IN A UNITED FRONT

Тurkey wants to see Azerbaijan a strong state which will be a support to it, not a burden to it." I recalled these words said by a Turkish diplomat in the early years of our country's independence when the First Congress of Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora organisations was under way in Baku. Indeed, the holding of this event in Baku directly confirms that a country which in its time sought support from the strongest state in the Turkic world - Turkey - is itself a reliable support for it today. And now is the time for 50 million Azerbaijanis and 75 million Turks to unite in a single fist.  

The first congress of Azeri and Turkish diaspora organisations demonstrated the strength represented by a united Turkic world. And this is not the first instance of Azerbaijan and Turkey showing to the whole world the unity which comes from common ethnic roots, political views and national interests. "There are probably no two other countries in the world which are so closely linked from the point of view of the peoples' ethnicity, of their political outlook and community of interests. We must make our unity stronger," the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, said at the forum, having emphasised the substantial role of compatriots living abroad. The head of state recalled with gratitude the support lent by Turkey to independent Azerbaijan when it was being formed. And now that Azerbaijan is standing quite confidently on its own two feet, the time has come to unite efforts to resolve problems concerning the entire Turkic world. "We are a great force. We should do everything to ensure that our interests are safeguarded completely, that all the problems worrying us are removed, to ensure that justice triumphs and that our peoples lead tranquil lives. We deserve that and we will achieve that through joint efforts and joint work," the president said and pointed to such fruits of joint efforts as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. Azerbaijan and Turkey came up against rather major obstacles in implementing these projects. But thanks to their joint efforts, Baku and Ankara have changed the geopolitical realities not only in the region but also throughout the entire world. As Azerbaijan has grown stronger as a state, so has the potential of the Azerbaijani diaspora abroad also grown stronger. And now the time has come for a joint information and ideological offensive with a view to focusing global attention on nationwide problems. President I. Aliyev said regretfully that "the world public, in the broad meaning of this word, has failed thus far to form a true opinion of us. There are reasons for this. A strong Armenian lobby is acting against us. It adopts a hostile stance vis-a-vis Turkey and Azerbaijan and its main task is to blacken and misrepresent the processes under way in our country and to wage a campaign of lies and slander against them." The head of state of Azerbaijan said that this could be countered only with the help of the smooth and coordinated activity of the diaspora organisations, and the essence of holding the forum in Baku boiled down to this.

It was not by chance that I. Aliyev touched upon the anti-Turkic activity of the Armenian lobby. For the problem of Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia and the slanderous accusations levelled against Turkey about the so-called "genocide of Armenians" are the main problems around which the Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora should unite. At the same time, they are to withstand not only the Armenian lobby with its great financial possibilities, but also the globally reigning double standards of the major powers. It is precisely because of such an approach that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict remains unresolved. But time is marching on not to Armenia's advantage. The economic might of Azerbaijan, and consequently, its position in the world are growing stronger with every passing year and Azerbaijan is now no longer a country which can be spoken to in the language of blackmail. "Armenia has occupied Azerbaijani lands for over 10 years and today it accuses Azerbaijan of pursuing an expansionist policy. The lands of our fathers - the Iravan khanate, Zangazur Territory and other territories at present have become lands for the Armenian state. These are our historic lands but we are not lodging any territorial claims against Armenia. Although we can, as the territory on which the present Armenia lies are ancient Turkic, Azerbaijani lands. They should change their policy if they think about the future of their people. They should leave unconditionally the occupied Azerbaijani lands and give up their unfounded accusations against Turkey. Otherwise, the fate of Armenia itself may be in question," the president of Azerbaijan said.     

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, also supported the head of state of Azerbaijan.  He called the occupation of Azerbaijani lands "a bleeding wound of the Turkish people". The head of the Turkish government expressed the confidence that justice would triumph thanks to the joint efforts of Azerbaijan and Turkey. "We believe this. This is a feature of Armenia's, and unfortunately, of part of the Armenian diaspora's. They are taking similar steps against us now too. Where in the world are they not waging their "Armenian genocide" campaign?! They are forming lobbies in countries which have nothing to do with that and are hastily presenting in their parliaments resolutions about the "Armenian genocide" that never was.  Nobody will accept that!" Erdogan said. He stressed that by opening up its archives, Turkey had shown a readiness to bring the historical truth to light. Although Armenia had not deigned to reply to this gesture, continuing to mislead the world community with its totally unfounded claims. The prime minister of Turkey called upon his fellow countrymen living abroad to act in a united front against the Armenian "misinformation". He stressed that the potential of the Turkish diaspora was no less than that of the Armenian diaspora. Five million citizens of Turkey live in 118 countries. Many of them have gone from being workers to employers and have sufficient influence in the countries in which they are living. Living outside Turkey today are 80,000 Turks who are employers and they possess a total capital of 30 billion euro. They provide for 420,000 people in Europe on the whole. At the same time, R.T. Erdogan thinks that the Armenian question should not draw the attention of Azerbaijan and Turkey away from problems of the Turkic world. This is the problem of the Turkmen of Iraq and the issue of the international isolation of Turkish Cypriots. In this respect, he expressed particular gratitude to the president of Azerbaijan for inviting the leader of the Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus, Mehmet Ali Talat, to the forum. 

Meanwhile, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots complained of the policy of double standards with regard to Northern Cyprus. He recalled that the Turkish part of the island still remained isolated despite the fact that the Turkish Cypriots in their time had supported the international initiative to resolve the conflict, unlike the Greeks. M.A Talat asked for the support of Turkey and Azerbaijan as influential members of the world community.

It should be noted that the first forum of the leaders of the world's Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora organisations sticks in mind not just because of the presence at it of representatives of the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities. Five hundred and thirteen delegates from 48 countries took part in the event as a whole. The biggest delegations came from Turkey, Germany, the USA, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden Romania, Norway and Lithuania. Representatives of the governments of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia also spoke at the forum along with representatives of the diaspora's organisations which once again demonstrates the international significance of the event.