Military tensions with Azerbaijan and the possibility of war

[Joseph]

Good points, Joseph. Although if you take a holistic view of all those reasons you get a rather clear impression impression that Arab countries aren't particularly united in one way or another. Shi'ites are wary of Sunnis, richer arab countries aren't supporting their muslim brothers, etc. So I think as long as Armenia maintains good relations with Iran we wouldn't have to fret much over the rest of the muslim world.

You hit the nail on the head Kharpert. The Arabs are totally disunified (Sunni vs. Shi'ite, the disjointed reaction to Israel from terrorism to apathy, oil lethargy, rising Islamic fanaticism vs. the elite) and have more than enough problems to deal with.

Whether we agree with them or not, Iran is a force to be reckoned with in the future. They have proven to be the big winners in the whole Iraq war thus far. We'll see how the Kurds fare later.

Armenia is smart to keep both Russia and Iran close (while remaining pro-U.S). They are not your best friends, but at least they are magnanimous...and they are also potentially dangerous.

[Steph]

Good points, Joseph. Although if you take a holistic view of all those reasons you get a rather clear impression impression that Arab countries aren't particularly united in one way or another. Shi'ites are wary of Sunnis, richer arab countries aren't supporting their muslim brothers, etc. So I think as long as Armenia maintains good relations with Iran we wouldn't have to fret much over the rest of the muslim world.

Khapert,

Not really connected directly with this thread, but perhaps of interest, in September, we found that one of our nieces in Yerevan is now studying Farsi, alongside English and Russian at High School. Probably an indication of present and future ties with Iran.

Back to the subject, America seems to be creating a genuine Kurdistan in northern Iraq, which would not sit well with at least 4 nations (Turkey, Syria,Iran and Iraq). If this were to become a more permanent arrangement surely the Turks would attack this zone, allowing themselves an even heavier hand against their Kurdish areas. This could provide an opportunity for the Azeris to attack Artsakh.

[Joseph]

Oh no! Armenians are building churches!!! Oh the humanity!!!





Armenians intensify church construction in Azeri lands

13 January 2007 [01:29] - Today.Az

Armenians have intensified church construction in occupied Azerbaijani lands.

The goal of construction is to base on the myth that occupied Azerbaijani territories belonged to Armenians.

The opening of the new church is expected to occur in Khankendi in May. The church is constructed on the expenses of the Efremyans family living in Los-Angeles. The cathedral will be called St. Akop.

It should be noted that, the foundation ceremony of St. Maria church was celebrated last year in Khankendi. Armenian Catholicos Garagen II took part in the ceremony APA reports.


URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/34875.html

[Joseph]

A Life Divided: Survivor of pogrom reflects on the hatred that drove him out of Azerbaijan
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Ararat Martirosyan has lived in the village of Mikhailovka in Armenia’s Lori marz for 17 years. He buried his wife Zabela here two years ago. Now he lives alone because, as he says, God did not give children to him and Zabela.
{ai193501.jpg|left}After a hard day (he has a land-plot, some cattle and chicken) the 80-year-old Martirosyan sits down to watch satellite TV. He is particularly drawn to shows on Azeri TV stations.

“They sing well and have some good music programs on TV, but their anti-Armenian propaganda is terrible,” says Ararat, a refugee from Azerbaijan who speaks perfect Azeri.

Ararat fled Baku with his wife in December 1989, weeks before the bloody events of January 1990, when the last and fiercest of pogroms began and continued for a whole week until Soviet troops were introduced into the city. Dozens of Armenians were murdered between January 13 and 20, others were robbed of their property and deported, many were brutally beaten or crippled.

There had been some 30,000 Armenians in the Azeri capital when the pogroms began. By the time the ethnic cleansing ended, the city that once was home to an almost 200,000-strong Armenian community was left without an Armenian population, except a few hundred people in mixed marriages.

