BAKU GOES ON BEWAILING AZERI FLAGS
By Ivan Gharibyan
Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Oct 20 2009
Armenia
The October 20 plenary session of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis turned
into a platform for political elite’s new wails at the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols. During the very first hours, representatives of the
ruling New Azerbaijan Party led by President Ilham Aliyev made
statements. Using the same old stock phrases about the firm
Azerbaijani-Turkish friendship, the speakers continued their
The most "substantial" speech was delivered by Vice-Speaker Ziyafat
Askerov, who, after expressing his resentment at Turkey’s "insulting
the Azerbaijani flag," made a "slight shift" to criticizing the OSCE
Minsk Group for being passive in the process of "getting the occupied
territories vacated." "The great powers’ double standards in getting
Azerbaijan’s occupied territories vacated are taking an infamous form.
If the international norms are nothing, let them say it," Askerov
said. The greatest resentment over the latest developments is that
the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were signed in the presence o U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as that the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs were involved. Mr. Askerov’s discontent with the
international mediators’ latest statement refuting any link between
the Armenia-Turkey normalization and Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
"betrayed" once again the actual reasons for official Baku’s concern.
Although with reluctance, the Azerbaijani authorities have come
to realize the only optimal option selected by the international
mediators: following the principle of territorial integrity in
the case of a number of Azerbaijani regions, which currently form
a security zone round about the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR),
and that of nations’ rights to self-determination by determining
Nagorno-Karabakh’s status through a referendum.
It is realizing this fundamental principle — the world geopolitical
players are following with the obvious intention to act through
Turkey’s mediation — that has recently made the Azerbaijani leaders
suffer from fits of hysteria. This hysteria is what is "taking an
infamous form" mentioned by Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Askerov, who referred
to the OSCE MG Co-Chairs’ activities.
One more piece of evidence of the deepening rift between the
Azerbaijani and Turkish peoples is the latest statements made by the
second Vice-Speaker of the Azeri Parliament Bakhar Muradova. "As
regards the national flags of Turkey and other states, the Law on
the National Flag of Azerbaijan was applied — without any malicious
intent," she said at the plenary meeting, commenting on the removal
of the Turkish flags from the "Shahid lane" in Baku. Thus, with
her own mouth, a high-ranking official in Azerbaijan’s political
hierarchy confirmed that the incident was not a mere coincidence. Her
further statements about the absence of any anti-Turkish propaganda
in Azerbaijan, despite her own admission of "Azerbaijan’s sharp
response to the Armenian-Turkish Protocols," proved to be striking
evidence of disagreements between the Armenian and Turkish leaders,
which are getting sharper and sharper.
Of course, one can hardly speak of an inevitable "global" conflict
between Ankara and Baku. The Azerbaijani authorities, which are "going
through pain" because of the present geopolitical changes in the
region, cannot do anything. In any case Turkey remains Azerbaijan’s
most reliable and closest ally. It is just high time for Azerbaijan
to realize that Turkey cannot fuss over Azerbaijan to the detriment
of its own interests. And if Turkey’s interests are in harmony with
great powers’ position now, Azerbaijan has to do nothing but revise
its uncompromising policy – or else it will become a rogue state.