On September 27, the people of the Armenian Republic of Artsakh in the South Caucasus, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, woke up to the shelling of the military forces of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani forces have since indiscriminately shelled the civilian areas of Artsakh including its capital, Stepanakert. Many residential areas have been largely destroyed by Azerbaijani bombardment. Half of the population have been displaced, the region’s rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan said on October 7.
In the small town of Martuni in Artsakh, shells have torn through roofs, leaving piles of rubble and shattered glass, AFP news agency reported.
While the town is around 20 kilometers (15 miles) from the front line of the heavy fighting, Azerbaijan’s armed forces began bombarding central streets and the local government headquarters with Grad rocket launchers as a team of AFP journalists were talking to residents at the scene.
The shelling injured two French journalists from Le Monde newspaper and two Armenian journalists.
Artak Aloyan, a 54-year-old construction worker, had taken shelter in his small dark cellar with his neighbour, an elderly woman in a headscarf who was sitting on an iron bedstead. Since Sunday he has rushed to take refuge here every time rockets start whizzing in.
“They’re firing at houses, they’re firing on people. It’s barbaric,” said 38-year-old Karun Abrahamyan, the sales assistant at a grocery store.
“We don’t go anywhere at night. My friend and I stay in the garage. From midnight, we hear the sound of shelling; we don’t know what to do,” she said.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has violated two humanitarian ceasefires, one brokered by Russia, the other brokered by France, and continued shelling civilian areas.
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan refer to Artsakh as “Azerbaijani lands,” but Artsakh has been a province of historical Armenia since ancient times, and largely maintained a semi-independent status as a predominately Armenian region.
Artsakh was acquired by Russia in 1813, and in the early 1920s Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin granted it as an autonomous oblast to Soviet Azerbaijan, although the region was mostly Armenian. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, in response to Azeri pressures and persecution, Artsakh declared its independence on September 2, 1991 from Soviet Azerbaijan, which declared its own independence in the same year. Azerbaijan, however, did not respect the right to self-determination of the Armenian people and attacked them — an attack that turned into a four-year war. The war destroyed many Armenian towns and villages in Artsakh and killed 30.000 people.
Twenty-six years after the end of that war, Artsakh is still diplomatically unrecognized and is once again under attack, not only by Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also by international terrorists. News organizations including Reuters and the BBC, as well as the Guardian and the Independent have reported that Turkey has deployed jihadist terrorists from Syria to Azerbaijan to fight against Armenians. Russia, France and Syria have also accused Turkey of using Islamist fighters in its war against Armenians.
Why are Turkey and Azerbaijan, two Muslim Turkic states of about 100 million people, violently attacking and destroying the Armenian homeland of Artsakh, whose population is about 150,000?
This war appears to be part of a greater agenda of Turkey: Erdogan has set some benchmarks for the years 2023, 2053 and 2071.
- The year 2023 will be the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish republic in 1923.
- The year 2053 will be the 600thanniversary of the fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
- And 2071 will be the 1,000th anniversary of the 1071 Manzikert (Malazgirt) battle, during which Turkic tribes from Central Asia invaded the Greek Byzantine forces in the then-predominantly Armenian city of Manzikert.
Before these anniversaries, the Erdogan government aims to achieve some “victories,” including territorial expansion. Erdogan has accelerated his rhetoric of neo-Ottomanist expansionism and conquests in recent years.
On August 26, for instance, Erdogan gave a speech at an event celebrating the 949th anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert, in which Seljuk Turks from the Central Asia invaded and captured the then Armenian city of Manzikert in the eleventh century. He said:
In our civilization, conquest is not occupation or looting. It is establishing the dominance of the justice that Allah commanded in the [conquered] region… First of all, our nation removed the oppression from the areas that it conquered. It established justice. This is why our civilization is one of conquest… Turkey will take what is its right in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Aegean Sea, and in the Black Sea.
In another speech on August 30, Erdogan said, in part:
As some historians have said, we are not a society that has an army – we are a nation that is itself an army.
