Guterres: General or Secretary? Much ado about nothing Reflections by Emin Galali

No, you don't need to reach for the keyboard or the phone to shame Caliber.Az for the author's illiteracy. He - the author - is aware that Shakespeare had "Much ado about Nothing". But certain moments forced me to correct the name of the immortal genius' creation.

I would not say that the recent statement by the UN Secretary-General sounded like a thunderclap. As you will recall, he called for the resumption of traffic on Lachin road.

I am truly outraged that this has not yet been done. I was sure that even before the last phrases of the statement were uttered, Azerbaijan would immediately start dismantling the structure and apologetically invite Armenians to immediately proceed in all directions without any control. And bring anything. For any purpose. And they were to proceed with all speed! Burning the computer equipment used and shouting "mea culpa!" would also be appropriate since Guterres gave the order. Remember "The Meeting Place Can't Be Changed"? "The big man ordered it." Or am I confused? I think I am.

We Azerbaijanis are accustomed to tricks. So much so that in 2020 some of these tricks were slightly shredded. And at the same time the same strange "tricksters" occupiers, like rabbits out of a cylinder or pigeons out of a pocket were pulled out to the light of God by unknown truths, according to which the country, which lost 20 per cent of its territory and received hundreds of thousands of refugees in return, was also exposed as an aggressor. And the separatists, who razed to the ground and turned the fertile lands into a mine paradise (although more likely, hell), could put forward some conditions. Their snouts are covered in a pig's stubble, of those very pigs they kept in our mosques. This is truly a textbook example of the proverb "Yanan da mən, yaman da mən", which can be loosely translated as "the victim is found to have injured himself". Rapik is not guilty of anything.

But it is one thing when a misinformed, "correctly" paid for or tricked by the Armenian lobby NGO or a news website somewhere on the other side of the world sins. And it is quite another when the UN Secretary-General gets involved in these strange games.

I do not question the value of the UN as an organisation. For all its significant shortcomings, it is the best that humanity has produced. Yes, there are unsavoury elements. Nothing human, including corruption, harassment and parochialism, is alien to the UN. But there are still many people who are honestly doing their duty. It is to them that I would like to ask the following questions: how and why, from the moment he took office until November 2020, did Uncle Antonio not bother to express concern that thousands and thousands of Azerbaijanis, forcibly expelled from their homes, are still refugees?

Turns out that the Security Council resolutions on Karabakh, which have become a broken record can do anything but be used for the purpose of restoring justice. How and why has the UN Secretary-General never once expressed his deep concern for the victims of the mine terror unleashed against Azerbaijan by Armenia and its malignant offshoot, like a cancerous disease that has metastasised in the body of our country?

Since November 2020 alone, mines have caused the death and serious injuries of 303 Azerbaijanis which has not bothered Guterres in the slightest. But the "humanitarian crisis", which has been blown out of proportion, is worthy of the Secretary-General's attention. How many people starved to death in Khankandi? How many, how many really? 20? 10? Oh, zero?

And what kind of hardships do civilians suffer if they are so picky in choosing the route of essential goods, which, according to Armenians and their "sisters", are so lacking for the "sad Armenian" in Khankandi? Maybe the road there from Aghdam is affected by mysterious minerals that deprive the products of their nutritious qualities?

I'm curious about who Guterres thinks he is. Is he more of a general? He's a solid man with serious experience, but not a general. Secretary? It's not appropriate for a secretary to be in charge of the world's largest organisation. A secretary-general? The stinginess of Balzac's hero turned into a mania in his old age if you remember.

Azerbaijan is not in the mood for confrontations with anyone. The excellent relations we have with many world players are a vivid confirmation of this. Including many UN structures. That is the way it was and that is the way it will be. However, this is not a formula without exceptions. We play by their own rules with those who are indifferent to our needs and aspirations. Azerbaijan-2023 is strikingly far from the Azerbaijan of 1993, when the UN objectively played a huge role in the life of the country, primarily in supporting refugees and displaced persons.

But the events of 30 years ago do not give anyone the right to try to control us. And we didn't forget anything. Not the strange torpor of some UN agencies and programmes after November 2020, at a time when they should have been developing post-conflict activities. It took quite a while for some to start remembering their mandate. Neither was the cover-up of Armenian UN staff who allowed dirty attacks on Azerbaijan using their official position.

Both the UN Secretary-General and other so-called humanists who advocate the free movement of everyone from anywhere and everywhere must understand one thing - by their attempts to indulge the whims of the grief-stricken separatists, they are doing the entire region, and above all the Armenian population of Azerbaijan, a disservice. Attempts to return cheap staging to the arena will lead to nothing.

The circus is closed and the clowns have scattered