{"id":32349,"date":"2020-12-06T14:36:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T12:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=32349"},"modified":"2020-12-06T14:37:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-06T12:37:10","slug":"nagorno-karabakh-the-aftermath-of-the-attack-on-artsakh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=32349","title":{"rendered":"Nagorno-Karabakh: The Aftermath of the Attack on Artsakh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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December 5, 2020 By NEWS WIRE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Can Erimtan<\/strong>
21st Century Wire<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that Turkey has become a presidential one-party state ruled by Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan (aka the Prez), like in Ottoman times, the country\u2019s affairs are once again being run from the palace \u2013 the Be\u015ftepe Palace in Ankara, to be precise. Living in this huge palace in conjunction with his wife Emine, the one-time humble and modest Erdo\u011fan has now become a man whom his critics call<\/a> a \u201cbillionaire several times over,\u201d holding \u201cat least eight Swiss bank accounts\u201d and who has in the past \u201cfaced 13 corruption probes\u201d which were never resolved due to his parliamentary immunity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

In spite of these allegations of sheer avarice and rank corruption, or<\/a> \u201cthe misuse of public power for private benefit,\u201d as an individual, Tayyip Erdo\u011fan is deeply attached to his religion and he has been at pains to implement what I have termed<\/a> a veritable \u2018policy of Sunnification\u2019 in the country in an effort to \u2018make Turkey Muslim again.\u2019 Over the past years, Erdo\u011fan has skillfully used his Justice and Development Party (or AKP) to transform the Turkish nation state into an Islamic state in all but name called the New Turkey<\/strong><\/a>, well and truly embarked on a post-Kemalist path leading further and further away from Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk (1881-1938)\u2019s example and principles. Still, this seemingly novel political construct more often than not relies on policies and relationships harking back to the good old day when Turkish nationalism was all but synonymous with the Kemalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Turkey\u2019s traditionally close ties to the Turkic nation state on the Caspian Sea have been revived again \u2013 \u201cTurkey recognized Azerbaijan\u2019s independence on 9 November 1991,\u201d prior<\/a> to the official fall of the Soviet Union (26 December 1991), and the recent revival of cordiality has also led to the outbreak of a new war in the Southern Caucasus. In this way, the Prez has suddenly become very close to Azerbaijan\u2019s strongman, President Ilham Aliyev<\/strong>, whom the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project<\/em> (or OCCRP<\/a>) awarded the epithet \u201cCorrupt Person of the Year\u201d in 2012<\/a>. As a result, it seems obvious that Turkey\u2019s Prez and his Azerbaijani strongman are nothing but a couple of swells, whose personal proclivities are now also matched by their public policies, bringing Ankara and Baku even closer together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 27 September 2020 and 10 November 2020 (or six weeks all together), the Republic of Azerbaijan attacked Armenian positions in the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh<\/strong><\/a> (known as Artsakh, to Armenians) as well as targets in Armenia proper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the Armenian side displayed a lot of bravado during the conflict, in the end Armenia\u2019s PM Nikol Pashinyan agreed to Russian mediation in order to bring an end to further bloodshed. The resultant agreement was hailed as a victory by Azerbaijan and its brother-in-arms, Turkey. In fact, in the succeeding hours a video recording of the Azerbaijani strongman Aliyev emerged on social media<\/a>, with the latter mocking Armenia\u2019s PM, ostentatiously asking, \u201cWhat happened Pashinyan?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six Weeks That Did Not Shake The World<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I have previously outlined<\/a>, for a whole range of reasons, Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2018s New Turkey directed and coached the recent Azerbaijani attack: \u201cIt was with Turkey\u2019s funding, munitions and guidance that Azerbaijan attacked Artsakh on Sept. 27, 2020,\u201c declared<\/a> the Armenian politician Raffi K. Hovannisian assuredly (on 21 October 2020). According to the Armenian authorities, a grand total of 2,425 of its soldiers have perished in the conflict, as reported by the Associated Pres (or AP<\/a>). On Twitter<\/a>, however, the independent journalist and analyst Neil Hauer estimates that \u201c[l]osses in Armenia and Artsakh in the recent Karabakh war: based on the amount of soldiers still missing and presumed dead, they are starting to talk about 7-8,000 or even *10,000* dead. In 44 days.