Turkish Forum

Tag: Ilham Aliyev

  • Advice to Aliyev: Continue Destroying Azerbaijan’s Reputation

    Advice to Aliyev: Continue Destroying Azerbaijan’s Reputation

    Even though Azerbaijan, with the help of Turkish and Israeli weapons and hired Islamic terrorists, won the 2020 Artsakh War, Pres. Aliyev has been destroying his country’s international reputation.

    With his barbaric actions during and since the war, Aliyev has undermined the interests of Azerbaijan. As a result, he has made himself a hated pariah and the laughing stock of the entire world. While Russia is cuddling him for its own political interests, the West is tolerating him to benefit from Azerbaijan’s oil and gas.

    I am very pleased that Aliyev is doing so many negative things in the eyes of not only Armenians, but also the entire world.

    There are many examples of Aliyev’s misdeeds. Here are some of them:

    During the 2020 war, Azeri soldiers committed barbaric acts that violate the international law, such as: beheading captured Armenian soldiers and civilians, mutilating their bodies, torturing them, trying the captives in court and sentencing them to lengthy jail terms.

    In violation of international conventions, Azerbaijan used banned cluster and phosphorous bombs to kill Armenian soldiers during the 2020 war.

    Azerbaijan systematically destroyed and defaced hundreds of Armenian cultural monuments and desecrated dozens of Armenian churches in Artsakh in violation of the Hague Convention on “the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.”

    Azerbaijan continues to violate the ceasefire agreement signed by Pashinyan, Aliyev and Putin at the end of the 2020 war. Here are some examples: Not releasing many of the Armenian Prisoners of War, shooting at civilians in Artsakh, occupying parts of the territory of the Republic of Armenia, taking new Armenian hostages, and threatening Armenia and Artsakh with further attacks if they do not comply with Azerbaijan’s wishes.

    Aliyev has dehumanized and demonized Armenians by describing them with vile adjectives, such as “leeches” and “wild animals.” In 2005, during the visit of a German delegation, the Mayor of Baku, Hajibala Abutalybov, shamelessly told them: “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, right? You should be able to understand us.”

    Aliyev dispatched dozens of fake eco-activists to block the Lachin Corridor during the last six months, depriving 120,000 Artsakhtsis of food and medicines. These so-called eco-activists were more like eco-terrorists. Azerbaijan then placed a checkpoint at the Lachin Corridor further violating the 2020 agreement.

    In addition, Azerbaijan periodically cuts off the Internet and electricity of the Artsakh population, keeping them isolated, in the dark and without heat in freezing temperatures.

    Instead of a simple transit road, Azerbaijan repeatedly demands a corridor to cross from eastern Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, which implies Azeri sovereignty over Armenia’s territory, in violation of 2020 agreement. By insisting on the Corridor, Aliyev is actually delaying Azerbaijan’s access to Nakhichevan through Armenia.

    Aliyev declares that all of the territory of the Republic of Armenia is ‘Western Azerbaijan.’ This is sheer nonsense. Whereas Artsakh and Armenia are thousands of years old, Azerbaijan did not exist until a century ago.

    Aliyev made the ridiculous pledge that Artsakhtsis will live under Azerbaijani rule just like all of its other citizens who are also repressed. Artsakhtsis remember well their barbaric mistreatment by Azerbaijan. Blockading them now shows how much worse they will be treated in the future.

    Aliyev repeatedly urges Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Any treaty signed by Azerbaijan is a meaningless piece of paper as we see from Aliyev’s violations of the 2020 agreement.

    To make matters worse, State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller welcomed Aliyev’s outrageous statement that he will give amnesty to all Artsakh officials who resign. Instead, Miller should have condemned Aliyev’s unacceptable threats to invade Armenia and Artsakh.

    Aliyev dismissed the demands of scores of world leaders and international organizations as well as the UN Security Council, the World Court and European Court of Human Rights to release the Armenian POWs and unblock the Lachin Corridor.

    After the 2020 war, Azerbaijan established a racist Military Trophies Park in Baku, displaying wax models of Armenian soldiers with hooked noses and distorted faces. After complaints and condemnations by the international community, the exhibit was closed down.

    In February 2004, an Azeri soldier, Ramil Safarov, used an axe to chop the head of a sleeping Armenian soldier in Hungary during a NATO program. In return for Azerbaijan loaning Hungary several billion dollars, Safarov was released prematurely with the understanding that he will serve the rest of his life sentence in a Baku jail. However, Aliyev welcomed Safarov as a national hero, pardoned him, promoted him to the rank of major, and gave him a free apartment and eight years of back pay. This is Azerbaijan’s compensation to Safarov for committing a cold blooded murder.

