Karabagh Captures Headlines Again

It is obvious that the sudden economic crisis in Azerbaijan, following the crash of oil prices globally, was one of the factors to divert the focus of politics somewhere else, away from the deterioration of daily miseries of Azeri citizens.

However, on a broader scale, the flare up is the localized reverberation of an emerging cold war, where Turkey can play a surrogate role for NATO in encircling Russia.

There has been a standoff between Russia and Turkey after the shooting down of the airplane in November 2015, with Ankara hiding behind the NATO shield, while Washington is avoiding the topic.

Mr. Erdogan is also betting on the outcome of the US presidential elections, since all the candidates, on both sides of the isle are nurturing trigger-happy policies, the essential fuel to intensify the new cold war.

Ankara has consistently marked Armenia as a scapegoat in its war of words with Moscow. That consistent trend began when Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed Selahattin Demirtas for visiting Moscow to set up a Kurdish office in the Russian capital.

To justify the massive war against the PKK and the Kurdish population, Davutoglu put the blame on the Kurds for cozying up to the Russians “like Armenian gangs did during World War I.” Next came Erdogan’s accusation that Russia was using Armenia to fight NATO.

Yournewswire.com reports on April 4 that according to Russian intelligence sources, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced concerns that Armenia, a nation with a population of 3 million population, has become the “greatest threat to world peace” and has vowed to “do something.”

The above report is corroborated by the statements Erdogan made in a lecture at the Brookings Institute during his last trip to Washington, once again waving Armenia’s scarecrow and even resurrecting the specter of ASALA.

The above report ends with a very explosive conclusion as it states: “And as to exactly why Erdogan, and his son, Bilal, who fund ISIS are intent on igniting a war in Nagorno Karabagh, is due to ongoing talks between Russia and the Obama regime to coordinate their attack on the Turkish-supported Islamic State capital of Raqqa (in northern Syria) which the US is preparing for a massive increase of Special Forces troops to conduct and if successful — would destroy Turkey’s dream of Middle East dominance and cost them millions of dollars.”

As the news broke, calls for restraint were heard from almost all capitals of the world. What was unusual was that Secretary of State Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, had a phone consultation which was followed by their resolute call for immediate cessation of hostilities. However, in their joint call, the two statesmen condemned the attempts by “certain external players” without identifying them.

Lavrov’s enigmatic announcement, following that joint appeal, threw some confusion in the situation. He stated that Russia is not blaming Turkey for provoking the situation in Karabagh and he continued, “I cannot judge what role Ankara has played or not played or is continuing to play, but for the sake of all parties concerned, and even for people in Turkey, it would be more preferable if Ankara concentrated its efforts in stopping its support to terrorism.”

We can realize that all fingers are pointing to Turkey, which has the added incentive to provoke unrest in the neighborhood to divert the attention from the civil war it is waging in Eastern Turkey. Incidentally, the Kurdish leader Demirtas has blamed Erdogan and Davutoglu for the recent flare-up in Karabagh.

As far as Armenia is concerned, there is one provocateur.

On April 3, during a meeting at the presidential palace in Yerevan with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ambassadors, President Sargisian announced, “While the international community condemns the use of force in Nagorno Karabagh through words only, Turkey is the sole state that demonstrates indubitable support to Azerbaijan’s adventures. The announcements by Ankara before and after the developments, by which that country seems to compete with Azerbaijan on anti-Armenian rhetoric, can create a new regional hot spot, the experience of which has accumulated in the Middle East. All those who once wished to see Turkey as a mediator in the Nagorno Karabagh conflict, realize today that the country having adopted ‘blood related security’ approach must be kept away from the Karabagh settlement process.”

The president has also announced that if hostilities continue, Yerevan might recognize Arstakh’s independence.

President Sargisian is heading to Berlin, the heart of NATO, to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The trip is significant in its symbolism and content. Not postponing this long-planned trip indicates that the Armenian government is in control of the situation. The visit also affords the opportunity for Armenia to elaborate on the effects in the region of continued German support for Turkish aggression.

In the meantime, war is continuing in Karabagh. Volunteers are heading from Armenia to the frontlines to sacrifice themselves for their homeland.

The diaspora Armenians cannot remain indifferent and continue business as usual. There is a tremendous challenge to counter the Turkish-Azeri news and disinformation. Also, it is time for legislative action. The least that the Obama administration can do is to reactivate Article 907 of the Freedom Support Act to warn Baku. We need to sensitize our legislators and ask them to act.

This challenge does not involve any blood sacrifice on our part, which is being spilled in Armenia and which the volunteers continue to provide.