\u201d adding in a subsequent tweet that \u201c[n]one of this is official, obviously, just estimates I have heard from well-informed locals involved in search efforts, etc.\u201d The AP\u2019s Avet Demourian then adds<\/a> that a \u201chundreds, possibly thousands [have been killed], in six weeks, but [Russia-brokered cease-fire] stipulated that Armenia turn over control of some areas it holds outside Nagorno-Karabakh\u2019s borders to Azerbaijan.\u201d Still, the now-beleagered Pashinyan took to Facebook<\/a> to assure his people and possibly keep the door open for any future resistance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting the realization of these programs on irreversible institutional tracks will take 6 months. In June 2021 I will deliver the performance report of this roadmap, and the public opinion and reaction will be taken into account for deciding future actions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In Azerbaijan, on the other hand, the Russian-brokered road map was seen as a declaration of victory. The Azerbaijani writer Cavid Aga, on Twitter<\/a>, gave voice to the sentiment on the street: \u201cSince the announcement of [a] ceasefire, [the] Azerbaijani public has gone from one mood to other. At first, naturally they celebrated, made feasts, paraded.\u201d Next stating that \u201cthree dominant groups have [subsequently] formed in society,\u201d with the first being \u201csatisfied with current outcome,\u201d a second group, on the other hand, wanting the \u201cwar to continue,\u201d and a third, desirous of \u201cTurkish peacekeepers beside Russians as they don\u2019t trust the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian-brokered document itself<\/a> is unequivocal, starting off that a \u201ccomplete ceasefire and termination of all hostilities in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is declared starting 12:00 am (midnight) Moscow time on November 10.\u201d The plan gave the Azerbaijani side considerable territorial gains: the \u201cAgdam District shall be returned to the Republic of Azerbaijan by November 20, 2020\u201d and the \u201cRepublic of Armenia shall return the Kalbajar District to the Republic of Azerbaijan by November 15, 2020, and the Lachin District by December 1, 2020.\u201d Still, a \u201cLachin Corridor (5 km wide), which will provide a connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia while not passing through the territory of Shusha, shall remain under the control of the Russian Federation peacemaking forces.\u201d This means that the Kremlin shall remain an active player in the Southern Caucasus for the foreseeable future. In other words, though not quite reviving<\/a> the 11-article Treaty of Kurekchay (14 May 1805), the current peace treaty of sorts ensures that Russia will continue to be a palpable presence locally. In contrast, Turkey also wants to be part of the configuration, with the all-but-impotent Turkish Parliament (or, TBMM) approving the Be\u015ftepe Palace\u2019s request on 17 November to deploy Turkish troops to Azerbaijan to serve at a joint monitoring mission, in conjunction with Russia that has been tasked to<\/a> \u201cwatch and inspect a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.\u201d The head of Turkey\u2019s Parliamentiary Defense Commission, \u0130smet Y\u0131lmaz pointedly and arguably somewhat idealistically remarked that<\/a> the \u201cTurkish presence in Azerbaijan and Karabakh is of vital importance for the protection of the historic victory.\u201d Previously, on Twitter<\/a>, the AKP-member Y\u0131lmaz had proclaimed his wish that the \u201ccall to prayer\u201d would never cease in the \u201cheavens of Karabakh.\u201d In reality though, the Russians gave the Turks quite a cold shower in this respect, in spite of having set up a joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center for control of ceasefire observance in Azerbaijan, and having deployed<\/a> \u201csome 2,000 Russian peacekeepers\u201d to Nagorno-Karabakh, yet remaining firm that Turkish boots be firmly off the ground. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quite vocal in this respect<\/a>: \u201cone needs to understand clearly that we are not talking about the peacekeeping effort described in the statement but about a different mission.\u201d Russia clearly calls the shots and has granted Turkey a face-saving role on Azerbaijani soil but has made sure to keep Turkish troops away from the conflict zone proper, that is Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Armenian Defeat: \u201cWhat happened Pashinyan?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Armenians are busily vacating the grounds handed back to Azerbaijan, burning their houses before abandoning the area, as can be seen on numerous video recordings spread into the world via social media, particularly on Twitter<\/a>. These scorched earth efforts appear puzzling, but seem to point towards some kind of deep-seated disdain (or even hatred) for the Azerbaijanis. Dr. Gayane Novikova points<\/a> out the presence of a \u201csingular victim complex among Armenians [as a collection of individuals] who had been struggling for survival for centuries\u201d \u2013 victims who, rightly or wrongly, feel particularly persecuted by \u2018Turks.