{"id":32594,"date":"2020-12-17T01:47:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T23:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=32594"},"modified":"2020-12-17T01:47:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T23:47:07","slug":"previously-aliyev-had-called-turkeys-leaders-liar-cheat-and-betrayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=32594","title":{"rendered":"Previously, Aliyev Had Called Turkey\u2019s Leaders \u201cLiar, Cheat and Betrayer\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, when Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev held a victory parade in Baku, he expressed his appreciation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who attended the ceremonies. Tens of thousands of Azeris turned up in the streets singing the praises of Turkey and waving Turkish and Azeri flags. The two presidents uttered lavish words for one another and repeated their catchphrase, \u201cone people, two states.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

Even though the Turkish military and its advanced drones played a decisive role in the recent Artsakh war, both Aliyev and Erdogan repeatedly lied about Turkey\u2019s involvement in the war, just as they lied about the transfer of Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan to fight against the Armenian troops. The successful Azeri\/Turkish\/mercenary war cemented the influence of Turkey over Azerbaijan and its policies. Many commentators have described this situation as the occupation of Azerbaijan by Turkey. Since the Ottoman army seized Baku one hundred years ago, this is the first time that the Turkish military has reached the shores of the Caspian Sea. This reality is reinforced by the November 9, 2020 agreement signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, which provides for a route across Armenia linking Azerbaijan proper with Nakhichevan, thereby allowing Turkey access to Azerbaijan and the chance of going beyond to connect with other Turkic republics, thus realizing the age-old dream of Pan-Turanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Azeri-Turkish relations have not always been this warm and jovial. In 2009, when Armenia and Turkey were negotiating the protocols to open their mutual border, Azerbaijan was furious that Turkey would consider making such an move with Armenia, while ignoring the interests of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikileaks revealed a \u201cSecret\u201d cable dispatched by the U.S. Embassy in Baku to the Department of State reporting on the over one-hour long meeting held on April 3, 2009, between Pres. Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Matthew Bryza, the U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group of negotiators on the Artsakh conflict and Anne Derse, the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan. The cable was titled, \u201cPres. Aliyev Reasonable on Nagorno-Karabagh Options, Still Furious with Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summary paragraph, the cable stated that \u201cAliyev hid none of his outrage at Turkey’s apparent disregard for Azerbaijan’s interests, and the intensity of his display seemed calculated to underscore the seriousness of the repercussions for Turkey if Azerbaijan’s interests in NK [Nagorno Karabagh] are sacrificed for the sake of the Armenian accord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the subtitle, \u201cResentment at Ankara\u2019s Betrayal,\u201d the cable stated that \u201cAliyev responded with a lengthy and bitter indictment of Turkey as a \u2018liar, cheat and betrayer\u2019 of Azerbaijan. Noting that the consequences of the current volatile situation in the region are unpredictable, he complained that Azerbaijan had quietly supported the recent improvement in Turkish-Armenian relations, including President Sargisian’s \u2018football diplomacy,\u2019 never dreaming that Turkey \u2018would cheat us\u2019 by delinking progress on NK from that process. [Turkish] President Gul had promised that there would be no doors or borders opened for Armenia without progress on NK, Aliyev asserted. \u2018He lied, I no longer trust him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cable then stated: \u201cAliyev noted that when he met Prime Minister Erdogan in Davos this January [2009], Erdogan had said nothing about the steps Turkey was contemplating with Armenia…. After Davos, Erdogan had sent Foreign Minister Babacan to Baku to explain what was occurring with Armenia with respect to re-establishing relations. \u2018Babacan asked for my support, saying we should try to make progress \u2018in parallel\u2019 on NK,\u2019 but without linkage, Aliyev said incredulously. Aliyev told Babacan Azerbaijan would not support Turkey’s steps with Armenia without progress on NK and outlined \u2018all the possible consequences for Turkey and this region\u2019 if Turkey pursued this course. The Turks asked that Aliyev keep the conversation confidential. Aliyev agreed, he said, but shortly thereafter, RFE\/RL’s [Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty] Armenian Service reported that NK was \u2018no longer an obstacle\u2019 to improvement in Turkish-Armenian relations. This had sparked a press campaign in Azerbaijan which continues to this day, Aliyev added.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the cable: \u201cAliyev said he had twice sent Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov to Turkey to outline for the Turks what they would win and what they would lose from normalization without resolution or progress on NK, and to propose a joint Turkish-Azerbaijani statement on the matter. Azimov returned without results, and Azerbaijan now confronts \u2018the reality\u2019 that Turkey will initial, sign and ratify an agreement with Armenia to open the border and establish diplomatic relations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cable continued: \u201cAzerbaijan also can no longer maintain its posture of \u2018patient silence\u2019 about the Turkish-Armenia process, Aliyev said.  He noted that given Erdogan’s political weakness going into the recent Turkish elections, Azerbaijan had refrained from public statements to avoid impact on the vote. But \u2018silence was a sign of friendship the Turks do not deserve.\u2019 Turkey is manipulating public opinion, portraying Azerbaijan as acquiescent in its process with Armenia, so Azerbaijan must now clarify, publicly, its position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, \u201cTurkey is about to commit \u2018a serious historical mistake that will never be forgotten,\u2019 Aliyev asserted. \u2018Our relations will never be the same. We are not one nation and we never will be. Our relations will be damaged, it will be a disaster on all issues, security, economy, energy,\u2019 Aliyev continued. \u2018Turkey has to decide what it will gain and what it will lose. It will lose Azerbaijan, certainly; Central Asia as well, and end Turkic solidarity,\u2019 he continued. There will be consequences for Georgia if Turkey and Azerbaijan split. Energy negotiations will end. \u2018They did everything to ruin energy cooperation,\u2019 Aliyev said heatedly. He added later that Turkey underestimates the degree to which Azerbaijan can influence its domestic politics. Azerbaijan has never interfered in Turkish internal politics before, \u2018but this is a matter of national concern,\u2019 he warned.\u201d Aliyev added that he felt „personally betrayed“ by Gul and Erdogan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aliyev concluded his remarks to the U.S. officials with a warning to Turkey, \u201cnoting that when the Azerbaijanis had asked the Turks point blank whether they had agreed to normalize with Armenia and open the border without progress on NK, the Turks \u2018had not responded,\u2019 Aliyev exploded. \u2018Silence means yes…they did it! They will be on the black list always.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this meeting, Aliyev continued pressuring and threatening Erdogan and Turkey so it would not ratify the Armenia-Turkey protocols. Erdogan was forced to add a new condition to the protocols, seeking the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Artsakh which was unacceptable to Armenia. Eventually, the protocols fell apart as neither Armenia nor Turkey proceeded to ratify them by their respective parliaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aliyev was successful in preventing a rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey. Now that Aliyev and Turkey have solved most of the Artsakh issue militarily, they have resumed their love fest creating an existential threat to both Artsakh and Armenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One hopes that new unexpected developments could revive the old feud between Aliyev and Erdogan, undermining their current close relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com Last week, when Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev held a victory parade in Baku, he expressed his appreciation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32594","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=32594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32596,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32594\/revisions\/32596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}