness that Armenia has
plunged into an extremely complex political game. Especially by
partially skipping the Russian factor, Pashinyan seems to have
given a bit more privilege to the Western forces. As they look more
active in the South Caucasus today creates the impression that
Yerevan is being played on a gambling table. Being in a confused
state in political games, Armenia backs the wrong horse; completely
ignores the priorities for the future of its country, and is
currently trying to turn the region into a battleground between the
West and Russia.

After the full operation of Azerbaijan’s Lachin State Border
Checkpoint, Armenia began to seek refuge in the West. So, starting
from January 2023, the European Union Mission group, whose real
mission is unknown, suddenly appeared in the region. First, under
the guise of humanitarian aid to Armenian minority in Garabagh, and
then by misinterpreting Armenian armed provocations, the mission
group began to expand its activities.

Yesterday, the mission group celebrated the opening of its base
with a new name – European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) in the
town of Ijavan, Tavush province of Armenia. It is noted in the
information that this is already the 5th base of EUMA opened in the
territory of Armenia so far. I wonder what the head of the mission
Mr. HoM Markus Ritter intends to do in Armenia by opening so many
bases.

If the mission group or EUMA has any interest in the
conventional borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia, then it would
be a more objective step for some of their representatives to come
to Azerbaijan as well, to observe the situation from the flipside
of the event. If we are talking about eliminating tension and
ensuring security in the region, there is an answer here – Armenia
and Azerbaijan, as two independent states, are capable of ensuring
peace between themselves. However, there is an exception, which is
Armenia’s taking an adequate step… But what does EUMA do for
this? Is the mission group really taking purposeful steps for peace
talks to take place?

Two days ago, after a long wait, a truck with food belonging to
the Russian Red Cross Committee on the Aghdam-Khankendi route was
able to enter Khankendi. This plan was actually an unambiguous
solution to some groundless disputes surrounding Lachin BCP.
Unfortunately, the European Union mission group and many
representatives of the West expressed their “true intentions” by
showing a stronger and pro-Armenian position regarding the border
with Lachin. In particular, the ICRC’s involvement in political
rather than humanitarian issues has made it somewhat of a spy for
the West. If the separatists in Garabagh did not accept the food
sent from Azerbaijan, it was an internal matter, but the fact that
the Western forces did not let in the food sent from Russia this
time began to look like the West was deviating from its
mission.

It means that the West intends to put pressure on Russia through
Armenia, and this means that external forces want create a battle
ground for themselves in the region. As I mentioned earlier,
Armenia completely confuses internal politics and tries to create
tension instead of peace in the region. As a tool in the hands of
certain forces, it deliberately exaggerates the issue of the
Armenian minority living in Azerbaijan’s Garabagh economic region
and deliberately focuses the attention of the outside audience on
the region.

In fact, this is the helplessness and incompetence of Pashinyan,
who cannot find a common language with the other side, i.e.
Azerbaijan. All these are factors that lead to his repeated lies
and denial of what he says. Pashinyan chooses not just what is in
front of him and what is available to him, but on the contrary, he
chooses the means that is wide of the mark and can put his country
and the region in danger. The reason is simple – Armenia’s lack of
perspective and political agenda and inability to see the error of
its ways and most importantly, yet finding hard to recover from the
trauma of 2020. These factors still seriously prevent Armenia from
choosing the right path

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews’ deputy editor-in-chief, follow him
on @ElnurMammadli1

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