Tuesday, November 6, 2007

No end to suffering...


Similar to Turkey, which with recent symbolic bill on the Armenian Genocide in the Congress took the opportunity to stack up all political cards to halt any further developments, Azerbaijan followed the suit. In a recent press release the President of Azerbaijan once again voiced the intentions of Azerbaijan on the 'occupation' of Nagorno Karabakh. Again there is the threat of war over Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Well, the geopolitics is the fate of Armenians. Sandwiched between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran, it is constantly victimized and an obstacle to larger expansionist goals of these countries. Turkey, in its shameful denial of the Genocide, is not oblivious of the vast historic territories that Armenia may try to request back at some point in time in the future. Azerbaijan is going to use its strategic reserves of oil and gas to blackmail those who are interested, namely the US, Turkey, Iran and possibly Russia to get Karabakh back. Anyone who knows history will simply throw up hands at the assertions of Azerbaijan that this region is 'occupied' by Armenians. What about just telling the simple truth that Azerbaijan like Turkey forcefully gained much of its current territory from no one else, but Armenians and Nagorno Karabakh was just one small parcel of land remained to be overtaken forever... Azerbaijan has been waiting for the Armenian Diaspora to spend billions of dollars on improvements in Karabakh and retake it easily with tanks... Armenia recognizes Nagorno Karabakh's right to self-determination (here). It is and should remain an autonomous republic. But since the vast majority of the population is Armenian, Azerbaijan's territorial claims are void.

What do the Armenians have in their political storage facility? What cards do they have? They have no oil, no gas, no natural resources. They only have a painful past, history filled with misery and constant terror... Perhaps, they also have an unending faith in themselves... They fight hard, in desperation trying to preserve the last remnants of their nationhood... All they have is the voice of the Diaspora, spread all over the world, echoing in the halls of justice...

3 comments:

Sınav said...

“Anyone who knows history will simply … “
I think you assume that what you know about history is the exact truth but any opposing piece of information or idea in your opinion for sure is not the truth. This is the way you can impede any debates over controversies and dash hopes to reach to an agreement.
1-According to the Qacar dynasty’s census before the year 1813 the Azerbaijanis used to comprise significant portion of population in Karabakh. After the Gulustan pact was signed between Qacars and Russians in 12 October 1813, gradually the Armenian population started to rise in karabakh. In addition, the ‘Turkmen-Chay’ treaty which was signed in 1828 between Qacars and Russians, paved the way for Russians to settled great multitudes of Armenians in Karabakh. But yet the Armenians in Karabakh and the surrounding areas were in minority. Since then the simmering tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over territory hiked to the point that in 1991 coincidently whit Azerbaijan’s independence, Armenian residents of Karabagh revolted for independence. Karabakh was seized by Armenia’s military force which was backed by Russians and Iranians during Karabakh war (1992-1994)

For sure the domestic tensions within Azerbaijan would be solved and no Karabakh conflict would exist if there wouldn’t be any foreign incursions into Azerbaijan. It is The Azerbaijan Republic’s right to get its territories back and the reason that Azerbaijan still doesn’t embark on recapturing its own territories by force is that she doesn’t want to engage in any wars before trying any peaceful ways to solution. Karabakh is an unalienable part of Azerbaijan and war against the invaders is inevitable at final resort.
** http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1993/scres93.htm
Resolution 822: Armenia-Azerbaijan (30 Apr)
Resolution 853: Armenia-Azerbaijan (29 July)
Resolution 874: Armenia-Azerbaijan (14 Oct)
Resolution 884: Armenia-Azerbaijan (12 Nov)

Sınav said...

2- Armenia was never victimized by any nations in the region. If it was, there wouldn’t be any Armenian republic right now - considering how powerful the neighboring states were-. It was the Armenians themselves who were instigated by Dashnak and Hinchak party to seize as much territories they can in order to create the Armenian Motherland. Also if you Take a look at ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) terrorist organization’s emblem, you’ll find out which country is an expansionist and who are victimized due to the terrorist acts of Armenian gangs.
If the Azerbaijanis would have practices any atrocities against Armenians then you’ve got be sure that the Karabakh conflict would never exist today. It was the Azerbaijanis people’s hospitality which let the Armenians settle is Karabakh.
Furthermore, there are no Azerbaijanis remained in Karabakh these days and it is quiet enough to prove who have been victimized. The Armenians forced the native Azerbaijanis residents out of Karabakh and it is why Karabakh have turned into an Armenian populated region – as you have mentioned -.


3- Parliament is a place where politics is supposed to be discussed and parliamentarians are the people who promised their advocates to provision better life for them. But the so called Armenian Genocide is an historical issue and must be discussed by historians. It’s obvious that Armenians themselves use the genocide allegations for political purposes but not proving anything.
Why the Armenians reject to convene in Turkey’s annual conference about the latter issue? Why the Armenian Republic despite the Turkish republic, denies the opening up of its archives for historians to investigate?

4- Armenia is a country and any country has its own foreign policy. Interaction between countries is part of politics. So if you think that Armenia is made to suffocate then it is for sure because of its own aggressive and no conciliatory intentions and policies. It is impossible to blame the neighboring countries for all the problems of Armenia. Just refer to the opposition parties active inside Armenia to fathom out how their own leadership has created a hell out of Armenia.

5- I wish for any human beings welfare and I hope sometime we’ll be able to dispel violence and war from our lives.

Narine Mkrtchyan said...

Thanks for comments. But I do believe that history has been systematically 'rewritten' by Turkish and Azerbaijan 'historians.' Thence, the denial of the Armenian genocide. Therefore, it is really not your fault to think like this. One thing should be remembered, that the future is in our hands and if we all work together-- with honesty and with acceptance of our past mistakes-- we can improve this world. The humanity can define its destiny and prevent the destruction of the world.

P.S. As a reminder, this blog is not a scholarly analysis of history. I have other venues to do that- for ex., by writing articles and publishing in well-known journals. This is a blog where I post my opinions on the basis of my research. Anyone is always entitled to disagree with me, but only after researching on the issue, from worldwide acceptable sources. My sources are not only Armenian and I would recommend you to use other sources, besides Turkish and Azer.