{"id":31986,"date":"2020-11-22T17:11:27","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T15:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=31986"},"modified":"2020-11-22T17:17:13","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T15:17:13","slug":"azeri-turkish-war-crimes-against-armenians-must-not-go-unpunished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=31986","title":{"rendered":"Azeri, Turkish War Crimes Against Armenians Must Not Go Unpunished"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Uzay Bulut<\/a>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 13, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war launched by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the Armenian Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) in the South Caucuses on September 27 has been halted through an agreement<\/a>, which was brokered by Russia and imposed on Armenia. Based on the circulating agreement, Armenians must relinquish most of their homeland in Artsakh to Azerbaijan by December 1, forcing any Armenians living in those regions to depart before that date.<\/p>\n\n\n

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During their indiscriminate shelling<\/a> of Artsakh, the aggressors \u2013 Azerbaijan, and Turkey, accompanied by Syrian jihadist forces \u2013 have committed many war crimes against Armenians. They have murdered civilians<\/a> and injured journalists<\/a>. They have burned villages<\/a>, forests<\/a>, and churches<\/a>. They have tortured<\/a> and beheaded<\/a> Armenians, and executed prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC reported<\/a> on October 24:\u201dOne video posted on a messaging app shows what appears to be two Armenians in military uniforms being captured by troops from Azerbaijan.A second video seemingly shows the same Armenians being shot with their hands behind their backs.Armenian authorities have identified the men as Benik Hakobyan, 73, and 25-year-old Yuri Adamyan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azerbaijani forces also used cluster munitions and white phosphorus <\/a>against Artsakh. \u201cAzerbaijan has repeatedly used widely banned cluster munitions in residential areas in Nagorno-Karabakh,\u201d according to an October 23 report<\/a> by Human Rights Watch (HRW). \u201cCluster munitions have been banned because of their widespread indiscriminate effect and long-lasting danger to civilians,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The false, obsessive belief that Artsakh belongs to Azerbaijan has resulted in an ethnic cleansing against indigenous Armenians from their lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area called Artsakh, originally one of the ancient provinces of Armenia, has preserved a majority Armenian population throughout the centuries. Despite this, Artsakh was annexed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to the New Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan in the early 1920s. Armenian peaceful requests for self-determination were violently punished by Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Azeri control, Armenians were subject to severe persecution such as pogroms in Sumgait and Baku<\/a> from 1988 to 1990. The Soviet Union collapsed the following year, and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh declared independence. Azerbaijan, however, rejected Artsakh\u2019s independence claim and chose to launch a war in 1992, which lasted two years and cost the lives of approximately 30,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26 years later, Armenians in Artsakh are once again assaulted by Azerbaijan. This time, arms supplies and diplomatic support from Turkey helped give Azerbaijan the upper hand in the conflict. Several news agencies, governments and the United Nations have also reported that Turkey sent jihadist terrorists from Syria to support Azerbaijan in its fight against the Armenians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now have information which indicates that Syrian fighters from jihadist groups have (transited) through Gaziantep (southeastern Turkey) to reach the Nagorno-Karabakh theatre of operations,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron told<\/a> reporters at an EU summit in Brussels. \u201cIt is a very serious new fact, which changes the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights)also reported<\/a> on November 11:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries said there were widespread reports that the Government of Azerbaijan, with Turkey\u2019s assistance, relied on Syrian fighters to shore-up and sustain its military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, including on the frontline. The fighters appeared to be motivated primarily by private gain, given the dire economic situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, the UN experts said. In case of death, their relatives were reportedly promised financial compensation and Turkish nationality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018The way in which these individuals were recruited, transported and used in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone appeared consistent with the definition of a mercenary, as set out by relevant international legal instruments, including the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, to which Azerbaijan is a party,\u2019 said Chris Kwaja, who chairs the Working Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Moreover, reports indicate that Turkey engaged in large-scale recruitment and transfer of Syrian men to Azerbaijan through armed factions, some of which are affiliated with the Syrian National Army. The alleged role of Turkey is all the more concerning given the similar allegations addressed earlier this year by the Working Group in relation its role in recruiting, deploying and financing such fighters to take part in the conflict in Libya,\u2019 Kwaja added.