\u2019 And in this context, Armenians regard Turks, Azerbaijanis or Tatars as interchangeable names for people having \u201cinitiated any and all threatening actions and violence against Armenians.\u201d Novikova maintains that \u201cowing to historical experience and memory,\u201d Azebaijanis \u201cwere included into the \u2018enemy\u2019 category in the perceptions of broad cross sections of Armenians.\u201d Dr Novikova here seems to slyly refer to the Armenian Genocide as a crime against humanity perpetrated by the Ottoman government, but popularly ascribed to the \u201cTurks,\u201d as a general derogatory name for bloodthirsty homicidal maniacs, ethnically related to Azerbaijanis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent report<\/a> by the RT journalist Murad Gazdiev all but underlines this assessment. Gazdiev presents an Armenian couple called \u201cLilit\u201d and \u201cIgor,\u201d who have lived in their own house in the Kalbajar (known to Armenians as Karvajar or Karvatchar) region for the past 17 years. They had even built the house with their own hands. As a school teacher Lilit seems to possess large swathes of empathy and is thus unwilling to burn down the house they are going to abandon. Suddenly, her husband gets upset, saying \u201cTo hell with them, I am going to burn it down, burn it right down.\u201d This couple now has to abandon their home in accordance with the stipulations of the Russian-brokered road map, a home they have inhabited for 17 years, or since 2003. The home they built on territory in one of the \u201cseven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh\u201d that Armenia occupied in the aftermath of the signature of the provisional ceasefire agreement known as the Bishkek Protocol<\/a> on 5 May 1994. In other words, they were settlers that have now been forced to vacate the location they took over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As explained<\/a> by Eurasianet\u2019s Caucasus editor Joshua Kucera about two years ago, the \u201cseven surrounding territories had had a negligible Armenian population, [and were] instead inhabited mainly by Azerbaijanis and Kurds. As a result of the war [that took place between 20 February 1988 and 12 May 1994] they were emptied of their population and about 618,000 Azerbaijanis remain displaced from the conflict, according to United Nations figures, the large majority of those from the seven districts.\u201d In the early years of the 21st<\/sup> century, the Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh started to establish their own government infrastructure in the \u201coccupied\u201d or \u201cliberated\u201d territories. The constitution, adopted in 2006, saw the incorporation of these seven territories into the de facto Republic of Artsakh<\/strong><\/a>. The Senior South Caucasus Analyst at the International Crisis Group<\/em>, Olesya Vartanyan puts forward that settlement \u201cbecame a clear policy of the local [Artsakh] leadership\u201d in 2007, adding that \u201c[r]oads were built, many problems with electricity resolved, new schools built, houses repaired, and so on. All was done to support the existing [settler] population in the [newly acquired] territories.\u201d And these Christian settlers clearly do not feel any sympathy for the Muslim \u201cAzerbaijanis and Kurds\u201d whom they had in large measure replaced. But now<\/a>, on 25 November 2020, Azerbaijan\u2019s Defense Ministry announced summarily that \u201cunits of the Azerbaijan Army [have] entered the Kalbajar region,\u201d in accordance with a trilateral statement signed by the presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia \u2013 the event dreaded by \u201cLilit\u201d and \u201cIgor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days previously (23 November 2020), \u201cPresident Ilham Aliyev and [his] First Lady\u201d ostentatiously visited<\/a> the Juma mosque in the ghost town of Aghdam, that had been abandoned during the 1988-94 war. On Twitter<\/a>, the Turkish journalist of Armenian descent (and actually residing in Armenia) Alin Ozinian adds that Aliyev, dressed up in a military uniform, performed prayers and bequeathed a copy of the Quran that had come form the holy city of Mecca to the mosque. Ozinian cheekily remarks that Azerbaijan\u2019s President couldn\u2019t have picked a better costume to wear in order to perform this strange act, which she calls a \u201ccocktail of Jihadism-militarism-pan-Turkism.