Divided Spain on the payroll of Karabakh separatists The backfire effect may hit hard

Spanish diplomats suddenly became very fond of the Armenian separatists in Karabakh. They expressed their sympathy on Twitter, saying that they were providing financial and social support to 250 families. Naturally, Baku's reaction came quickly. The Charge d'Affaires of Spain in Azerbaijan Patricia Serrano Sanchez was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where it was brought to her attention that such a step of Spain, which itself fights separatism on its territory, is perplexing. It was stated that such an unconstructive approach does not correspond to the spirit of Azerbaijan-Spain relations and is strongly condemned by Azerbaijan.

Patricia Serrano Sanchez noted that Spain has always supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and this position is unchangeable. She stated that the mentioned publication in social network "X" was a technical error, therefore, it was deleted immediately after the Azerbaijani side expressed concern.

However, Baku has drawn the appropriate conclusions on this fact. It would seem that a country that is fighting separatism on its own territory, which is called a "patchwork state" behind its back, should seem to understand how sensitive this topic is, and should not have made such a mistake. It absolutely defies logic that a country that has directly faced the problem of separatism, for some reason, suddenly volunteered to support the illegal separatist regime created on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. It should be recalled that Spain recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in December 1991, and a year later bilateral diplomatic relations were established, which are successfully developing to this day. Azerbaijan, for its part, supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Spain within its internationally recognized borders and has also declared the inadmissibility of unilateral attempts to violate the Constitution and laws of Spain.

However, apparently, the Spanish initiators of support for Armenian separatism have forgotten how literally 6 years ago - in 2017, more than 2 million people voted for independence in a referendum on the independence of Catalonia, after which the Catalan parliament declared the independence of the region. And it was then that Azerbaijan did not stay away from the events taking place in this country and unequivocally declared its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Spain, condemning any manifestations of separatism on the territory of this country.

"We stand for a peaceful resolution of the current situation on the basis of the Constitution and laws of the Kingdom of Spain. Unilateral attempts to violate the territorial integrity of the country against the will of the people and the central government, along with violation of the Constitution and laws of Spain, are unacceptable," Baku said.

In this regard, a quite reasonable question arises to the representatives of Spanish diplomacy: why did Madrid suddenly change its political convictions, becoming a supporter of the Karabakh separatists on the territory of another state, thus violating the principles of international law? And this is a State on whose territory separatism is not limited to the Basque Country and Catalonia. In Galicia, Valencia, Navarra and a number of other regions in the north-west of the country there are forces demanding greater autonomy and independence. Didn't the Spanish people suffer enough from the Basque left-wing radical nationalist organisation ETA, which only declared an end to armed confrontation in 2011?

As for the idea of Catalan separatism, it envisages the secession of all Catalan lands from Spain and partly from France. A number of parties in Galicia favour both independence and increased autonomy. This includes several parties advocating the extension of Andalusia's autonomy within Spain. Nevertheless, despite all these manifestations of separatism, the government of Spain harshly suppresses any steps and actions, defending the integrity of its statehood. Suffice it to recall Spain's harsh reaction to the referendum on Catalonia's independence in October 2017. According to the official results, then 2,044,038 people voted in favour of Catalonia's withdrawal from Spain, which is 90.18% of the total number of votes. However, Spain's Constitutional Court declared the referendum and subsequent decisions unconstitutional, and the Spanish Senate used Article 155 of the Constitution to abolish Catalonia's self-government. Catalonia came directly under the administration of Madrid, and the region's administration was placed under the Deputy Prime Minister of Spain. About 20 officials were then detained in Catalonia and sentenced to terms ranging from 8 to 13 years in prison. Carles Puigdemont, who was facing a 30-year prison sentence, fled the country, seeking political asylum in Belgium, and is still hiding in Europe.

All this leads to the only true conclusion that support of separatism in Azerbaijan by Spain, which has taken the most extreme measures against this phenomenon on its territory, is nothing but hypocrisy and unscrupulousness. And an indicator of Europe's double standards. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the objective statements of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, voiced by him on July 22 in Shusha in an interview with Euronews TV channel, regarding separatism. In particular, he rightly noted, "that Europe and the West have united to help Ukraine in the fight against separatism, but why is the fight against separatism treated differently in our case?".

"Why does Georgia's approach to separatist regions find full understanding among Western circles and politicians, while our legitimate, similarly originated desire to end separatism is questioned? Why doesn't Spain allow Catalonia to hold a referendum, even though there are 5-6 million of them? And they do not have their own state, unlike the same Armenians who have a state - in our neighbourhood? Why should we tolerate separatism? We will not do it," Ilham Aliyev emphasised, addressing his message to the international community.

As we see, indeed, the rightness of his words today is clearly confirmed by the current attempt of Spain to support Armenian separatism on the territory of the neighbouring sovereign state. But our Spanish "well-wishers" should not forget about a small but very important detail: indiscriminate support of separatism will inevitably strengthen the wave of this dangerous contagion on the territory of Spain, hitting it like a boomerang. And in this case, Madrid will obviously not care about Karabakh separatists...