We do not run away from a fight. We will not hesitate to sacrifice martyrs and wounded people in this fight. For our independence and our future, we will not hold back from roaring all together as 83 million people, and running over the dams that get in our way, like a flood.
The real question is this: Can those who oppose us in the Mediterranean Sea and around it accept the risk of the same sacrifices? Do the people of Greece accept what will happen to them because of their greedy and incompetent leaders? Do the people of France accept the price they will pay because of their greedy and incompetent leaders? Are the brotherly peoples of some North African and countries in the Gulf content with their futures growing darker as a result of their greedy and incompetent leaders?
Erdogan is also actively using Islamic rhetoric to fire up his supporters. On the 567th anniversary of the fall of the Byzantine Greek city of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks, for instance, Erdogan recited the Koranic surah al-fath (victory, conquest) at the Hagia Sophia historic cathedral/museum that was reconverted into a mosque on July 10. The surah al-fath glorifies conquests and victories over “disbelievers” and “hypocrites”.
To revive some kind of an Ottoman Empire, the Turkish government has been targeting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations in recent years.
Some examples include:
Cyprus and Greece: Turkey has repeatedly sent its oil-drilling ships inside Cyprus and Greece’s exclusive economic zones (EEZ), thus violating both countries’ territorial waters in an attempt to prospect for oil and gas. Turkey has been occupying the northern part of Cyprus since 1974 and does not recognize Cyprus as a state. Turkey has also been threatening to invade Greece at least since 2018 and often violates its airspace. Just on one day, July 2, for instance, Turkish jets committed a total of fifty new violations in Greece’s national airspace, according to Greek military authorities.
Israel: Erdogan’s government has been pursuing neo-Ottoman expansionist aspirations in Israel, as well. On October, Erdogan said in a speech at Turkey’s parliament: “Jerusalem is our city – a city from us.”. Erdogan has made many similar statements. After the US administration announced its peace plan for Israelis and Palestinian-Arabs, Erdogan said in January: “Jerusalem is the holy [city] of Muslims. The plan to give Jerusalem to Israel can never be accepted.”.
But Erdogan is targeting Israel not only through words. On January 6, Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the Erdoğan government engaged in neo-Ottomanist expansionism in Israel and published some of these activities in a story entitled “Erdoğan’s Quiet Jihad”. It said:
Turkey’s efforts to restore the “glory days” of the Ottoman Empire extend far beyond influence-peddling in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount. Turkey is spending money in Haifa, among the Bedouin, and even in mixed Jewish-Arab cities in an attempt to increase its status and bolster the Palestinian cause.
“While the Turks’ main focus is Jerusalem, they are active throughout the country and their interest in Jaffa and other Arab population centers goes beyond considerations of tourism or culture,” it added.
Syria: At least since 2017, Turkey has been invading Syrian territory through military incursions. The latest one by Turkey and Turkey-allied jihadist forces was launched in 2018 against the Syrian city of Afrin. The actions of the occupation forces in that region have been heavily criticized by human rights groups. Amnesty International, for instance, reported: “Turkish forces are giving Syrian armed groups free rein to commit serious human rights abuses against civilians in the northern city of Afrin.”
Libya: Turkey is actively involved in the Libyan conflict as well to shore up its position in the Mediterranean. Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year, the U.S. Defense Department’s inspector general reported. In January, Erdogan said Turkish troops began moving into Libya after the Turkish parliament approved the move a week earlier. Egypt’s parliament then authorized the deployment of troops abroad after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned of a military intervention against Turkish-backed forces in Libya.
However, in all of the examples above, except for Syria, Turkey has not been able to militarily attack the territories of the nations it targets – for Turkey was pushed back either by the West or in the case of Libya, by Sunni Arab states.
Hence, what was left for Turkey to attack? By using Azerbaijan, its ally in the region, Turkey chose to attack Artsakh and Armenia, two blockaded, landlocked and genocide-survivor states in the South Caucuses.
It is also significant to note that Turkey still aggressively denies the 1913-23 Christian genocide by Ottoman Turkey against Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. A hundred years after this genocide, another Armenian territory, Artsakh, is being attacked and devastated by the descendants of the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide.
