The Exploitation of Turkish Nationalism in the Armenian-“Azerbaijani” War

The essay below was originally published by World Geostrategic Insights in a slightly different form.

The Exploitation of Turkish Nationalism in the Armenian-“Azerbaijani” War

by David Davidian

As the signal-to-noise ratio decreases in the reporting of events surrounding the September 27 Azerbaijani assault on the Armenian-inhabited region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a much more surreptitious current has received virtually no reporting: Iran. Influential think tanks generate their well-crafted equivocation and prevarication, never really following the evidence, and keeping readers cleverly occupied and furious at claims such as “there have been some reports of Jihadists being recruited by and transported to the region by Turkey,” when it is not only clear they have been recruited, with videos of scores being slaughtered by Armenian forces and transcripts of radio transmissions in Arabic suspiciously ignored.

After last July’s border flare-up, with its display of gross Azerbaijani military incompetence, Turkey proclaimed active support for Azerbaijan. Within days of the flare-up’s subsiding, Turkey began war games in Azerbaijan on Armenia’s borders. Turkey never brought home its advisors, trainers, or equipment. Turkey actively recruited and transported Libyan and Syrian Jihadists over Georgian airspace into Azerbaijan to act as cannon fodder in place of Azerbaijan soldiers. One need only peruse flightradar24’s archives to verify this activity. Turkey’s F-16s and AWACS have participated in fighting Armenians. On September 30, the Turkish military assumed control of Azerbaijan’s Air Force. On October 10, an elite force of some two hundred Turkish soldiers attacked an Armenian town many hours after the recent humanitarian cease-fire was to have commenced. Turkish soldiers are embedded within the Azerbaijani army and its command and control.

Rather than deter Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman designs, some regional and world powers appear to have used his Nazi-like dreams in their own interests. Just as Jihadists that are fighting against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad can be useful idiots in the short-term, Turkey has been directly encouraged twice to increase its recent expansionist actions. The first was when US President Trump gave Erdogan the green light to enter Northern Syria, which is now under Turkish occupation. The second was when US Secretary of State Pompeo described the current Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as one over real estate, interpreted by the Turks as another green light. Without even mentioning Turkish actions against Armenians, NATO’s official website posted, “Turkey is a valued NATO Ally” in its report on NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s October 5 visit to Turkey. This comes on the heels of Erdogan’s vow, in a July 14 governmental address, “to complete what their ancestors began, this time in the Caucasus,” Erdogan was referring to the 1915 Turkish genocide of the Armenians.

The last time rabid Turkish nationalism was used to such an extent was in the lead-up to and during the First World War and British backing of Arab nationalism to dismantle the Ottoman Caliphate. One outcome of such virulent Turkish nationalism was the genocide of the Armenians, as they were in the way of a Pan-Turkic Empire. Does anybody care if Erdogan proclaims Jerusalem as his city? Apparently not, as Israel tolerates such outbursts along with Turkey’s anti-Semitism.

However, it doesn’t appear that the grand prize is eliminating the Armenians, but rather dragging Iran into a confrontation, probably with Turkey. There have been several reports of Azerbaijani UAVs and shells falling in Iran. Of particular interest is that on October 7, Azerbaijani troops attempted to provoke Armenians into firing into Iran. Many hundreds of Azerbaijani troops purposely placed themselves in a position where Armenian artillery would violate the Iranian frontier. The Azerbaijani soldiers were trapped between Armenian forces and the Iranian border and were decimated by the hundreds. The Armenians urged Iran not to allow Azerbaijan troops to escape into Iran. With northwestern Iran populated with Azerbaijani-speaking Iranians and the Iranian military on high alert along its entire border with Azerbaijan, Iran could be dragged into this conflict. It is no secret that not only has Israel been arming Azerbaijan with well over $5B in high technology weaponry, but Amnesty International said on October 6 that Israeli-made cluster bombs are being used against civilians by Azerbaijan.

Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, Islamic Jihadists, their supporters, and military suppliers to Azerbaijan are being used to establish conditions where Iran may be forced to react militarily in a way that could not be created by sanctions or internal covert actions alone. Azerbaijan would never have attacked the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia proper without such allies. Provoking Iran in such a manner could cause the extinction of what remains of the Armenians. I don’t say this as somebody living a comfortable life in some Western European country, but as one who packed up and moved to my homeland, Armenia. My family, friends, society, and nation are under the existential threat of destruction.

The Armenians face what the former mayor of Baku, Hajibala Abutalybov, who served between 2001 and 2018, stated in a meeting in 2005 with a municipal delegation from Bavaria, Germany: “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be able to understand us.”

Yerevan, Armenia

David Davidian is a lecturer at the American University of Armenia. He has spent over a decade in technical intelligence analysis at major high technology firms.

7 thoughts on “The Exploitation of Turkish Nationalism in the Armenian-“Azerbaijani” War

  1. today the Christians, tomorrow the Shiites, and then the world, and so we have the Sunni side of Islam, sending the Shiite side down the toilet.

  2. Perhaps you might like to tell us who else supplies arms to Azerbaijan, singling out Israel amongst many is – you know what…..

    Hating Israel is allowed, but be truthful about it. Israel is a democracy and forces in Israel are trying to bring about a recognition of the Armenian genocide. Flinging around obviously anti-semitic accusations does not help this in any way. –

    I assume the biggest supplier of arms to Azerbaijan is Russia, so lets have some anti-Russia rhetoric as well – otherwise this is all about joo hatred and thus invalidates the main thrust of the article.

  3. If the Israelis are selling cluster bombs to anyone they should be ashamed. These don’t always explode, and kill civilians long after a conflict is over.

    • Exactly. Those nasty Romans too. We are still stepping on spearheads. As for giving Muslims with backpacks packing korans approaching crowds I really a wave or ghost pass I don’t know what to say.

  4. “You, Nazis, …”

    Interesting. Are minutes of this meeting accessible somewhere? Somehow I doubt they’ve been noticed anywhere on the German side, but I’ll go and do some digging. Not that anyone gives a rat’s [derriere] about what this hillbilly said, but that ours will swallow it for the sake of whatever unscrupulous business it is they were about is worth raising a stink if you can.

  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq-pwHB7qRM&feature=emb_logo

    Look what a nasty priest. His eyes were slanted with fear and lies.
    This is a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Azerbaijan.

    The official representative of the Baku Diocese of the ROC-MP, on behalf of his Church, supports Azerbaijan and calls Armenians terrorists.

    Archpriest Konstantin Pominov, press secretary of the Baku and Azerbaijan Diocese:
    “I believe that what is happening now by Armenia is a clear genocide and at the same time is a real terrorist act. … What is Armenia fighting for? For Nagorno-Karabakh, for such a republic? There is no such republic! There is no such republic on the world map. country!”.

    The “War of the Towers” continues in Russia.
    Ethnic Armenian Lavrov is going to send Russian peacekeepers to Karabakh.

    Recently, in Balashikha, near Moscow, a resonant incident occurred on the road: after a traffic accident, an Armenian called a support group from the diaspora and attacked a Russian family: a man, a wife and a three-year-old child. They threatened to both burn them and kill them.

    Many people ask: why don’t they go to defend their Armenian homeland? Why are they terrorizing the Russians in their country?

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