    As a result of all these war crimes, Aliyev has destroyed his and Azerbaijan’s reputation around the world. He should be arrested and tried by the International Criminal Court as a war criminal.

    Despite Aliyev’s reprehensible actions, world powers keep closing their eyes ignoring his many crimes, blinded by Azerbaijan’s oil and gas.

  • Aliyev Accuses Armenians of Barbarism While Talking about Making Peace

    Aliyev Accuses Armenians of Barbarism While Talking about Making Peace

    Pres. Ilham Aliyev held an international conference titled, “South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation,” on April 29, 2022 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with 40 participants from 23 countries. The conference lasted over three hours, with a short introductory speech by Pres. Aliyev, followed by lengthy replies to a dozen questions from the fawning foreign guests.

    The welcoming remarks were made by Hafiz Pashayev, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and Rector of the ADA University, which hosted the conference. He said that the conference was “dedicated to the Great Victory and liberation of Azerbaijani lands.” The day before the conference, the participants were taken on a tour of Fizuli and Shushi. Pashayev said: “our guests were also able to see some parts of the barbarian destruction which have been left after the Armenian occupation.”

    Aliyev stated in his remarks that after “capitulating” in the 2020 war, Armenia recently accepted the “five basic principles for peace that Azerbaijan put forward.” He said that Azerbaijan lost the opportunity for peace “for thirty years because of separatism, and because of Armenian aggression…. Personally, I will never forget the atrocities and barbarism.”

    Aliyev urged Armenians to “put an end to their territorial claims from Azerbaijan and Turkey…. It is important that the Armenian government and the country’s political spectrum fully understand this and stop trying to take revenge once and for all…. It is unproductive, because it will be more painful for Armenia than before…. It is absolutely irrational to put territorial claims to Turkey, which is one of the leading economies and one of the very few leading armies in the world.” Armenians must “put down all illusions.”

    Aliyev even dared to warn Armenians to “put down all attempts to rebuild the army, become stronger, to have five million population which they announced as their state program, and then to take back their territories. That would be the end of their statehood officially.”

    Aliyev accused Armenia of destroying “Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage and renaming all our cities, including Aghdam and Shusha.”

    Aliyev disclosed how Azerbaijan blocked the delivery of weapons to Armenia during the 2020 war: “We publicly said many times that arms during the 44-day war regularly — they have several a day cargo planes carrying weapons from Russia to Armenia. We traced all the routes from Rostov and Mozdok. We asked our Georgian friends to block the airspace, and they did. Also, we asked our Georgian friends to block the land route from Russia to Georgia to transport weapons to Armenia, and they did it also, and we are grateful. We sent letters to all Caspian littoral states not to allow Russian cargo planes carrying weapons to Armenia. We sent [letters] to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. But unfortunately, these planes were using the territory of these countries entering Armenia.”

    Aliyev also ridiculed Armenia and the Diaspora for thinking “that the whole world owes them everything, and someone will come and defend them, someone will come and fight for them, someone will come and give them money and everything, and they will sit and exploit their questionable and doubtful so-called tragedy.”

    Pres. Aliyev accused Armenians of planting mines right before evacuating the territories they had lost to Azerbaijan in the war, after Armenia “signed the act of capitulation” on Nov. 10, 2020: “We gave them 10-20 days to leave the territories they had to leave based on the agreement signed on November 10. But, they used it to plant mines, burn houses they did not build but settled in, cut trees, and [cause] other ecological disasters.” He said that during that same period, Armenians “destroyed 30 hydroelectric power plants.”

    Aliyev falsely claimed that Azerbaijan is a tolerant, multicultural country. He cited as an example the existence of an Armenian Church in the center of Baku. “There are five thousand Armenian books” in the Church, he said, hiding the fact that the Church no longer functions as a house of worship, but a library.

    Aliyev assured his guests that “Armenians who live in Karabagh, we consider them our citizens. We hope that they will also soon understand that living as citizens of Azerbaijan, they will have all rights, and their security will be protected. Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, is a multi-ethnic country. All ethnic groups who live here, including Armenians, live in peace and dignity. We have an Armenian minority and they never had any issue in that respect.” Aliyev is hoping that everyone forgot about the repeated massacres of thousands of Armenians in Azerbaijan.

