Author: Andranik Taslakhchian

A Turkish citizen did a DNA test and discovered the truth – “we don’t come from these real Turks with slanted eyes; we come from Christians who were kidnapped and used as slaves by these Ottomans.”

“I did a DNA test, and I am almost entirely from Christian Europeans, from the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and also some Turkish (Anatolian), Caucasian, and Jewish from Iran,” he added.

With the advent of genetic testing, more and more Turkish citizens and diaspora communities are discovering that they are Turkified peoples, mostly pointing towards Greek.

A famous case of a Turkish citizen discovering they are Greek is Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı, born Ibrahim Yaylalı.

Yannis was a former Turkish ultra-nationalist that was proud of his enmity towards Kurds and other indigenous peoples of Asia Minor.

However, he soon discovered he was actually Greek, became Christian and then became an activist for minorities in Turkey despite originally joining the Turkish Army to kill them, as reported by The Armenian Weekly.

Full transcript of the above video:

“If you look at this map, it’s obvious which is the good and bad sides. Right next to Europe, the Ottomans enslaved European Christians for 600 years to their harems and Janissary army. How can nobody be talking about this?

“How can there be no Hollywood movies about this? Wouldn’t Hollywood be dying to make movies about this?

“They would, but Ataturk destroyed all these real Ottomans with these slanted eyes so that history would not exist anymore. That’s why nobody makes movies about it. Nobody talks about it. Us Turks are not considered innocent because we don’t come from these real Turks with slanted eyes.

“We come from Christians who were kidnapped and used as slaves by these Ottomans. By making us all Turks, by calling us all the same, by saying ‘How happy is he who says calls himself Turk’, Ataturk turned to the dark side.

“Instead of telling us that we were turned into Turks, instead of telling us we were kidnapped Christians who were then turned into Muslim Turks, he kept this most important part of our history a secret.

“Instead of telling us we come from Christians, he committed genocide against Christian Armenians and Christian Greeks so he can establish a country without any Christians in them.

“I did a DNA test and I am almost entirely from Christian Europeans, from the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and also some Turkish (Anatolian), Caucasian, and Jewish from Iran. Other Turks’ DNA will also look like this. There’s only going to be a little bit of Turkish DNA.”

The pathway to a peace deal in the South Caucasus has been long and fraught with challenges. Emotions run high within the nexus of Armenian-Azeri relations, with painful memories and distress on both sides. But from inside this torn relationship, one can see the openings (however small) and the opportunities (however faint) for creating a turnaround in the regional dynamics.

Establishing a stable, sustainable peace is certainly the order of the day. It would save lives and prevent tremendous suffering. It would also bring significant upsides for the future of both countries: a geo-economic peace dividend that boosts the South Caucasus and its surrounding regions. Peaceful regional integration would create new, flourishing transit routes and supply chains that connect Asia to Europe, promoting the resilience of the global economy. And it would unlock tremendous value from both countries, as well as neighbouring Georgia, accelerating the development of their respective strengths.

Instead, for the moment, the conflict drags on, affecting a number of countries and communities. It also raises the risk of a violent confrontation along the Armenia-Azerbaijan-Iran border, where a possible military escalation over control of Armenia’s southern region of Syunik could draw Tehran in, seeing as it lines northern Iran.

For more than three decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan have wrestled over the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region with a majority Armenian population that was assigned within Soviet Azerbaijan by the USSR in the 1920s.

The contested region Nagorno-Karabakh

A 2020 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia shifted the issue in favour of Baku, which had long been seeking to reclaim control of the region as a matter of national sovereignty. But that left an open question as to how the relationship between Azeri authorities and Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh would progress.

Fortunately, Baku and Yerevan began to take steps towards peace. The US, EU and Russia have all tried to move the initiative forward, hosting talks in different cities between Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. But the comprehensive deal they began to pursue now risks being derailed.

A dispute over the Lachin Corridor, the main road into Nagorno-Karabakh, has cut off vital supplies to an estimated 120,000 Armenians for more than eight months. Civilians, including about 30,000 children, are desperate for fresh food, fuel and medical goods. The International Committee of the Red Cross, among other leading voices, has described a dire lack of basic necessities, while UN experts warn that vulnerable populations are at risk of going hungry.

A humanitarian intervention urgently needs to be found, one that would stop the immediate suffering and prevent malnutrition levels that could very soon turn deadly. The solution could be a multinational aid delivery, co-ordinated with both Baku and Yerevan. There could be humanitarian air cargo flights to Ganja or cargo drone deliveries into Stepanakert and remote villages of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Creative solutions can be found once a principled compromise is reached – there simply needs to be a well-balanced diplomatic intervention that will give both sides a face-saving way to climb down from the current impasse.

