Thirty years of Armenia’s lawlessness and world is still silent about aggressor’s actions

The current year of 2018 is a landmark for Azerbaijan.

Not only in the light of the upcoming political and social activities, but also as the year which marks exactly thirty years of Armenia’s lawlessness in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the silence of the international community. And in this connection, more and more occasions bring an important issue on the global agenda: what is the result of such connivance of separatism on the part of world players?

When in 1988 Armenia openly declared its claims for the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Azerbaijan, the then Soviet authorities did not respond adequately and did not oppose the growing aggressive Armenian separatism in the region. They did not protect Azerbaijani population not only in Armenia, but also in the occupied Azerbaijani lands. At that time more than 40,000 Azerbaijanis of Nagorno Karabakh were subjected to ethnic cleansing, however, the reaction of the country's leadership again was inadequate, it was the first step to perpetuate the Armenian aggression and separatism in the region.

Not surprisingly, after a toothless response of center, in the end of 1989 the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR adopted an unlawful decision on reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the situation did not change, when later Azerbaijan gained independence, and despite the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan, no international power helped Baku to expel the occupiers from Azerbaijan’s legitimate territories, just making appeals to the conscience of the unscrupulous world Armenians.

What could have been done differently, you ask? Everything beginning from the international demand for Armenia to implement UN resolutions, which clearly call for the return of the Azerbaijani territories to Baku and putting the end to Armenian occupation to introduction of strict sanctions on Armenia and its supporting organizations, which counts many considering the ubiquitous Armenian diaspora. This would tie the aggressor’s hands. However, this did not happen and the Armenian separatism and aggression against Azerbaijan, which have lasted for thirty years, cause the world’s concern only when outbreak of violence occur on the contact line of troops, for thirty years now.

All this testifies to the double standards of the West on the issue of separatism and to the criminal connivance with regard to illegal and criminal actions of Armenia. The severe suppression of any manifestation of separatist sentiments, ranging from Italy, Germany, Great Britain to the recent example of Spanish Catalonia by the European powers should be cited as an example. In this case, the whole West took the side of the quite rigid behavior of the Center towards the separatist elements of the Spanish political elite.

None of the European leaders even thought to condemn the authorities' actions against the Catalans, who are fomenting the fire of separatism right in the middle of Europe. If the authorities of any non-European state, for example Azerbaijan, acted as decisively as the Spanish government in a similar case, the world media would react with a flurry of accusations against the center, accusing the leader of this NOT European country of dictatorship and authoritarianism.

None of the European leaders even thought to condemn the authorities' actions against the Catalans, who are fomenting the fire of separatism right in the middle of Europe. If the authorities of any non-European state, for example Azerbaijan, acted as decisively as the Spanish government in a similar case, the world media would react with a flurry of accusations against the center, accusing the leader of this NOT European country of dictatorship and authoritarianism.

Why do European leaders consider it their own duty to support the actions of any western country in resisting separatism? Obviously: in many countries of the Old World, an abscess of separatism is being ripened, restrained in the most severe ways. And this is another illustration to the issue of double standards of European democracies and engaged European media, which hypocritically call, for example, Nagorno-Karabakh the "unrecognized southern region of the South Caucasus," or portray the rigidity of Baku in absolutely legitimate actions in the territories occupied by Armenia. Can we now say that Baku was too soft with the Armenian separatists and did everything to suppress this hotbed of separatism, which has been a precedent for many European small nations for thirty years? And can it be hoped that faced with the threat of civil war on its territory, the EU will react more fairly and effectively on Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan? Unfortunately, only one thing is obvious so far: the double standards of the West work fine for several decades, allowing the capitals of the Old and New Worlds to maneuver between rigidity to their own separatists and the satisfaction of friends from the Armenian lobby.

Elmira Tariverdiyeva

 

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