Ukrainian Channel 5: Armenia unsuccessfully tries to appear as victim via France's help

POLITICS  11 November 2022 - 13:45

The website of the Ukrainian news channel Channel 5 has published an article describing how Armenia, with the help of Paris, is attempting unsuccessfully to portray itself as a victim and display Azerbaijan as an aggressor.  We bring it to Caliber.Az readers' attention with small abbreviations.

Throughout the autumn, European politicians vigorously promote the notion that the Armenian issue in Karabakh is reduced to the viewpoint of the so-called "Armenian victim". Previously, Channel 5 material detailed the historical context of the wars for Karabakh and why parallels between Ukraine and Armenia - victims in military conflicts are impossible. The facts show that Armenia is trying to win the West's support through its own multi-million diaspora only in order to defend the aggressor's interests in the war on Ukrainian territory. And therefore – to get carte blanche in the Karabakh conflict from the Kremlin.

It is outrageous that thoughts are spreading in the world political environment that the Armenian people are victims of the Karabakh issue. Especially such rhetoric is supported in France, which rather modestly supported Ukraine, now and then looking back at Moscow. Now France has quite naturally and profitably distracted from the problems of Ukraine and switched to the Azerbaijani issue. After all, local politicians have little interest in defeating Moscow, as evidenced by their statements and actions.

Moscow - Paris

France is economically and energetically as dependent as possible on Russia, and against this background, it becomes clear that certain forces in the French establishment are striving to conclude a "truce", even at the cost of surrendering Donbas and Crimea. But these "peacekeeping" initiatives remain unclaimed due to the determination of the Ukrainian leadership to seek the de-occupation of its own territories, and due to the lack of support from EU partners. Therefore, French MPs lobbying for the interests of large corporations decided to shift the focus of the EU's attention from Russian aggression to Azerbaijan.

On October 3, six members of the French Senate put forward a draft resolution calling on the government to seek international condemnation of Azerbaijan on charges of "mass crimes and war crimes", as well as the introduction by the European Union of an "embargo on the import of gas and oil from Azerbaijan".

Peace support on Baku's side

On October 11, a group of 10 Azerbaijani residents led by 52-year-old public activist Kubra Alakbarova posted an appeal to the Senate and the French people on the common French website Mesopinions.com on behalf of the Azerbaijani people. It states that "two years ago, we became a victim of aggression similar to the one that Ukraine, which is dear to our hearts, is currently experiencing" (referring to the rocket attacks on Azerbaijani cities and villages two years ago).

This petition received nearly 100,000 signatures in less than a month. Actions of solidarity were held in Baku, Astana, Bishkek, and Cologne. The media in Kazakhstan and Türkiye actively supported this petition.

Distortion of history

Anyway, the attempts to turn Azerbaijan into an aggressor are far from the real state of affairs and pursue exclusively the mercantile interests of the French, inspired by the Armenian Diaspora. Meanwhile, both the historical relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine and assistance in the fight against the aggressor today indicate that Azerbaijan, interested in fighting the aggressor regime, is trying to stop at any cost.

Using the simple example of Armenia and Azerbaijan's assistance to Ukraine, it is easy to understand who is really the aggressor and who is an ally of the affected party.

What has Azerbaijan done

Since the beginning of the war, the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR has provided more than 200,000 litres of fuel for ambulances and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine for free.

Azerbaijan has provided Ukraine with more than 900 tons of medicines, medical equipment, and food worth more than €15 million [$15.3 million].

From March to early October, Azerbaijan received almost 4,000 Ukrainian refugees.

What has Armenia done

From 24.02.22 to 31.10.22, the Armenian government members visited Russia 12 times. During this time, the defence minister (twice), the chief of the General Staff and the Security Council secretary visited there.

On February 25, 2022, Armenia became the only country to stand together with Russia against the suspension of Russian representation in the Council of Europe. Since 2014, Armenia's representatives in international organisations have usually voted against resolutions condemning the occupation of Crimea and full-scale aggression against Ukraine.

On March 28 and April 1, the Turkish TV channel Haber Global presented documentary materials, including satellite images, indicating the dispatch of four Su-30 fighters with Armenian pilots to Ukraine.

In September, the Armenian Armed Forces took part in joint exercises Vostok-2022 with Russia.

In February-June, 14 public actions were held in Armenia in support of aggression against Ukraine. Eleven of them were held in Yerevan. In two cases, on March 19 and May 9, 1,000 or more people participated in Yerevan actions. They carried tricolours, Soviet banners and the letter "Z". The law enforcement forces did not interfere with such actions. But as soon as pro-Ukrainian activists tried to hold a retaliatory action, a pro-Kremlin crowd immediately appeared and the police intervened. This happened, for example, on May 21, when an attempt was made to organise a picket at the Russian embassy in Yerevan in support of Azovstal defenders. Police officers and dozens of activists of the Azatagrum movement arrived at the scene, welcoming the occupation of Mariupol. Law enforcement officers "restrained" the participants of the pro-Ukrainian picket.

On March 7, 2022, the "authorities" of the separatist entity in Karabakh sent through the local "Russian peacekeepers" 14 tons of food and clothing for the occupying forces in the Kyiv and Zaporizhzhya regions; on July 6, 2022, some 16 tons of humanitarian aid were sent from Yerevan to Rostov to Russian soldiers wounded in battles against the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

From March to early October, Armenia received 489 Ukrainian refugees.

Attempts to turn the Azerbaijani people into aggressors in Karabakh are thus shattered by Armenia's foreign policy actions. The reality is harsh; the Armenian government's collaboration with the Putin regime is open and obvious. Attempts to weaken Azerbaijan's position in Europe are thus yet another proof that the desire to take away Karabakh is funded and inspired in Moscow.

Unity of Ukrainians and Azerbaijanis

A document from a century ago, recently published, demonstrates that Ukrainians and Azerbaijanis have historically been united. For more than a century, Azerbaijan has had dramatic relations with Moscow, similar to Ukraine.

"No matter how changeable our historical destinies may be in the future, the peoples of Ukraine and Azerbaijan are always bound by the ties of the closest state relations and indissoluble common friendship," Kraskovsky, the head of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in the Caucasus, wrote in a telegram to the head of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) government on January 14, 1920.

"The peoples of Ukraine... and Azerbaijan were subjected to brutal blows by the brutal spontaneous force of the Bolsheviks, with whom they had to fight to the death. Having lost an incredible number of their sons, having stained their native lands with their blood with villages and cities set on fire and destroyed, Ukrainians and Azerbaijanis, valuing their national and state independence, decided to defend their independence, and in these forms, they are ready to fight to the last opportunity and are now fighting a hard, unbearable struggle against the Bolsheviks," it was emphasised in March 1919 in the joint memorandum of the delegations of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) and ADR at the Paris Peace Conference held following the First World War. If you change "Bolsheviks" to "Rashists" in this quote, the text will fully correspond to modern realities.

Both quotes serve as documentary evidence that the interaction of the national states of Ukrainians and Azerbaijanis has more than a century of history. Consequently, history also demonstrates common detractors for the two friendly countries.

Caliber.Az