Ten facts about the war over Nagorno-Karabakh

Already in the summer of 2020 Turkish and Azerbaijani military forces rehearsed the conquest of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a maneuver. On September 27, they finally launched their joint war of aggression, led by Turkish officers and special forces, as well as by means of Turkish-imported Islamist mercenary from northern Syria.

The phrase thoughtlessly used by many news agencies and media that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan “under international law” is simply wrongIt is true that during the Soviet era, in a coup by Stalin, the region was incorporated into the Azerbaijan SSR against the will of the local population. However, even in accordance with this decision by the dictator, the region retained its autonomous status and, during Azerbaijan's subsequent secession from the collapsing Soviet Union, declared itself an independent republic in accordance with the then-valid Union Law.

Nagorno-Karabakh is considered a absolutely exemplary Democracy. In a peaceful revolution two years ago, the people of Armenia overthrew their formerly autocratic government and elected former journalist and human rights activist Nikol Pashinyan as the new head of government. Since then democracy develops The situation is quite different in the hereditary dictatorship of Azerbaijan: The country ranks 10th in the global press freedom index only twelve places ahead of North KoreaDemands for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and freedom of expression in general are leading to directly to prisonThe collapse in oil and gas prices poses enormous domestic challenges for the kleptocracy. Instead of answering uncomfortable questions about the whereabouts of the gigantic state revenues, the government repeatedly incites its population against the enemy – a familiar pattern in dictatorships. Azerbaijan's military spending alone correspond to the entire state budget Armenia.

Supposedly balanced reporting along the lines of "both sides accuse each other" is exposed as hidden partisanship when the facts clearly speak a different language. For example, massive war crimes committed by Azerbaijan and its Turkish-Syrian mercenaries have been documented: Executions and beheadings of prisoners of war, Use of cluster bombs and targeted attacks of schools and hospitals with combat drones.

In the years 1915 – 1916 alone The Young Turks murdered over 1,5 million Armenians in the Ottoman EmpireThis was accompanied by a comprehensive dispossession of Christians, very similar to the Nazis' later robbery and murder of Jews. Since thousands upon thousands of Armenians had been murdered by Turks in massacres in the years before and after, Turkey's entry into the war this year, with weapons, Islamist mercenaries, and commandos, poses an existential threat to the 3 million people in the Republic of Armenia. Tens of thousands of Armenians were also murdered by Azerbaijanis in the 20th century. Impunity for the perpetrators also characterized these mass murders. International genocide researchers warn now in an open letter from a repeat of history.

Similar to the persecution of Jews, the term Armenian persecution has a long history. In recent weeks, there have been new attacks on Armenians. Not only in Turkey, but also in France and in Germany, for example in Cologne and BerlinFrance now bans the “Grey Wolves“ – Turkish right-wing extremists, who number in their tens of thousands Also in Germany gives.

As Ally of the Ottoman Empire The German Empire could have prevented the Armenian genocide in 1915. Yet Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg deliberately left the Armenians to their own devices: "Our only goal is to keep Turkey on our side until the end of the war, regardless of whether Armenians perish as a result." Soldiers of the German Empire were involved in the deportations. The Merkel government's adherence to the refugee agreement with Turkey has, 105 years later, blocked the sanctions against Turkey long demanded by countries like Cyprus. Thus, Germany is once again loyally standing by the perpetrators.

If citizens, journalists, and politicians in Germany knew more about Germany's guilt toward the world's oldest Christian people, they would not superficially dismiss the impending mass murder as a "war in the Caucasus." This is a second genocide. It can still be stopped. However, in German schools, not even the first Armenian genocide is taught – due to successful political influence Turkey and apparently also from Concern about the reactions Turkish students and their parents. Fromnkingdom, Greece, Cyprus and the Slovakia have criminalized the denial of genocide. Given Germany's complicity in the "first genocide of the 20th century" (Pope Francis), it is high time that a corresponding law be passed in Germany as well.

The fact that Armenian schools, kindergartens and hospitals are being bombed alongside combat drones from Turkish production also razed to the ground with drones from Israel, leads to debatesThe background is Israel's proximity to Azerbaijan as an important oil supplier and theater of operations against Iran. Given this dependence, it's understandable that Israel still doesn't even recognize the Armenian genocide. An untenable situation, even for many Israelis, that could be corrected under a new government.

The sparse reporting by public broadcasters and print media is, with few exceptions, inaccurate and inaccurate (see No. 2). It relativizes facts (see No. 4) by uncritically accepting the attackers' baseless counter-accusations, thus legitimizing the German government's inaction. A brief look at recent history, including massacres of Armenians up until the 1990s, the military superiority of the attackers, and Russia's questionable role, would demonstrate the true plight of the Armenian people. Strong Western sanctions and Turkey's long-overdue expulsion from NATO could have saved thousands of lives in recent weeks. Germany's guilt, in particular, as an accomplice in the genocide and a preventer of sanctions, grows with each passing day.