    Aliyev claimed that Azerbaijan “is already getting some messages from Armenians in Karabagh — very positive messages. We already started some preliminary contacts on different levels. Don’t want to go into much details, but it already started, and this once again demonstrates our intention. They can be part of the rapid economic development, they can feel themselves much more safe, secure and comfortable within the unified Azerbaijani state, but they need to put down their separatist trends and separatist aspirations.”

    Regarding the upcoming negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to delimit and demarcate their mutual border, Aliyev claimed that there are maps that show Yerevan and Zangezur were “part of Azerbaijan.”

    During his remarks, Aliyev also antagonized Russia when responding to a question about Ukraine. “We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine…. The most important [thing] is never agree to the occupation,” he said.

    Finally, taking a dig at Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Aliyev recalled him saying, “‘Karabagh is Armenia.’ Now what [do] they say? Now they say that ‘Karabagh is Azerbaijan.’ And who says that? The same people who said ‘Karabagh is Armenia’ in 2019.”

  • Pres. Aliyev’s 11-Year-Old Son Owned $45 Million Property in Central London

    Pres. Aliyev’s 11-Year-Old Son Owned $45 Million Property in Central London

     This sensational report was exposed by the international news media on Oct. 3, 2021. While this is not the first time it has been revealed that the family of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of properties in foreign countries through offshore companies, it is the latest and most detailed such scandalous news.

    The report about Aliyev’s 11-year-old son Heydar Aliyev was exposed by the Pandora Papers — the largest collection of leaks of concealed financial documents. These secret files were organized by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the participation of over 650 reporters worldwide. The records contain “nearly 12 million documents and files from 14 financial service companies in several countries, the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland,” according to the BBC.

    While many of “the revealed transactions involve no legal wrongdoing,” there are serious “concerns that some property buyers could be hiding money-laundering activities,” the BBC stated. “Offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax. They are using those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich their own families, at the expense of their citizens,” added Fergus Shiel from ICIJ.

    The BBC went on to report that “The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his family, who have been accused of looting their own country, are one example. The investigation found the Aliyevs and their close associates have secretly been involved in property deals in the UK worth more than £400 million [$540 million]. Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family, long accused of corruption, have built a vast offshore network to hide their money.” Pres. Aliyev’s annual salary is $228,000.

    BBC also revealed that the Aliyevs bought 17 buildings in the UK, including an entire block of office buildings in the posh Mayfair area of London for $45 million in 2009 for the president’s 11-year-old son, Heydar Aliyev, who was then in grade school.

    The Aliyevs bought another building in London for $47 million in 2008 and sold it in 2018 for $89 million, making a profit of $42 million. The Aliyevs sold that property “to the Crown Estate — the Queen’s property empire that is managed by The [UK] Treasury and raises cash for the nation.” BBC reported that “The Crown Estate said it carried out the checks required in law at the time of purchase but is now looking into the matter.”

    A separate article on the ICIJ website, under the title of “The Power Players,” highlighted the incredible wealth of Azerbaijan President’s three children: Arzu Aliyeva, Heydar Aliyev, and Leyla Aliyeva.

    The ICIJ article explained that “Ilham Aliyev became president of Azerbaijan in a 2003 election widely regarded as manipulated…. He has de facto control over the state oil fund, which generates annual revenue of $9 billion. His presidency has been marked by brutal political crackdowns and human rights violations, including the imprisonment and torture of journalists and dissidents. Despite accusations of running a kleptocracy, Aliyev maintains close relationships with European leaders through what has come to be known as ‘caviar diplomacy.’ The 2017 Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed how almost $3 billion linked to Aliyev was laundered through shell companies, with much of the proceeds spent on gifts for European politicians. Other media investigations, including ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks and Panama Papers, have shown that the Aliyev family controls significant wealth in Azerbaijan and that the president’s three children also own properties in the U.K. and Dubai.”

    ICIJ further revealed that “The Pandora Papers provide a view of the startling scale of the Aliyev children’s luxury property investments. They were shareholders of 44 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands between 2006 and 2018. The records show the children owned five companies used to buy more than $120 million worth of high-end London properties between 2006 and 2009, many of which were later sold for vast profits.”

    Besides the $45 million London office building owned by then 11-year-old Heydar Aliyev, his sister Arzu purchased anther office building one block away through an offshore company for $47 million. “In 2009, a company owned by the eldest child, Leyla Aliyeva, bought a $13.5 million corner building behind London’s Oxford Circus, which has housed a string of businesses run by Aliyev family friends,” according to ICIJ.

    In an effort to obscure the ownership of these properties, “starting in 2013, the children transferred shares in their offshore companies to their maternal grandfather, Arif Pashayev. The holdings were later transferred to a series of trusts based in the Isle of Man, a British dependency and secrecy haven. Pashayev and two close associates bought further properties in and around London worth more than $500 million between 2006 and 2017,” ICIJ revealed. Not surprisingly, none of the Aliyev family members responded to ICIJ’s repeated requests for comment.

    While it is disgraceful that funds belonging to the citizens of Azerbaijan were misused, the good news for Armenians is that Azerbaijan did not use these large sums to purchase more arms, to inflict further damage on the people of Armenia and Artsakh!

  • Aliyev-Pashinyan Duel via Video At United Nations General Assembly

    Aliyev-Pashinyan Duel via Video At United Nations General Assembly


    Just days before the first anniversary of the 44-day war, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev clashed once again, this time in a bloodless confrontation via video at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

    In my opinion, both Aliyev and Pashinyan made the mistake of not appearing in person at the UN meeting. The issue is not just the speech which they delivered by video, but their absence from an important international gathering of close to 200 leaders from around the world. This was an important opportunity, particularly for Armenia’s Prime Minister, to rub shoulders with many of these leaders in private and public settings to transmit to them Armenia’s grievances and publicize Azerbaijan’s brutal violations during last year’s war.

    Fortunately, Pashinyan dispatched to the UN Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan who held several important meetings with his counterparts from many countries, including Azerbaijan, the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group, and the Secretary General of the UN.

    While Armenia and Azerbaijan were not represented at the UN by their heads of state, Turkey was wisely represented by Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who took advantage of the opportunity to meet with dozens of heads of state and inaugurate the new Turkish Center’s high-rise building across the UN headquarters which was attended by many dignitaries and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Erdogan’s only setback was the refusal of Pres. Biden to meet with him at the UN.

    Turning to the speeches, Pres. Aliyev addressed the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23 delivering a 38-minute speech in English by video. Pashinyan’s video speech was much shorter — it lasted less than 12 minutes. Aliyev’s lengthy speech was not necessarily a good thing. He probably bored to death the dignitaries at the General Assembly who were listening to non-stop speeches day after day. Whereas it was smart of Aliyev to speak in English, Pashinyan, despite his knowledge of English, chose to speak in Armenian which means that the attendees had to listen to the translation of his speech via earphones, not the best way to communicate. Nevertheless, Pashinyan wisely used a teleprompter to read his speech which made it much more interesting to watch, versus Aliyev who was looking down the whole time, while reading the speech from a paper in front of him. This prompted a non-Armenian to comment sarcastically on YouTube, under the video of Aliyev’s speech: “What happened to Aliyev’s petrodollars? Couldn’t he afford to buy a teleprompter?”

    In his lengthy speech, Aliyev told dozens of lies:

    1)  That Armenia, not Azerbaijan, started last September’s war. Aliyev must have forgotten that he had previously admitted proudly that he started the war. He also accused Armenia of initiating an attack on Azerbaijan in July 2020. Armenia had no reason to start a war neither in July nor September 2020.

    2)  Aliyev referred to the 12th century poet Nizami Ganjavi as “the great Azerbaijani poet.” Ganjavi is in fact Persian, not Azeri (see Wikipedia’s numerous sources). In the 12th century, Azerbaijan did not even exist. Ganjavi was born in Ganja (Kantzag in Armenian) which at the time was “densely populated with Iranians and a small number of Christians,” according to Armenian historian Guiragos Kantzagetsi (1200 – 1271).

    3)  Aliyev falsely described Azerbaijan “as an example of tolerance and peaceful coexistence of representatives of various religious and ethnic groups living in our country.” On the contrary, Azerbaijan is a very intolerant and violent country. Its history is full of repeated massacres of Armenians. Yet, shamelessly, Aliyev accused Armenia of committing “genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity!”

    4)  Aliyev also accused Armenia of “gross violation of international law, including the Geneva Convention.” This is the exact description of Azerbaijan’s own violations and crimes. He falsely claimed Armenia used “white phosphorus and cluster munitions” and attacked civilians. Once again, Aliyev was describing Azerbaijan’s own war crimes against Armenian civilians, hospitals and churches.

