EVIL GAMES

February 26^th marked the 25^th anniversary of the Khojaly Genocide - one of the most tragic events in world history. Without further ado, let us just remind you that on the night of February 26, 1992, Armenian armed forced, directly supported by the 366^th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the so-called United Forces of CIS stationed at Khankendi, razed the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. Statistics of human casualties is appalling: 613 dead, 487 disabled, 1275 hostages, the fate of many of them is still unknown. Among the dead are 106 women and 63 children. Several families were completely destroyed. The photos and video footage filmed immediately after the event in Khojaly demonstrate the severe acts of intimidation.

Thanks to the campaign Justice for Khojaly, the whole world is aware of this crime against humanity. This year, Scotland and the US state of Arizona joined the ranks of 12 countries, 18 US states and international organizations, which recognized the Khojaly Genocide. The faction of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) made a special statement in connection with the anniversary of the Khojaly massacre in the German Bundestag.

The Armenian participants of the “Platform for peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan” also condemned the Genocide. A well-known Russian journalist of Armenian origin Albert Akopian (Aristarkh Kosmopletov) wrote in his blog on ЭхоМосквы: “Armenian intelligentsia must write about this. About hundreds of Azeri and Kurdish villages, which do not have names anymore. About the Azerbaijani families, which departed Armenia through the snow-covered mountain passes. About Khojaly. About restless souls, who still remain in their homes. Are not you afraid to live with that?”

Member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Dmitry Savelyev made a statement to assess the Khojaly tragedy at state level. “We all know what happened there, who is to blame and what it led to. Unfortunately, throughout history, concealment of such events leads to their replication in other parts of the globe”, said Savelyev.

Official Baku appealed to international community to condemn the crimes and genocide in Khojaly, reads the statement of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan addressed to international organizations on the 25^th anniversary of the tragedy. Interfax-Azerbaijan published the following statement of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan: “The then defense minister, Serzh Sargsyan, currently serving as the President of Armenia, said in his interview with British journalist Thomas de Waal: “Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that the Armenians were not able to lay hands on civilian population. We broke this stereotype”.

Meanwhile, neither Serzh Sargsyan nor other culprits of the Khojaly Genocide have been brought before the international court in the past 25 years. They still rule in Armenia skillfully exploiting the conflict with Azerbaijan.

The whole world, and the Armenian public is well aware that the Karabakh conflict is merely a bargaining tool in the hands of Sargsyan’s criminal regime. The deteriorating situation on the front line in Karabakh on the night of February 25^th was yet another manifestation of this fact.

Neither bread nor circuses… Deterrence only!

According to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Armenian Armed Forces have attempted to penetrate through positions of the Azerbaijani Army in order to implement large-scale provocations across the front line, which was the scene of violent confrontation between the enemy, trying to seize strategic positions in Khojavand and Fizuli, and the Azerbaijani Army. Our forces repelled the attack forcing Armenians to retreat. Azerbaijani army also destroyed the firing position and the drone of Armenian armed forces, said Defense Ministry press service of Azerbaijan. The enemy has suffered damage, the ministry said.

Nevertheless, we had some losses too including five soldiers, who died heroically. As always, Sargsyan's regime has chosen to hide their losses. Meanwhile, the Armenian activists say social networks on a large number of dead in his army. According to them, after a while the soldiers of the body will send one family to hide large human losses as a result of the fighting provoked by the occupation regime. Armenian authorities used the same scenario after the April skirmish, the so-called four-day war recognized the Armenians.

Periodic attacks of Armenian reconnaissance teams neutralized by the Azerbaijani military, the contraction of heavy military equipment along the front line, and other factors have long signaled about the upcoming large-scale provocation of Yerevan. After all, the parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held on April 2. Sargsyan has nothing to offer the country, choking in regional isolation and mired in economic problems and crime. Diaspora refuses to help while fellows in arms turned away. “I cannot see myself in the current government, as we have different approaches. Under the existing ruling regime and economic policies, capacities of Armenia have been exhausted”, said the former Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian.