The region needs a fresh approach to peacebuilding, with out-of-the-box ideas. Countries in the Global South could be crucial for providing a platform, with a climate of goodwill and understanding of both sides.

Diplomatic assistance from a trusted partner in the Arab and Muslim world would be a powerful positive force.

Azerbaijan has warm ties with countries in the Mena region, anchored in its membership in the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. Armenians have a history of close friendship and integration with the Islamic world, encapsulated by a decree of the Prophet Mohammed in 626 AD that put the Armenian people and their church under his patronage and protection. Today, the Matenadaran museum in Yerevan houses a prestigious collection of Islamic manuscripts, including a copy of the Prophet’s Covenant with the Christians of the World.

The values of Islam – foremost, peace, compassion and care for humanity – create a unique diplomatic climate for potential reconciliation. They create a level of comfort and a safe space for both sides to be meaningfully heard. In that spirit, diplomats can help Armenia and Azerbaijan deescalate the current crisis, first by finding a point of compromise over urgent humanitarian needs. That will subsequently create the time and space required to find greater common ground.

“There are no real, fundamentally insurmountable problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said Laurence Broers, an Associate Fellow with Chatham House focused on the South Caucasus. “With determination, intelligence and a sensible view you can overcome all of the obstacles.”

To achieve peace and stability, the two sides need to trust each other, with a facilitator that can help build that trust. Both sides will have to come to terms with their shared history. There is much to forgive and multitudes of grief that need to be transcended. An authentic, compassionate platform for dialogue could help Armenians and Azerbaijanis reconnect with their shared humanity.

“In the past, Armenians and Azerbaijanis had social norms of how to live together … they experienced happy and sad moments together,” Ahmad Alili, the director of a think tank in Baku, told me. They need to get together and talk.

Both sides have experienced the burden of war and share a will to live in safety and prosperity. If they can find the way to a peaceful co-existence, it will be transformative for the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. And it will set history in the positive direction we all want to see.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2023/09/07/nagorno-karabakh-pashinyan-baku-yerevan/

Azerbaijan on Monday slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for “biased” remarks on its Karabakh region, which it said “undermined” the peace process with archrival Armenia.

“French President Emmanuel Macron’s biased views reiterated during the Ambassadorial Conference of August 28 undermine the peace process, while creating the wrong impression on the current situation in the region and unilaterally defending Armenia,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said in a statement released by the ministry.

Hajizada said the opinion expressed by Macron during the conference based on allegations regarding the humanitarian situation in the region, “attests to the erroneous policy” of France.

Macron’s condemnation of the 44-day conflict that led to the liberation of Azerbaijani lands is “not comprehensible,” he remarked.

“Expressions such as ‘Lachin humanitarian corridor’ by the French president, as well as coercive narrative, are unacceptable and disrespectful of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,” Hajizada added.

He said France is well aware of the daily passage of dozens of Armenian residents through the Lachin road and the border checkpoint, the proposal of the Aghdam-Stepanakert (Khankendi) road and other alternative routes, and the politicization of the use of the Lachin road by Armenia and persons presenting themselves as representatives of Armenian residents.

“Instead of encouraging the implementation of the agreements reached in this direction at the beginning of August, the opinions supporting the provocative steps of Armenia are among the factors that directly impede the process.

“It would be more useful for France, who states that in Prague they were authors of the EU mission and the initiative to recognize each other’s borders under the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, to answer the question of why they did not come up with such initiatives for almost 30 years when the territories of Azerbaijan were under occupation,” he added.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation during 44 days of clashes. The war ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement.

Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between the neighboring countries rose in recent months over the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to the Karabakh region, where Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint in April on the grounds of preventing the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.

In the meantime, the Azerbaijani Red Crescent sent 40 tons of flour to the Armenians in Karabakh’s Khankendi and surrounding areas, the agency’s Chair Novruz Aslan announced Tuesday.

The convoy carrying the supplies will use the Aghdam-Khankendi route, Aslan told reporters in Baku. “This is a humanitarian step and we hope it will be welcomed by the international community and the Armenians in Khankendi,” he added.

Stressing that the Red Crescent is a nongovernmental organization outside of political processes, Aslan assured they would continue helping Armenians in Karabakh.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday vowed to launch a new diplomatic initiative to up pressure on Azerbaijan over its blockade of Armenian-controlled areas of Nagorno-Karabakh which has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis.