Historian: Baku must punish instigators of hunger hysteria in Garabagh Caliber.Az conversation with David Eidelman

Recently, Armenian lobbyists in Israel sent a letter to the country's President Isaac Herzog with a request to help the "starving" Armenians of Garabagh due to the "humanitarian catastrophe" that has befallen them. That is, they tried to pity the Israeli leadership and at the same time to change the traditionally positive opinion of Israelis about Azerbaijanis. Authors of another slanderous message knew very well that Tel Aviv fully shares the position of official Baku with regard to the separatist entity in Garabagh. But the Armenian lobby, at least until yesterday, i.e. until the UN Security Council meeting, was very hopeful that Baku would be reined in, punished and obliged to open the Lachin road and do many other things. But to the great disappointment of not the best part of Armenians and their supporters, the UN Security Council refused to believe in "famine" and "genocide" in Garabagh. It is not clear what Armenian lobbyists in Israel were hoping for. Did they really ween to break the long-standing bonds of Azerbaijani-Israeli friendship, not to mention the current close and very effective cooperation?

So what was the reaction of Israelis to the "hungry" messages addressed to President Herzog?

As Israeli political technologist and historian, head of the project "Asia. Big Game" on ITON TV channel David Eidelman noted in a conversation with Caliber.Az, the appeal to the Israeli president with a request to prevent a "humanitarian catastrophe" went unnoticed in the country.

"It is absolutely unclear to me why the Armenians decided to send a letter to President Herzog, who just before that advocated the establishment of strong friendly and partnership contacts with Azerbaijan. Maybe with the intention to open his eyes to the truth! We can only guess. But Herzog had the intention to strengthen friendship with Azerbaijan not even after he became president, but much earlier. I remember we talked to him about the importance of relations with Türkiye and Azerbaijan twenty years ago when he was about to enter the Knesset as a member of the Labour Party. So he has clear positions on this issue. But Israel is a democratic country, so everyone, whoever they are, can address a letter to the President and it will be read and considered," Eidelman emphasised.

But in the case of the Armenian petition, it is not clear to him who initiated the collection of signatures.

"We recently broadcast a programme on this topic on ITON TV and discussed the situation with an invited guest - MP and political scientist Rasim Musabekov. The programme was a part of my project 'Asia. Big Game' on this channel, and after the broadcast, my social media accounts were flooded with messages from representatives of the Armenian lobby, who called me dirty names and called down another Holocaust upon me for denying the 'Armenian genocide'. In general, they did everything to make a "good impression". Of course, the approach is specific: Armenians are somehow so sure that by using hysterics and rudeness they will get a more respectful attitude towards themselves. But as a communications specialist, I would advise them to change their methodology first.

When a person who called himself the author of the letter to Herzog appeared in the comments to the video and began to angrily ask why I, instead of calling the victims of 'hunger' on the air, invited the 'executioner' for an interview, I advised him to introduce himself and asked him to join my programme to explain his position. After that, he became hysterical and categorically refused to do that," the Israeli political analyst said.

In general, according to Eidelman, when Israeli journalists ask questions to Azerbaijani political analysts, they give intelligent, informative answers, but when they question someone from Armenia, they get another hysteria in response. And such behaviour, in his opinion, is "a demonstrative answer to all reproaches of Armenians, who accuse our channel that we more often turn to Azerbaijani experts for explanations than to them".

As for the "famine" and "genocide" in Garabagh, the political strategist said that instead of the photo of an Armenian allegedly "starved to death" it was possible to discuss photos of lavish weddings in Khankendi and satellite footage refuting the claims that one hundred and twenty thousand people live in the region.

"But all this has already been discussed many times. I would advise the Azerbaijani side to take the Armenians at their word this time. And if Armenians declare facts of famine and humanitarian catastrophe on the territory of Azerbaijan, it is clear that the Azerbaijani authorities cannot remain indifferent to this problem and therefore it would be quite logical to send its humanitarian mission to Khankendi to personally understand what is happening there and help the population, provide it with food and medicine, if necessary. And secondly, to take active action to punish the organisers of this provocation, namely the separatist leadership. Everything is logical here: if separatists deliberately created the famine situation, and they declare it in public, then they must answer for it in court. And Azerbaijan has every right to solve this problem with its own means and forces on its own territory, to eliminate this threat and most importantly to help the local population," Eidelman summed up.