The last resort of Armenian authorities is to use the tactics proven in practice: scaring voters by the war, or rather “aggressive” neighbor, which requires the urgent unity under the umbrella of pan-Armenian ideas. This trick has worked in the past. The Karabakh clan has usurped the power taking the advantage of military situation.

The show demonstrated by Yerevan just immediately before the clashes proves that the intensification of situation on the front line in February was provoked by Armenia. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has immediately complained to the OSCE Minsk Group while the Ministry of Defense has gathered accredited military attaches in the hope that they will believe in another nagging suffering.

However, Yerevan has probably forgotten that the recent incident was actually announced by Serzh Sargsyan a week ago. “Today, in Azerbaijan, some still have hope that if focused on the election Armenia will be very busy, and therefore - is vulnerable. Proceeding from these vain hopes, the opponent may be, try to also resort to new provocations”, said the Armenian President at the XI Congress of the Union of Volunteers “Yerkrapa”.

Statement by the Armenian leadership to push the region and the Armenian people for a new war, is a characteristic feature of military dictatorships and the junta, said a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev, commenting on the speech Sargsyan. “This man, as head of state, which is in a deep political and economic, financial and demographic crisis, instead of performing a pre-election statements on the crisis in the country and normalization of relations with neighboring countries, promises to the Armenian people only a new war” - the words Hajiyev agency “Trend”.

However, the world is no stranger to periodic lies of the Armenian leadership. Bad luck also followed the attempts of the Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian and the newly appointed Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan to arrange pre-election political provocations.

In his interview with Zhanna Nemtsova of Deutsche Welle, Edward Nalbandian stated that the conflict in Karabakh “was not a territorial dispute but a question of human rights.” He was lucky that Nemtsova did not ask him about the UN Security Council resolutions, PACE and other international organizations demanding the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

However, then Nalbandian himself has denied himself, saying that the talks on the settlement of conflict are based on three principles: “First - the principle of non-use of force or threat of force. As you know, Azerbaijan continues to threaten to use force on a daily basis and applies it. Second - the right to self-determination. And the third is the territorial integrity.” The Armenian Foreign Minister is trying to mislead the readers putting the principle of territorial integrity in the last row on priority list. In this case it would be good to remind Mr. Minister of the still very fresh plan his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, which offers liberation of Armenia in the initial phase of five Azerbaijani districts, followed by the return of refugees, de-occupation of the remaining areas and the definition of the final status of Nagorno Karabakh in the last stage. Perhaps Nemtsova just did not “kick” the Armenian minister, who already was annoyed by her straight questions.

Again, the Armenian Foreign Minister blames Baku for the constant failure of negotiations while the truth is Armenia, not Azerbaijan, is interested in maintaining the current status quo. Provoking violence in the conflict zone periodically, Yerevan then urges on the introduction of a mechanism for investigation of incidents to insure against the probability of a power release of Azerbaijani lands. Baku considers all associated steps and calls for an immediate start to the substantive negotiations. And on the basis of the same Madrid principles, which Nalbandian rants about in his interviews.

Answering the question “If Azerbaijan undertakes military intervention, will you apply to CSTO? And do you think CSTO will help?”, Nalbandian said: “In accordance with the Collective Security Treaty, if one of the member states is attacked, it will be considered as an attack on all member states. Naturally, with consequences stemming from it.” But he forgets to mention that Azerbaijan does not intend to invade the territory of Armenia but merely reserves the right to liberate Karabakh by military means, which has nothing to do with the CSTO.

Of course, it is not surprising that Nalbandian considers the occupied Azerbaijani lands as part of Armenia. After all, the conflict started under the slogan Miatsum, i.e. a reunion, like Hitler's Anschluss. It is therefore not surprising that Armenian troops continue dying in Karabakh. We don’t know the tales the Armenian leadership tells to the world about “NKR” and its valiant army.