\u201d Ozinian\u2019s analysis shows the extent to which Aliyev has now apparently become subject to Erdo\u011fan\u2018s role model<\/a>, as a \u201c\u2019Turkist-Islamist\u2019 Soviet leftover,\u201d in Ozinian\u2019s words, who is now trying to realign himself on an axis congruent with the New Turkey\u2019s policy of Sunnification, albeit that the Azerbaijani nation adheres to the Shi\u2019a version of Islam. Still, the heady mix of Jihadi Islam, Turkish nationalism and militarism that characterizes the New Turkey\u2019s post-Kemalist era seems to exude a heady allure, apparently easily able to trangress confessional borders and migrate from Sunni to Shi\u2019a climes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s Gambit: Money Talks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artem Avdalyan, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Armenian army, states clearly that<\/a> \u201c[f]ollowing the Bishkek agreement, Azerbaijan focused its efforts both on the development of its energy export based economy and in the rapid increase of its military capabilities.\u201d This heightened military fire-power not coincidentally also emerged at a time when NATO was reaching out beyond its traditional boundaries within the framework<\/a> of the Partnership for Peace programme, which also encompassed Azerbaijan. Baku\u2019s hydrocarbon wealth led to a \u201cwindfall of revenues\u201d that in turn gave rise to increased spending on military expenditure: from a meagre $240 million in 1998 to a whopping $1.453 billion in 2007<\/a>, reaching the heights of $2 billion in 2012 and dropping off to $1.6 billion in 2018<\/a>. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute<\/em> indicates<\/a> that Armenia\u2019s \u201cmore moderate economic growth . . . has given less leeway for increased spending on . . . the military . . . sector.\u201d Yet, the unresolved \u2018frozen conflict\u2019 in Nagorno-Karabakh was clearly the main reason for Baku\u2019s spending spree and this year\u2019s six-week war was all but its logical outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its own awesome military firepower, the Azerbaijani side also relied on a \u201cfleet of Israeli and Turkish drones\u201d that has inflicted major damage on \u201cArmenian tanks, air defences and heavy weapons.\u201d The Jerusalem<\/em> Post<\/em>\u2018s Seth Frantzman indicated that<\/a> so-called Israeli \u2018kamikaze drones\u2019 \u201creportedly make up a portion of Azerbaijan\u2019s arsenal.\u201d Various users on social media have posted video footage of these drones destroying Armenian positions and hardware, in particular the Orbiter 1K drone. Produced by the Israeli Aeronautics Group, this unmanned aerial vehicle is<\/a> a \u201cloiter munition platform, based on the combat proven, mature Orbiter 2 MUAS with the fuselage adapted for explosive payloads.\u201d In fact, Israel\u2019s state-owned aerospace manufacturer, IAI<\/a> (or Israel Aerospace Industries) already in 2012 signed a $1.6 billion contract with Baku, in a clear effort to take advantage of the \u201cwindfall of revenues\u201d that were re-directed to military expenditure eyeing the eventual re-ignition of the \u2018frozen conflict\u2019 in Nagorno-Karabakh. The fact that<\/a> Israel has over the years become the Middle East\u2019s high-tech production hub, including the manufacture of sophisticated weaponry, has led to this, at first sight, somewhat odd relationship between the Caspian oil-and-gas powerhouse and the Jewish state located in Palestine. Far from being a totally one-sided affair, \u201cIsrael receives about half of its crude oil supply from Azerbaijan,\u201d as<\/a> pointed out by the Yerevan-based David Davidian. In fact, President Aliyev himself is reported to have likened this relationship to an iceberg by stating that<\/a> \u201cnine-tenths of it is below the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closer to home, Baku has also relied on Ankara to acquire unmanned killing machines able to get the job done without any significant risk or danger. Like Israel, AKP-led New Turkey has also been trying hard to transform itself into a veritable production hub of high-tech killing gadgets \u2013 as worded<\/a> by the freelance journalist Ferhat Gurini, \u201cTurkey\u2019s growing defense industry is a cornerstone of Erdogan\u2019s independent and assertive foreign policy.\u201d In this respect, the Be\u015ftepe Palace is but following good old Turkish precedent, the Presidency of Defence Industries (Savunma Sanayii Ba\u015fkanl\u0131\u011f\u0131<\/em>) having been set up as long ago as 1985<\/a>. Following the example of the not-quite Islamist (he was nevertheless openly affiliated<\/a> with the Naqshbandi brotherhood) but outspoken neoliberal Turgut \u00d6zal (1927-93), Tayyip Erdo\u011fan continues encouraging public-private partnerships, with such by now prominent firms like ASELSAN, HAVELSAN and TAI. Originally, this deadly hardware was destined solely for Turkey\u2019s Armed Forces (or TSK, in acronymized Turkish), but the demands of capitalist expansion have led to Turkey now also exporting weapons systems to other countries \u2013 such as, Kazakhstan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE, Indonesia and, significantly, Azerbaijan. Recently, Turkey\u2019s arms industry has specialized