But before that Ararat had witnessed the dreadful events in Sumgait, an industrial town about 40 kilometers north of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.

“I worked as a forest warden. At that time I lived in a house near Baku and it was more convenient for me to drive to Sumgait to do the shopping,” Ararat remembers.

“It was on February 28, 1988, at about 5pm. My wife and I were in my Gaz 69 jeep. We saw an approaching crowd. I thought to myself, what funeral is it that has no coffin?”

As the crowd approached, Ararat saw that they were nationalist demonstrators, or hooligans as the veteran communist party member then thought to himself.

“One teenager asked me in Azeri to show documents and after I explained in Azeri that I hadn’t any with me, he exclaimed, “He speaks with an Armenian accent, he is Armenian, take him!”

Ararat remembers that in a fraction of a moment he managed to shut the doors of his car. But the crowd began to beat the car with sticks and rocks, someone started jumping on the bonnet, and others attacked the windows. They managed to open a door and began to drag his wife out, but she resisted and somehow struggled to close it again.

“Then I saw an ambulance on fire in front of us and understood that perhaps it was our end,” recalls Ararat.

Eventually, the car was turned over but luckily did not catch fire. Ararat says that it was a miracle they were saved.

“I knew many militiamen as I helped arrange hunting tours for them. One of them was nearby and recognized my car,” he says. “He managed to convince the raging crowd that we were not Armenians and that he knew us well.”

{ai193502.jpg|right}The Azeri policeman took Ararat and Zabela to hospital (they were both bleeding from injuries to the hands and face). Ararat remembers that the policeman helped them only as acquaintances, rather than as somebody doing his job, and that, he says, was humiliating.

“At the hospital I was very afraid, because I did not trust Azeri doctors any more, they could inject us with some poison or cause infection in our wounds,” he said.

Ararat heard militiamen talking in Azeri about 16 farmers from Armenia selling potatoes in the town’s main market. He never found out what became of them, but he feared the worst.

The incident happened to Ararat in Sumgait’s Prospekt Mira (or Peace Avenue), near the monument to the Bird of Peace. Ararat says that a group of prosecutors came from Volgograd, Russia, to Azerbaijan to investigate cases of violence in Sumgait.

“I have photographs and documents. I myself am a living memory. Now I am old, I want nothing, I just want my story to be recorded and heard. Someone promised me to do that, but he never came back,” Ararat says.

The Martirosyans managed to sell their property for a small price in Baku and buy a house near Kalinino (now Tashir) in Armenia.

He says life now is not bad. He gets a small pension of 16,000 drams (about $44) per month, and his small farm provides enough not only for him, but also to support relatives in Yerevan.

He says only his poor eyesight is a problem and he plans to undergo eye surgery in the capital in spring.

Seventeen years after the tragic events in Azerbaijan, Ararat, a man of Karabakh extraction who lived for decades among Azeris, still cannot understand what happened.

“I used to have a radio-set and listened to Azadliq [RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service], but my radio is broken. I want to understand what’s going on between Azeris and Armenians now, how to solve the Karabakh problem,” Ararat says.

[Joseph]

Khapert,

Not really connected directly with this thread, but perhaps of interest, in September, we found that one of our nieces in Yerevan is now studying Farsi, alongside English and Russian at High School. Probably an indication of present and future ties with Iran.

Back to the subject, America seems to be creating a genuine Kurdistan in northern Iraq, which would not sit well with at least 4 nations (Turkey, Syria,Iran and Iraq). If this were to become a more permanent arrangement surely the Turks would attack this zone, allowing themselves an even heavier hand against their Kurdish areas. This could provide an opportunity for the Azeris to attack Artsakh.

I think that if the Turks do invade Kurdistan, they will be too pre-occupied to help the Azeris. If the Azeris invade Armenia (which would be without Turkish support as the Turks would need to be fully engaged against the Kurds), they are doomed to further defeats and Russia will not sit idly by.