    5)  Aliyev also claimed that Armenia recruited “mercenaries and foreign fighters from abroad.” As is widely known, this is exactly what Azerbaijan did.

    6)  Aliyev lied about Armenians engaging in “the full destruction of cities and villages, including the cultural and religious heritage sites of Azerbaijani people.” The truth is the exact opposite.

    7)  Aliyev claimed that Azerbaijan “started taking legal actions against [foreign companies] for illegally exploiting our natural resources in the formerly occupied lands.” Hopefully, these companies will countersue Azerbaijan for confiscating their properties.

    8)  Indirectly admitting that Azerbaijan has encroached on the territory of Armenia, Aliyev boasted that “the country has been weakened to the extent that it cannot even guard its own borders by itself.”

    9)  Instead of respecting the agreement signed on Nov. 9, 2020 by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, to release all prisoners of war, Aliyev demanded that Armenia “provide us with accurate mine maps of all liberated territories.” There is no mention of such a requirement in the Nov. 9 agreement.

    10)  After telling all these lies and many others too numerous to mention, Aliyev has the audacity to urge Armenia to sign a “peace agreement … based on mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other.” He is thus pursuing a total abandonment of Artsakh by Armenia.

    Prime Minister Pashinyan delivered his speech at the UN on Sept. 24. He started by setting the record straight, stating that “in the fall of 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh was subjected to aggression… [which] was accompanied by numerous gross violations of international law by the Azerbaijani armed forces, including deliberate targeting of civilians and vital infrastructure, extrajudicial killings of prisoners of war and civilian hostages, torture and many other documented crimes. As a result of these actions, in the parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, which came under the control of Azerbaijan, the Armenian people were subjected to complete ethnic cleansing.”

    Pashinyan went on to highlight Armenia’s democratic credentials, vainly hoping that the international community will be impressed and take positive steps to protect the country against Azerbaijan’s aggression. Armenia’s Prime Minister also spoke of his country’s readiness for peace with its neighbors, again hoping for support from UN member states. He does not seem to realize that the world does not care about such niceties. The only thing the world respects is strength.

    Pashinyan next condemned Azerbaijan for holding Armenian prisoners of war as hostages in Baku and spoke about Azeri videos that show “decapitated bodies or shot bodies of these soldiers.”

    Pashinyan also mentioned “reopening transport links” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He naively added that “if the railway connecting Armenia to Turkey is opened too, then the topic of opening regional communications will cover broader scope.”

    The Prime Minister made one more pitch “to resume the peace process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.” Regrettably, this process has reached a dead end, as Aliyev claims to have solved the Artsakh issue by force and sees no need to engage in any further negotiations on this subject.

    Pashinyan mentioned “with regret” that Azerbaijan’s forces crossed Armenia’s borders on May 12, 2021 and have refused to leave. He suggested that both countries withdraw from “the Soviet times border” and invite the deployment of “international observers” along the border. It is not clear why Armenia should withdraw from its own border!

    Unfortunately, nice words do not mean much in realpolitik. The world believes only in power. While Azerbaijan and Turkey speak from a position of strength, Armenia is obliged to submit to the imposition of its more powerful and brutal enemies.

  • Azerbaijan, Turkey expand relations in migration sphere

    Azerbaijan, Turkey expand relations in migration sphere

    Azerbaijan and Turkey have explored ways of developing cooperation in migration sphere.

    113670Azerbaijan and Turkey have explored ways of developing cooperation in migration sphere, as chief of the State Migration Service (SMS), 3rd rank migration service counsellor Firudin Nabiyev has met Counsellor for labor and social protection at the Turkish Embassy Namik Ata and representatives of Azerbaijan International Society of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (TÜSİAB) and Azerbaijani-Turkish Business Association (ATIB).

    Nabiev informed about the country`s achievements founded by national leader Heydar Aliyev and being effectively continued by President Ilham Aliyev, AzerTAj reports.

    He also stressed the importance of strengthening state control over migration processes, as well as the foreign companies acting in comply with the country`s Law.

    Namik Ata, in turn praised all sphere developing relations between the two countries and expressed confidence that these ties would further develop.

    News.Az

    via News.Az – Azerbaijan, Turkey expand relations in migration sphere.