in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones), having seemingly acquired the expertise from Israel after IAI sold drone technology to the TSK. For Turkey and Israel have enjoyed a \u201csecret but close\u201d defense relationship since the late fifties, as alleged<\/a> by the Israeli writer and journalist Yossi Melman. He explains that \u201c[o]ver the years, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, Israel\u2019s defence industries sold arms to Turkey, which included intelligence equipment, missiles avionics and upgraded tanks and planes,\u201d amounting to a $10bn turnover. This somewhat unseen commercial exchange has now resulted in the NewTurkey\u2019s blooming arms industry. In recent years, Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and Anka-S drones have been deployed all over the place \u2013 in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, but now also in the Southern Caucasus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last June<\/a>, the \u201cAzeri parliament approved a bill to receive financial assistance from Turkey to be used for the purchase of weapons systems.\u201d And Baku then went ahead and used these funds to buy Ankara\u2019s Bayraktar TB2 drones \u2013 \u201cdeveloped by Kale-Baykar, a joint venture of Baykar Makina and the Kale Group.\u201d The Washington<\/em> Post<\/em>\u2018s foreigncorrespondent Robyn Dixon explains<\/a> that Azerbaijan used these Turkish drones to good effect to kill \u201cArmenian and Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers and destroy tanks, artillery and air defense systems.\u201d Last October then, Azerbaijan\u2019s strongman Ilham Aliyev appeared on the Turkish state broadcaster TRT to tell the brotherly nation that \u201c[t]hanks to advanced Turkish drones owned by the Azerbaijan military, our casualties on the front shrunk . . . These drones show Turkey\u2019s strength. It also empowers us.\u201d While on social media, video footage<\/a> of the Azerbaijani use of these Turkish weapons was distributed as well: \u201cAzerbaijan Armed Forces is continuing to destroy enemy positions and vehicles with the aerial assaults conducted by Bayraktar TB2 Armed UAVs.\u201d During his TRT appearance<\/a>, Azerbaijan\u2019s strongman did not seem to hide his admiration for the Prez: \u201cTurkey has the second strongest army among NATO countries, and we are building a small model of this Army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operation Peace Spring Redux:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethnic Cleansing and Memories of the Armenian Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the fact that Turkey and Azerbaijan have populations that are ethnically Turkic and that both people adhere to the religion of Islam, albeit one being Sunni and the other Shi\u2019a, did Ankara have any ulterior motives in providing Baku with support and leadership?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)\u2019s resident scholar Dr Michael Rubin has recently put forward an interesting suggestion. Rubin namely argues that the Turkish and Azerbaijani strongmen want to \u201creplicate\u201d Operation Peace Spring\u2018s goals in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2019, Tayyip Erdo\u011fan pursued his plan of having Sunni Syrian refugees replace Kurdish civilians in northern Syria, at the time he had actually been thinking about re-settling \u201c2 million Syrians.\u201d In fact, the outspoken Erdo\u011fan critic contends that AKP-led Ankara has been employing Sunni Syrians inside Turkey in a similar fashion, in attempts to neutralize \u201cpredominantly Alevi areas in Hatay\u201d and \u201cKurdish towns and villages in southeastern Turkey.\u201d Regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, Rubin reasons that \u201cridding the region of Christians\u201d is the ultimate goal, as he states that \u201cfew Azeris want to live there,\u201d given its landlocked status and the opportunities and job prospects contained in Azerbaijan proper. Dr Rubin spells out his suggestion as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documents captured during the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan War as well as prisoner interrogations reveal that Turkey facilitated the transport of more than 7,700 Syrian Islamists to Azerbaijan in the months before the September 27 outbreak of fighting . . . [and now that the war over, these] Syrian mercenaries are both sending for their family members to come to Azerbaijan and seeking to then settle in southern areas of Karabakh that have now reverted to Azerbaijan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rubin\u2019s interpretation is all but congruent with accusations of ethnic cleansing and human rights\u2019 abuses, uttered by many Armenians and documented on social media. For example, on 29 October 2020, a Twitter user calling themselves Anna posted<\/a> an AP video showing the shelling of a hospital in the Artsakh capital of Stepanakert, adding the following words: \u201c#Azerbaijan wants Artsakh without Armenians, and their aim is the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh.\u201c A German internet user called Dennis is particularly active in this respect, making \u2018objective\u2019 videos<\/a> on the war in Nagorno-Karabakh using the name Vagabondings<\/a> for his YouTube channel<\/a>. And he really does a good job, documenting \u2018war crimes\u2019 and \u2018crimes against humanity.\u2019 His internet-based activism has even led to a certain degree of mainstream media recognition, as illustrated by an interview<\/a> conducted by Los Angeles-based KTTV FOX11\u2019s Good Day L.A<\/em>\u2018s anchor Araksya Karapetyan. This plethora of social media activity has now even led the \u201cAzerbaijani authorities [to tell BBC<\/em> Azeri<\/em> that] they are looking into the beheading video circulating on social media as well as other gruesome images that appear to show war crimes being committed by their servicemen in Karabakh,\u201d as related by the BBC News<\/em> journalist Grigor Atanesian on Twitter<\/a> (23 November 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In parallel to Armenians\u2019 apparent outspoken hatred and disgust for Azerbaijanis, it seems that Baku\u2019s propaganda efforts have been equally effective in turning the population against their Christian neighbours, as illustrated by the case of Nurlan Ibrahimov<\/a>, an official at the Azerbaijani football club Qarabag. On social media<\/a>, Ibrahimov published the following message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must kill all Armenians \u2013 women, children, the elderly. We need to kill them without distinction. No regrets. No compassion.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The UEFA investigated the official for potentially \u201cviolating basic rules of decent conduct\u201d and banned him subsequently (26 November 2020). The next day, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia even issued a search warrant for the Azerbaijani football official, charging him with<\/a> \u2018inciting national, racial or religious hatred (Article 226 of RA Criminal Code), inciting direct and public genocide (Point 1 of the Part 2 of the Article 393.1 of RA Criminal Code), justifying and endorsing genocide and other crimes against peace and security of humanity (Article 373.1 of RA Criminal Code).\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ibrahimov\u2019s words are troubling, as they display unthinkable levels of hatred and disgust, and are nothing but a public call for the implementation of a genocidal policy beyond mere ethnic cleansing. There are those who would say that the Azerbaijani football official\u2019s social media statement responds to a statement<\/a> made by Tayyip Erdo\u011fan in the summer preceding the outbreak of the war: \u201c[t]his mission, whatever it might entail, which our ancestors [meaning, the Ottomans] have carried out for centuries in the Caucasus, we will continue to fulfill again\u201d (14 July 2020). The above-quoted Davidian, for instance, interprets<\/a> \u201cErdogan\u2019s outburst [as] a reference to the Turkish genocide of the Armenians.\u201d After having spoken the words, the Prez continued by stressing the \u201cage-old\u201d ties with the \u201cbrother\u201d and \u201cfriend\u201d Azerbaijan and Turkey\u2019s moral duty to help and assist against unwarranted Armenian aggression. At first sight, it would seem reasonable to assume that the Turkish President was effectively hinting at the events of the early 20th<\/sup> century, when the Ottomans were fighting alongside the Germans in the Great War (1914-18) and the promulgation of the \u2018Deportation Act\u2019 (Tehcir<\/em> Kanunu<\/em>) on 24 April 1915 led to the massacre of untold Armenians in what has been erroneously named<\/a> the \u2018First Genocide of 20th Century.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey\u2019s Mission in the Southern Caucaus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when looking at the exact words used by Erdo\u011fan, one could arguably derive a somewhat different interpretation. The Turkish President used the term \u2018ecdadimiz\u2019 to refer to the Ottomans, a term that corresponds to ancestors, a term that has become quite popular in Turkey these days (corresponding to the Arabic term \u2018ajdad<\/em>). He did not talk about our \u2018forefathers\u2019 or \u2018grandfathers,\u2019 in which case he could have used the term \u2018dedelerimiz,\u2019 as would seem logical when referring to people active in the early years of the previous century. Moreover, Tayyip Erdo\u011fan specifically spoke about a \u2018mission\u2019 that had been \u2018carried out for centuries.