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN report was released two days after the treaty was signed, but Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was always transparent about his support for the war against Artsakh. \u201cWe support Azerbaijan until victory,\u201d Erdogan said<\/a> on October 6. \u201cI tell my Azerbaijani brothers: May your ghazwa<\/em> be blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghazwa<\/em> in Islam refers to a battle or raid against non-Muslims for the expansion of Muslim territory and\/or conversion of non-Muslims to Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another speech on November 1, Erdogan said<\/a>, \u201cWe are in Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan. We have displayed the same dignified attitude from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, from Syria to Libya, from Cyprus to Karabakh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the war, Artsakh\u2019s population was around 150,000. Turkish and Azeri aggression against the region has caused massive destruction<\/a> on civilian infrastructure including homes and hospitals<\/a> and the displacement<\/a> of about 90,000 Armenians. On October 23, a group of genocide scholars issued a statement<\/a> \u201con the imminent genocidal threat deriving from Azerbaijan and Turkey against Artsakh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Completely abandoned by the international community and faced with an existential threat, Armenia had to sign an agreement which allows Azerbaijan to take over much of Artsakh. With 60% of Artsakh destroyed and the remainder of land to be surrounded by hostile Azeri forces, many indigenous Armenians who have lived in Artsakh for generations see no choice other than to flee their homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, during the war, hundreds of Turks and Azeris took to the streets<\/a> in the French city of Lyon, looking for<\/a> Armenians. They marched with Turkish flags, chanting<\/a> Allahuakbar<\/em> (Allah is the greatest), and \u201cWhere are you Armenians? Where are you? We are here\u2026 sons of bitches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Lac\u00f4te, French ambassador to Armenia, announced<\/a> that French police were protecting Armenian community centers in France from Turkish and Azeri attacks and vandalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another move to counter Turkish aggression, the French Interior Ministry banned<\/a> a Turkish ultra-nationalist group known as the Grey Wolves after a memorial to victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide was defaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the decision, saying that<\/a> \u201cthere is no such a movement called \u2018Grey Wolves\u2019. Attempts to resort to imaginary decisions presuming the existence of such a movement or formation based on some individuals and their actions, reflects the latest contradictory psychology that this country lives in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grey Wolf movement, however, does exist. The Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar<\/em>), officially known as Idealist Hearths (Turkish: \u00dclk\u00fc Ocaklar\u0131<\/em>) is a Turkish far-right, racist organization and movement affiliated with Turkey\u2019s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The movement has been involved in many acts of violence against civilians as well as political and religious figures. This includes the Alevi massacre<\/a> in the city of Maras in southeast Turkey in 1978 and the attempted assassination<\/a> of Pope John Paul II in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attacks against Armenians in the South Caucasus and Europe demonstrate that this war is not only about land. It is about pan-Turkic, expansionist aspirations of Turkey and Azerbaijanas well as their unrelenting, genocidal hatred against Armenians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As was the case during the 1915 Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turkey, the international community has once again abandoned Armenians, who are an indigenous and peaceful people. If new and effective steps are not taken by the civilized world immediately, neo-Ottomanism, pan-Turkism and jihad will win through the agreement imposed on Armenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, some opposition to the agreement has begun emerging in Europe. On November 11, France 24 reported<\/a> that the French presidency said it was studying the parameters of the Russian-brokered ceasefire, adding that a long-term deal should also \u201cpreserve Armenia\u2019s interests.\u201d Macron\u2019s office quoted him as saying that efforts should be made \u201cwithout delay\u201d to try to come up with a \u201clasting political solution to the conflict that allows for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to remain in good conditions and the return of tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To guarantee the return of Armenians to their ancient homeland and to prevent the complete erasure of the remaining Armenian cultural heritage by totalitarian Azerbaijan, Western governments must officially recognize Artsakh. The West must let dictators know that their war crimes and genocidal ambitions will not go unpunished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/moderndiplomacy.eu\/author\/uzaybulut\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Uzay Bulut<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara. Her writings have appeared in The Washington Times, The American Conservative, The Christian Post, The Jerusalem Post, and Al-Ahram Weekly. Her work focuses mainly on human rights, Turkish politics and history, religious minorities in the Middle East, and antisemitism.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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