Yerevan is trying to present the Armenian separatists of Nagorno Karabakh as a party to the conflict, while the Armenian community of the region, as well as Azerbaijan, in all the statements of the international mediators and in the working papers held only as “an interested party”. And the parties to the conflict are Azerbaijan and Armenia. “During his visit to the region the OSCE Minsk Group and the OSCE Chairman met with the leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh, listen to the views of Stepanakert. As you can see, the Nagorno-Karabakh actually involved in the negotiation process “, - says Nalbandian, but says nothing about the fact that the co-chairs conducted similar meetings with the expelled Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite all the well-known proposals to resolve the conflict Armenian minister once again puts the cart before the horse. He argues that the alleged question of the return of Azerbaijani refugees should be considered only after full settlement of the final status of Nagorno Karabakh, by which he means the definition “by the free will of the people of Nagorno Karabakh”. The Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh believe it consists only of Armenians, who with two hands in a referendum vote for the “independence” of Nagorno-Karabakh or its joining Armenia. And the moral of the story is: first unwanted Azerbaijanis expelled and held a referendum on declaring independence, and now first hold a referendum on the final status, and then let them return to the so-called “Artsakh”, if you want, of course.

Paradoxes of Armenian politics

Meanwhile, Armenians are seriously interested in playing the independence card. So much so that they decided to rename the world-famous Nagorno-Karabakh into the so-called “Artsakh Republic”, and held a nationwide referendum in order “to justify this step from the legal point of view”. By nationwide they mean 70-80 thousand voters (according to Armenian statistics), whom was possible to mobilize so as not to lose face in front of international “observers”. Well, the democratic voting cannot be held without them, you know that… Especially here, in addition to the introduction of the new name “state”, it was, and the strengthening of “presidential” government.

The allegations of Armenians about the participation of “international observers” are far-fetched since no state and international organization do not recognize the results of the so-called “free will of citizens of the Artsakh Republic.” Nevertheless, official Baku will blacklist any individuals carrying out surveillance of this farce anyway.

The OSCE Minsk Group (MG) supervising the negotiation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia noted that the referendum does not have a legal status. “No country, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state. Accordingly, the co-chairs will not accept the results of the referendum held on February 20 as having an impact on the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh”, says the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group. Russia and other countries have distributed similar statements.

According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the referendum was just an attempt of Armenia to deceive itself and international community. Chief of Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Fuad Akhundov, drew attention to paradoxical obstinacy of Armenian politics. “No one in the world recognizes the occupation regime in Karabakh including Armenia. That is why no one in the world does not recognize the referendum. We have the exact opposite of this situation in Armenia - like everybody else, Armenia does not recognize the “state” but does the referendum held in the non-existent institution; recognizes and praises it. Is not this insane? Such an imitation of statehood continues for 22 years”, said Mr. Akhundov.

In general, paradoxes of Armenian politicians in Nagorno-Karabakh are noteworthy. They call the Armenians of the occupied region “Karabakh people”, Karabakh itself - “ancient Artsakh”. They have fabricated even “ancient” Armenian toponyms for the adjacent districts of Azerbaijan: Lachin as Berdzor, Kalbajar as Karvachar and only “the capital of Artsakh” still is called Stepanakert, a tribute to the Bolshevik Stepan Shaumian. Historical Khankendi is not suitable - too painful to Azerbaijani place name, and “ancient Armenian” is not found.

Apparently, that is the reason Armenians wait with the negotiations to make up the final determination of the status of all the place names in time to alter the Armenian way. By that time, they plan to make their minds about the monuments of Azerbaijan and the Islamic past of Karabakh. Well, the ancient Albanian churches are not Albanian any more...

But we will have to disappoint the Armenians. Due to the inconsistent and irresponsible statements of the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov stated that was skeptical of negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him, Nalbandian’s statements do not allow for discussions in optimistic route. But if Baku hopes for a peaceful settlement of the runs, it can demand their land by force, and then, as shown by last year's April, no referendum will save the Sargsyan’s regime.

The below statement is taken from the American edition of The Daily Caller: “It is in Armenia’s interests to settle this conflict now — for all the many and dire economic reasons. A resolution will provide Armenians with better and more prosperous lives. It will allow Armenia entrée into the vastly lucrative economic development projects of the region. Also, do Armenians really want to needlessly face the Azerbaijanis on the battlefield — alone?”.