  • French-Armenians Should Welcome Aliyev in Paris as ‘Chief Hatchet Man’

    French-Armenians Should Welcome Aliyev in Paris as ‘Chief Hatchet Man’

    When Pres. Ilham Aliyev arrives in Paris on September 18, thousands of French-Armenians should greet Azerbaijan’s leader with posters depicting him as ‘Hatchet Man-in-Chief’ — ‘Bash Baltaji’ — holding a bloody axe. Interestingly, in all three languages — Azeri, Hungarian, and Turkish — ‘balta’ means hatchet or axe.

    During the protest, French-Armenians should not waste their energies yelling out meaningless slogans, such as ‘Shame on Baku’ or ‘Shame on Hungary.’ Instead, they should deliver the crucial message that Artsakh (Karabagh) be recognized as an independent state, because its Armenian population cannot survive under a despotic regime that glorifies axe-wielding murderers.

    Inadvertently, Hungary and Azerbaijan have done a huge favor for Armenians in extraditing and pardoning Lieutenant Ramil Safarov who bludgeoned to death his sleeping Armenian classmate, at a 2004 NATO course in Budapest. Numerous countries and international organizations have condemned Hungary and Azerbaijan for their unsavory actions. Armenians should capitalize on this sordid affair by holding demonstrations in every major city around the world, raising it in every international meeting, and filing lawsuits in European courts against Hungary, Azerbaijan, and NATO. Now that the axe-man’s release has generated worldwide sympathy for Armenians and clear antipathy for Azerbaijanis, Armenia should take advantage of this narrow and fleeting window of opportunity to recognize Artsakh’s independence and urge others to follow suit. A search on google reveals that over one million articles were written on this subject in the last 10 days, the overwhelming majority favoring Armenia and criticizing Azerbaijan.

    Armenians should explain to the world the futility of holding peace negotiations with Azeri leaders who treat international agreements as toilet paper! The most recent example is the August 15 letter of Azerbaijan’s Deputy Justice Minister to his Hungarian counterpart, assuring him that Safarov would not be released, if extradited to Baku. Two weeks later, the axe-man was not only freed, but promoted and rewarded by the ‘Chief Baltaji,’ who is taking his cues from Turkish leaders on glorifying criminals and treating protocols as meaningless pieces of paper!

    Turkish officials, however, are not too anxious to link their names to the odious behavior of Aliyev Junior. A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement claiming that Turkey had nothing to do with Safarov’s extradition from Hungary, despite the murderer’s expression of gratitude for Turkey’s support, after his arrival in Baku. Independently of its accuracy, the Turkish statement does confirm that Azerbaijan is isolated from the rest of the world and abandoned by the major powers — the United States, Russia and France — all of which have condemned Safarov’s release!

    In desperation, Azerbaijan’s intelligence services concocted a fake ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) letter that threatens Azeri officials, so that Aliyev can regain the sympathy of world public opinion. The forged letter included statements that no Armenian would make, such as claiming that only 600,000 Armenians were killed during the Genocide, a false figure circulated by denialist Turks and Azeris. No Armenian would ever minimize the enormous death toll from 1.5 million to 600,000! In response to this forgery, ASALA issued a statement rejecting the authenticity of the letter. Such fraudulent Azeri actions give credibility to rumors that Azerbaijan may consider ‘eliminating Safarov,’ its ‘national hero,’ in order to blame Armenians for his murder!

    Ironically, Armenia defeated Hungary last Sunday to win the World Chess Championship held in Istanbul. Azerbaijan was in 10th place, while Turkey came in 48th. Armenians should be genuinely proud of this incredible accomplishment (for the third time!), but they should refrain from making disparaging remarks about people in other countries. There are good and bad individuals in every nationality. Rather than harboring ill feelings toward the people of Hungary, Azerbaijan or Turkey, Armenians should confront those who deny the Armenian Genocide, extradite a convicted criminal or glorify an axe-murderer!

    Tomris Azeri, President of Azerbaijan Society of America and co-founder of Pax Turcica Institute, suggested in an interview posted on News.az that rather than criticizing Turkey, I should help resolve the Artsakh conflict! Ms. Azeri stated: “I sincerely wish that before authoring another Turcophobic ode, Mr. Harut Sassounian analyzes what can be done to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.” My advice to MsSassunian son resim2. Azeri is not to deny past crimes, not to commit new ones — with or without an axe — and then pursue peaceful solutions, rather than whipping up racist anti-Armenian mass hysteria by the ‘Bash Baltaji’ and his cohorts.