\u2018 Looking back at the historical circumstances in the past centuries, it seems hard to understand which \u201cmission\u201d Erdo\u011fan had in mind while talking about the Caucasus. In Ottoman times, the Caucasus region primarily functioned as a buffer zone with the Safavids, ruling over the Iranian lands to the south. In the 19th<\/sup> and early 20th<\/sup> centuries, it became primarily an area of confrontation with the Russian Empire. For the Ottomans, centred in \u0130stanbul, the Caucasus region was situated at the periphery of their world, beyond the Ottoman centre of gravity and the area that is now Azerbaijan really constituted the Ottoman Empire\u2019s \u2018near abroad,\u2019 to borrow a phrase more commonly used in connection with Russia. The Ottoman mission the Prez was talking about seems to have had more to do with ensuring peace and non-hostile activity (such as trade and commerce) in the Southern Caucasus than with eradicating Christians or Armenians. The Prez did talk about \u2018centuries\u2019 rather than \u2018last century,\u2019 which would have been a time frame in line with the Armenian Genocide. For, even though Ottomans and Safavids clashed regularly in the Southern Caucasus, trade<\/a> and commercial exchanges<\/a> were nevertheless very important and at times very vibrant between the Sunni and Shi\u2019a power blocs of the Islamic world in the early modern period and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he is a pious Muslim and an outspoken Islamist, above all else, in strategic terms, Tayyip Erdo\u011fan is primarily a practical and pragmatic politician who wants to further his own or rather Turkey\u2019s agenda. A news item<\/a> carried by the Azebaijani private media outlet Trend News Agency<\/em> on 30 November 2020 all but spells out one of the Prez\u2019s ulterior motives for supporting the \u201cbrotherly\u201d nation: \u201cAzerbaijan, Turkey plan MoU on natural gas transportation<\/strong> to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic\u201d. Recently, Azerbaijan\u2019s Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov told the press that \u201cit is planned to transport some volumes of natural gas supplied from Azerbaijan to Turkey to Nakhchivan via the Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline.\u201d In other words, the recent \u2018liberation\u2019 of Nagorno-Karabakh will also turn out to be instrumental for Turkey as it pursues its longtime ambition<\/a> of becoming an energy hub. Turkey\u2019s active pipeline politics have already secured important links between both Turkic nations, with the recently completed Trans Adriatic Pipeline (or TAP) but the cherry on top of Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2018s forays into Pipelineistan and the 2005-completed Baku\u2013Tbilisi\u2013Ceyhan pipeline<\/a> but the beginning of the friendship between Ankara and Baku. Now that<\/a> Azerbaijan has completed its takeover of land that was given up by Armenia as part of a Moscow-brokered peace deal at the beginning of this month, Azerbaijan\u2019s strongman has told the world that this military and political \u201cvictory opens a new era for our country. It will be an era of development, security and progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These three words \u2013 \u201cdevelopment, security and progress\u201d \u2013 are but music to Erdo\u011fan\u2018s ears as he seemingly prepares to take up the mantle once carried by his Ottoman ancestors and sets out to secure the New Turkey\u2019s near abroad in the Southern Caucasus and proceeds to mark the region with his very own pseudo-Ottoman stamp, as an equal partner of Russia\u2019s Putin not quite knowing yet what to expect from the incoming<\/a> \u201cHarris administration with Joe Biden as president\u201d of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***
21WIRE special contributor Dr. Can Erimtan<\/strong><\/a> is an independent historian and geo-political analyst who used to live in Istanbul. At present, he is in self-imposed exile from Turkey. He has a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans, the greater Middle East, and the world beyond. He attended the VUB in Brussels and did his graduate work at the universities of Essex and Oxford. In Oxford, Erimtan was a member of Lady Margaret Hall and he obtained his doctorate in Modern History in 2002. His publications include the revisionist monograph \u201cOttomans Looking West?\u201d as well as numerous scholarly articles. In Istanbul, Erimtan started publishing in Today\u2019s Zaman and in H\u00fcrriyet Daily News. In the next instance, he became the Turkey Editor of the \u0130stanbul Gazette. Subsequently, he commenced writing for RT Op-Edge, NEO, and finally, the 21st Century Wire. You can find him on Twitter at @theerimtanangle<\/a>. Read Can\u2019s archive here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE TURKEY NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Turkey Files<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 5, 2020 By NEWS WIRE Dr Can Erimtan21st Century Wire Now that Turkey has become a presidential one-party state ruled by Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan (aka the Prez), like in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32349"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32352,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32349\/revisions\/32352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}