Armenia attacked again, who cares? [OPINION]

Published on September 22 2022

While Russia's aggression against Ukraine mobilizes Western humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine, Armenia has to face in great solitude new attacks from neighboring Azerbaijan. This Muslim country is led by the autocrat Ilham Aliyev, supported militarily by the Turkish dictator President Erdogan. Aliyev had reconquered three quarters of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2020 by crushing the Armenian defenders (4000 dead) at the end of a 44-day war.

A land with a strong Armenian majority, Nagorno-Karabakh (called Artsakh by the Armenians) had been attached to Muslim Azerbaijan by Stalin to bring the Christian Armenians into line with the Soviets. After the fall of the USSR, Armenia allowed this territory to regain its independence in 1992, after a victorious war against Azerbaijan. But over the past thirty years, the situation has changed considerably. Three times less populated than Azerbaijan and devoid of natural resources, Armenia has weakened because of its political divisions. Moreover, its European tropism has deprived it of the support of Putin, who is now entangled in his war against Ukraine. For its part, Azerbaijan, rich in gas, has continued to strengthen itself militarily, with the fully assumed support, in arms and jihadist mercenaries, of the Turkish protector. The latter can only congratulate himself on an ally collaborating with as much zeal in the re-establishment of a pan-Turkish empire, champion of Islam.

Today, Aliyev is no longer satisfied with Nagorno-Karabakh. Since September 13, it has directly attacked the Republic of Armenia. So far, the Armenians have repelled the ground assaults of the Azeris at the cost of severe losses, but they are bombarding without restraint (guns, mortars, drones) several Armenian regions, in the northeast, in the center, and in the south of the country. The claimed objective of the dictator, still warmly supported by Erdogan, is to annihilate the oldest Christian nation. It is in line with the Turkish big brother whose abuses preceded and followed the Armenian genocide of 1915. If the general intention of the dictator of Azerbaijan is to bring Armenia to its knees and reduce its people to dhimmitude (Azeri schoolchildren learn in their schoolbooks that Armenians are "dogs to be hunted"), the objective of this new offensive is the creation of a corridor crossing the Armenian territory (the region of Syunik) linking Azerbaijan to its isolated region of Nakhitchevan, located between Turkey and Armenia. This corridor, provided for by the ceasefire agreements of November 9, 2020, is not operational, Armenia wishing to control the movement of people, goods and goods on its own soil.

The Armenians, who paid for their Europhilia by the lack of love for their traditional Russian protector, can they expect any help from the European Union? It is unlikely: the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, on July 18 to triumphantly sign an agreement doubling gas imports from the Caucasian republic. The EU contented itself with calling for a cessation of hostilities. France (where 600 descendants of survivors of the 000 genocide live) has seized the UN Security Council. Will the United States be more effective? Known for her pro-Armenian positions, the speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, went to Yerevan (capital of Armenia) on Sunday, September 1915 for a three-day visit. "Armenia is of particular importance to us," she stressed, before condemning "Azerbaijan's illegal and deadly attacks on Armenian territory." For his part, the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Alen Simonian, affirmed that a ceasefire had been reached in the middle of the week thanks to American mediation, after the failure of Russian mediation. But this ceasefire was violated on September 18, by Azerbaijani fire on the eastern border, according to the Armenian Ministry of Defense…

Philip Oswald