Yet Artsakh is resisting the invaders, for its very survival is at stake.
Artak Beglaryan, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh, lost his eyesight to a mine explosion at the age of six during the 1991-94 Artsakh-Azerbaijan War. He wrote:
You may call it the Republic of Artsakh or the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh or something else. But there are people living here, as there have been for thousands of years—an ancient, Christian people who are being indiscriminately bombed, destroyed, and annihilated.
I will never see again. Many children here will never see their fathers again. But I hope at least that you can begin to see what is happening here. Long before politicians or analysts or armies can find their solutions, we as defenders of human rights must deliver on our commitment: to defend the human rights of all human beings, however invisible they may seem.
Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara.
mortimer says
The genocide against Armenians never really ended. They paused it.
It will end when Turkey makes reparations.
mtman2 says
Erdogan is a homocidal idiot…!
jirtu says
The West’s, particularly that of U.S, Germany, U.K, Spain, and Italy (likewise Israel selling arms and drones to Azerbaijan) indifference to the carnage of Armenians makes them co-criminals of the Turks and the Azeris.
gravenimage says
Most in the West have no idea about this history, and certainly don’t understand that it has any link to the Armenian Genocide. If they have heard of this conflict at all, they think it is nothing but a border dispute.
jirtu says
Turkey: the curse on humanity. Turkey will not make reparations: it hasn’t even acknowledged the Genocide of Armenians perpetrated by the Young Turks and Ataturk.
gravenimage says
Grimly true.
jirtu says
A few hours after the U.S-sponsored ceasefire began, the Turco-Azeris violated it at two locations. Since U.S. satellites can tell the Azeris violated the ceasefire, this is a Turco-Azeri slap at the U.S.
gravenimage says
Sadly no surprise, Jirtu.
jirtu says
The Turkish-led attack by Azerbaijan on Armenia has two aims. Turkey wants to take or have Azerbaijan take southern Armenia so that there would be a land bridge between Turkey and Azerbaijan proper. Such a land bridge would enable the Turkish army reach the Caspian Sea and connect with the Turkic “stans” thus forming a Turkic/Turanic/Ottoman Empire from Istanbul to China. There would be repercussions to this in northern Caucasus. Encouraged by Russian timidity and Erdogan”s nerve, Muslims of northern Caucasus will rebel against Russia (Chechen, Circassian, etc…) . Had Putin have brains he would have seen the attack on Armenia is a prelude to Erdogan’s fantasies.
The second reason for the Turkic invasion of Armenia is to finish the job their grandparents launched (the Genocide of Armenians) in 1915 but did not finish.
Boycott Turkey says
Well said also a other reason Turkey and Nazibaijan want to build the land bridge is to build a pipeline so they can control oil going to Europe in the future the Turkish economy is collapsing Erdogan is very desperate Erdogan and aliev need to be tried for war crimes they need to be stoped before more innocent lives are lost wake up world STOP THE GENOCIDE and recognise Artkash
markey2020 says
I’m starting to lose patience in western leaders and specifically USA- which now is under the republican control- to act and teach Hitlerdogan a lesson on the congruences of his rhetoric and actions.
This wanna be sultan needs to be chastised by all countries, he has gone so far.
jirtu says
NATO members are neither Christian and nor do they believe in justice, human values. They, like other Western countries, have one interest: self-interest. All the art, literature, the babble they have produced for more than 2,500 years is fig leaf to cover their inhumanity, greed, and cruelty. When they have fought–even during the Crusades–they have fought for the bottom line. Repeatedly, they have “slept with the devil” for their self-interest. Thus, it’s no surprise they are not helping the Armenians who are fighting psychotic and over-ambitious Erdogan and his NATO-armed and financed army of goons. I’d love to see Turkish tanks in Vatican, at the Berlin Wall, and Trafalgar Square.
gravenimage says
Jirtu, NATO has not been around for 2,500 years–just a little over 70.
And the idea that all the great achievements of the West–art, literature, abolition of slavery, democracy and freedom of speech is nothing more than “babble” is just wrong. You may discount these achievements, but many of us are willing to fight for these values.
