The Huffington Post: NKR will never return to Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan needs to cease its hostilities towards Armenia and Aliyev and his henchmen need to stop their propaganda campaign against Armenia domestically and abroad, reads the article published in American The Huffington Post.

According to the article the anti-Armenian propaganda abroad fools few foreigners while it brainwashes its own people. “True peace process needs to occur. The United States and Russia -- or the current OSCE Minsk Group -- should accelerate their efforts in this direction before it is too late,” says the publication.

According to the author if hawks such as Aliyev can be overthrown, then Azerbaijan and Armenia, along with Georgia can form an economic corridor that would be a shining example to the world. Cautious optimism may be in order since Presidents Sargsyan and Aliyev met with Putin in light of recent events on August 10 and agreed that the conflict needs to be resolved peacefully. “I do not believe in violence, which history has taught us only begets more violence. But there are facts on the ground. NKR will l never return to Azerbaijan, willingly or otherwise. It is time to build peace,” writes the author.

The Huffington Post notes that while Armenia is slowly rebuilding its economy and educational institutions, Azerbaijan may still be feeling national humiliation at the 1994 loss of territories.

According to the author if a new war breaks out Azeris will not fight as hard as the Armenians. No sane father or mother would send his or her sons to die over lands far away from Baku.

The article also notes that Armenia was the most technologically advanced Soviet Republic while its army is currently considered one of the strongest in the region. So there is little chance of Azerbaijan making military inroads.

“In fact, the opposite is true -- Armenia may claim even more territory if forced into a full-scale conflict again,” writes the author. He also notes that Baku has estimated 50 to 75 years of oil reserves left to exploit and it is doubtful that someone as greedy and narcissistic as Aliyev will risk future billions in an attempt to liberate a mountainous land inhabited by foreign people and devoid of natural resources.

Azerbaijanis need to understand that Aliyev’s current policies will ultimately lead to the demise of this regime and country, writes the publication.

The publication recalls the history of the conflict: In 1988, the Soviet Union collapsed, Nagorno Karabakh petitioned Moscow to be re-attached to Armenia. When Moscow ignored Stepanakert's request, the Armenian enclave declared independence. Azerbaijan, then ruled by Ayaz Mutalibov, responded with pogroms against Armenians in Baku and Sumgait and by declaring war against Nagorno Karabakh, mercilessly bombing the small four thousand square mile enclave. By 1994, Nagorno Karabakh, abetted by Armenia, won a difficult but decisive victory over Baku.

Mutalibov was succeeded by Haidar Aliyev, continues the author, and then his son Ilham in completely trumped-up elections. The Aliyev clan has run Azerbaijan as if it were its own personal bank account for the past twenty some years.

Since Russia brokered a peace agreement between the two nations in 1994, Azerbaijan has broken the ceasefire over 200 times. But in the past week, Aliyev has intensified attacks on Armenian border towns. Three days ago, Azeri shelling killed five Armenians; retaliatory fire claimed 25 Azerbaijanis, reads the article.

“Aliyev, who has falsely claimed that he has triumphed over Armenia politically and economically and that he can do so militarily as well continues to watch his own soldiers die in numbers which exceed Armenian casualties. As if his own people they were mere flies, expendable in some futile attempt to regain land over which it has no legitimate claim,” reads the publication.