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Qabil Ashirov

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Serious confusion has once again arisen regarding Germany's policy towards the South Caucasus. Whether it is coincidence or unprofessionalism is still unclear, but the important thing is that they still have not found the right path.

Unfortunately, German media outlets and intellectuals try to follow the path of Russia and France without learning any lessons from them. It seems that the Germans believed they could succeed in the Armenian issue, where Russia and France reached dead ends. It would be better to remind them that the Armenian issue cost Russia so much that even the most pro-Armenian journalists and intellectuals ended up calling Armenia a ‘suitcase without a handle.’ Even France lost the plot after inheriting the torn-down suitcase from Russia. Most probably, Germany is volunteering to own the suitcase.

To illustrate this, the famous German TV channel DW, funded by the government, released a so-called documentary film on Armenia and the Garabagh conflict. Remaining true to Armenian propaganda, the film begins by extolling the Armenian spirit and Stalin’s decision to hand over Garabagh to Azerbaijan in order to cajole Turkiye into allying with the USSR. Later, the film suggests that Azerbaijanis ‘kill’ Armenians in Sumgait, and the ‘poor’ Armenians flee Azerbaijan with great difficulty. It continues by claiming that ‘Azerbaijan, with the help of Russia and Turkiye, brutally attacks Garabagh, while a handful of courageous Armenian Spartans defend themselves against Azerbaijan and its backers. The film then asserts that Russia gains authority in Yerevan through Kocharian and Sarkisian, hollowing out Armenia through them. In the end, Pashinyan ascends to power to save Armenia, but the Azerbaijani army—controlled by Turkish generals and drone operators, with help from Syrians—attacks the brave Armenians. The film then claims that the Azerbaijani president visits Russia, finds common ground, and divides the former Soviet republics. In short, Azerbaijan takes Garabagh, and Russia attacks Ukraine.’

Watching the film, one could suggest that either DW lost the plot or has a remarkable ability to craft fantasy. Needless to say, the film is rife with misinformation.

First of all, no country in the world, including Armenia—let alone Germany—has ever recognized Garabagh as an independent country. Moreover, Garabagh has no connection to Stalin. To be honest, unfortunately, the former Soviet republics have used Stalin as a scapegoat for all their disputes, taking advantage of his negative image. It’s also worth reminding that British General Thomas appointed Azerbaijani Khosrov bay Sultanov as the General Governor of Garabagh in 1919. Yes, it is true that before the USSR, some Armenian gangs attempted to seize Garabagh from the nascent Azerbaijani state, but Khosrov bay Sultanov eliminated those gangs

As for the Garabagh conflict in the post-Soviet period, it is important to emphasize that it was not the Sumgait pogrom that paved the way for the conflict. On the contrary, the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from Gafan and Zangazur led to the Sumgait pogrom, which the Armenian side later used as an excuse to justify the conflict. To put this into perspective, thousands of Azerbaijanis and Muslim Kurds were forcefully uprooted from their homes in 1987 and expelled to Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the film did not address this issue.

The most ridiculous and disgusting part of the film was that when the film spoke about ‘how Armenians fled Sumgait’, they showed the footage of the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from Kalbajar in 1993. In other words, DW tries to pass the tragedy of Azerbaijanis off as Armenian.

As for Azerbaijan being the ally of Russia, it is well known that Armenian borders are under Russian control. Besides, Armenia is a member of the Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization. So, it is not Azerbaijan but Armenia that is an ally of Russia.

Linking a terror operation allegedly conducted by Azerbaijan in 2023 to the war in Ukraine is nonsense. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev did not visit Moscow but rather Kyiv a few days before the war. Moreover, Kyiv has always supported Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, just as Azerbaijan has supported Ukraine’s. Since Azerbaijan’s independence, Kyiv has supplied Azerbaijan with weapons. To top it all off, the Crimean Peninsula was home to Turkic Crimean Tatars, whom Russia expelled to Central Asia. Given all these facts, why would Azerbaijan support Russia?

Like all the so-called 'facts' mentioned above, the claims about Syrian mercenaries and Turkish generals are baseless. Azerbaijan’s population is three times larger than Armenia’s. Why would it need mercenaries? As for the Turkish generals, Azerbaijan possesses far superior and more modern weapons, such as medium and heavy-class helicopters, tactical bombers, supersonic interceptors, close-air support aircraft, and MLRS systems launching quasi-ballistic missiles—none of which Turkiye has ever had. Why would Azerbaijan need Turkish generals?

The film could be dismissed as ordinary Armenian propaganda if the German president had not shared the flag of the so-called Garabagh Republic just a day later during his visit to Armenia. Despite apologizing and deleting the post, these events confirm that Germany was swayed by Armenian lies.

For over a century, Armenia has tried to convince the world that Turkiye seeks territorial expansion and that Azerbaijan is merely a pawn in this strategy. According to this narrative, Armenia can stop them - if Russia, Europe, and China provide it with weapons, money, and soldiers.

Russia was the first victim of this propaganda. Moscow spent billions of dollars to build a strong Armenia. However, it later became clear that Armenia had embezzled these funds, and its population continued to decline. Armenia is a failed state that cannot defend itself without Russia. Eventually, Moscow abandoned Yerevan.

Today, France and Germany are competing with each other over Armenia. The problem is that their fate will be no different from Russia’s.