Then, the idea that you want to see Islam destroy the West, whatever its shortcomings, is actually profoundly disturbing.
And do you believe that if Islam *were* to destroy the West that this would improve the chances of any other non-Muslims? If you do believe this, you are mistaken.
jirtu says
Thank you for the report that NATO wasn’t around 2,000 years ago. I must have confused it with the Roman Empire’s RSPQ. Literature, philosophy, religion, art are dead on paper or at best hypocrisy when they are not practiced. And that’s what Godless West is all about. The West is good at showing up after the bodies have begun to rot and then give flour, clothes and open orphanages, and feel very good about it. NATO is the force that makes sure no one tries to upset the applecart unless it’s Turkey. Erdogan has interfered in the affairs or threatened at least eight countries (Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Greece, Armenia, Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia) but not a pip from NATO. Is it possible that Turkey is fronting NATO? Erdogan doing the dirty work for Trump, Merkel, Johnson?
I mention Muslims threat to the West as a “just” punishment for a violent, greedy, selfish, hypocritical, amoral, and materialistic West.
gravenimage says
Jirtu, there *is* a lot of hypocrisy and willful ignorance in the West, to its shame. But the idea that Jihad has nothing to do with Islam and is actually instead being waged by the West is just way off base.
And–again–you may believe that the it is a good thing for Muslims to destroy the West because it supposedly deserves to be punished for its shortcomings, but you still do not say how you believe this destruction and suffering and empowering of Islam will actually improve the world.
Crusades Were Right says
If Armenians were Muslim, and Azerbaijanis were Christian, NATO bombs and missiles would at be raining down on Azerbaijan even as I type this sentence.
What a bunch of moral weaklings and cowards are those who rule over us!
Fred van de Bunt says
NATO is a defence pact.
The chairman of the NATO, Stoltenberg, said every time a matter arises that frowns eyebrows, that Erdogan stands alone in the matter. So Erdogan knows he can keep bullying all the kids around the block where Turkey is situated.
Erdogan’s Great Pasha of the Muslim Ottoman Empire style makes him very popular among many Muslims. They love his rumbling speeches, and cannot get enough of it.
Do not forget the Muslims do not idolize Beyonce, or Justin Bieber, or some eastern monk of peace in pyjama’s, like the Dalia Lama, but they idolize Great Jihad Generals, crushers of unbelievers, defenders of holy lands and punishers of crusaders that bully brotherly Muslim people everywhere in the world, like the bully Macron in France, Erdogan mentioned in a rumbling speech recently.
Erdogan is one of the greatest popstars alike idols in the Muslim world at the moment.
Globalists told me, that the problem with Erdogan is that he cannot sing, otherwise they could have made a lot of money out of him.
LB says
NATO is NOT a defense pact! It is a political tool to be used against those who stand in the way of globalism (i.e. muslim takeover of the West). Remember the declaration of war against Serbia in 1999? Christian Serbs were carpet bombed for daring to militarily oppose the Albanian muslims who have been oppressing their people in Kosovo (ancient Serbian homeland, much like Artsakh is to Armenians) since WWII.
The result? A brand new muslim state on European soil (Kosovo) and an additionally weakened Christian state (Serbia). It’s also worth mentioning that today’s “Kosovo” has an economy resembling an African country and is #1 European contributor to ISIS fighters, as well as the biggest black market trader of drugs, organs and children/people. Thanks NATO!
Crusades Were Right is absolutely correct. You can be damn sure that if Armenia was muslim and Azerbaijan was Christian that NATO would waste no time in Armenia’s defense by doing the same thing it did to Serbia.
Crusades Were Right says
You beat me to it, LB!
Crusades Were Right says
And what NATO country was attacked in 1999 when NATO attacked Serbia?
jirtu says
Considering that the Turkish army is the creation of NATO, considering that most of that army’s weapons/technology/training comes from NATO, considering that the economic good times Turkey enjoyed in the past decade were as a result of European/American investments, it’s hard to understand the West’s inaction in Turkish/Azeri carnage of Armenians. Their inaction makes Trump, Merkel, Johnson abettors of war criminals thus co-criminals.
infidel says
Er-dog-an must be booked for war crimes
Mafya says
Hitlerdogan will cost many innocent lives until some strong nation, say France, stands up to him and his supremacist policies. Mr. Macron has spoken against the bully Turkey but actions are needed. As Mrs. Bulut pointed out look carefully for those years 2023, 2053 and 2071. Hitlerdogan is a megalomaniac who is obsessed with years. I predict he could reinstall the Caliphate in 2023 and claim Ataturk had no right to abolish it. Next, expect the statues of Ataturk fall.
gravenimage says
Muslims in Turkey are already attacking statues of Ataturk:
“Ataturk statues attacked in post-referendum ‘new’ Turkey”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ataturk-statues-attacked-post-referendum-new-turkey
Most disturbing is the statue that was beheaded.
Mafya says
These are attacks that are against secularism in Turkey. They also aim to attack religious minorities while attacking the statues, not just attacking Ataturk. Some islamists are actually fine with Ataturk as he was fine with the genocides of Christians. But yes as you wrote beheading of the statue is disturbing. I expect there could be more to this in the future as the country is increasingly islamizing at the hands of Hitlerdogan Government, beheading of real persons by islamists instead of statues.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Mafya. And I know that Ataturk himself was complicit or worse in the slaughter of Armenians and other Christians–but in the current context the attacks on these statures is still a very bad sign in Turkey.
Mafya says
Thanks, Gravenimage. I actually know that you know what Ataturk was and even Turkey better than me. No doubt you’re knowledgeable person I love your comments especially your replies to the vile Sabri S. and other islamic apologetics.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Mafya. I always look forward to reading your comments, as well.
Fred van de Bunt says
Macron is angry with Erdogan suggesting Macron is an idiot in his speech, by advising Macron check his mental status, and Macron orders the French ambassador in Turkey back.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/25/france-recalls-ambassador-to-turkey-after-erdogan-questions-macrons-mental-state
“Thank you mister Erdogan, you are invited in Paris by me and my Ministers to explain your medical advices.” would have been better, then showing your ego is touched, like Macron does.
gravenimage says
Turkey, Azerbaijan commit more crimes against Armenians
……………..
Attacks on civilians–just appalling. And more aggression from Turkey aimed at Greece, Cyprus, and Israel. Yet few recognize this as a Jihad.
Crusades Were Right says
God help EVERY country unfortunate enough to border (or be within striking distance of) Turkey!
jirtu says
People are piling their bile on Erdogan. The fact is most Turks support him. They are proud of him. They are proud of his bloody aggression on Syria, Libya, Armenia, threats to half-a-dozen countries. Erdogan is supported by millions of similarly blood-thirsty Turks. Likewise for Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan. They support Erdogan when he insults countries which have buttressed Turkey for 70 years, they support him when he says “honor killing” is right, they support him when he shuts down the media, imprisons judges, and arrests an 11-year-old for mocking him. Welcome to hell spelled Turkey.
seabird says
The US State Dept. has announced a ceasefire in Azerbaijan/Artsakh effective at 8am, Monday, supported by France and Russia.
It took 4 minutes for AZ to violate the last ceasefire.
The Azeris would not even abide by a humanitarian ceasefire to retrieve hundreds of their dead and injured soldiers/jihadists off the battlefield.
Some have been there for nearly a month.
Good work by Trump and Pompeo, let’s see what happens when the Azeris violate it like they did to Putin.
gravenimage says
Thanks for that information, seabird.
seabird091@gmail.com says
You’re welcome but this time AZ showed some “restraint”, it took them 45 minutes (instead of 4 minutes like the last ceasefire) to violate it.
As usual, like their Turkish ally, you can’t believe anything they say.
jirtu says
If it weren’t painful, it would be hilarious to hear Azerbaijan claim Armenians are ignoring the ceasefires. Somebody should tell dictator Ilham Aliev that at least half-a-dozen nations have satellites over the area and they see who ignores the cease-fire. All three times it was the Azeris and their murderous tutor Erdogan who lied, ignored international opinion, and humanitarian motives to stop the carnage and destruction.