Nov 18, 2020
Azerbaijan To Take Control Of Artsakh — Now What?
18/11/2020/ASB/
One of the deadliest battles between Armenia and Azerbaijan has come to a halt. Armenia, Russia & Azerbaijan have struck a deal which involves both parties to stop fighting at their current battle positions — and Armenia to hand over key parts of Artsakh to Azerbaijan.
Many Armenians see the result of the current outcome as a failure of the international community and their lack of support for Armenia- leaving them outmatched against what was essentially a war against NATO’s Turkey and the Turkey-imported Syrian jihadists.
From foreign mercenaries to weapons, combat drones (which won the battle for Azerbaijan) direct command of control centres, special forces, troops and strategic planning of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. If that wasn’t enough, Turkey left 600 Turkish personnel on ground in Azerbaijan, who initially came there as a part of military exercises between Azerbaijan and Turkey. However, these “Joint drills” were actually used as a cover to bring weapons, Turkish Elite soldiers, high ranking officers and other personnel to Azerbaijan — with the aim of waging war on Artsakh. Like mentioned above, the 600+ Turkish personnel stayed in Azerbaijan and took part and direct command of the conflict in Artsakh.
With the backing of NATO giant Turkey, Armenia stood no chance on its own. Azerbaijan essentially made a 1940’s style war into a 2020 5-th Generation battle thanks to direct Turkish participation. Agreement between Turkey’s Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s Aliyev remains a mystery. There’s no public information on ties or agreements made between the 2 authoritarian countries prior to Turks dropping their resources and troops into this conflict.
Assumption can be made that NATO ambitions were driving their participation in the conflict, given the proximity to Russia’s mainland. USA would more than welcome more presence on Russia’s doorstep. If Erdogan and Aliyev struck such a deal, it would mean that after Azerbaijan fully occupies Artsakh territories, permanent Turkish military posts could pop up around occupied Artsakh. This would essentially seal the deal for Azeris; in terms of keeping their newly occupied territory, if they have NATO guarding it for them.
Now what?
Hatred for Armenians amongst Azeris and Turks has been known and well documented for over a century. From mass cleansing of Armenians, to rape, torture, decapitations and more vile acts, Armenians have seen it all from Turks and Azeris in the past.
What will happen to Armenians who do not have the means to flee to Armenia from Artsakh? History already showed us an example of such situation. Let us take you back:
The Maraga Massacre, April 10th, 1992
On April 10th, 1992; Azerbaijan manages to capture a village in Artsakh. The village, Maraga, was located in the Martakert region of Artsakh, right across from the Azerbaijani city of Tartar. As Azerbaijani military set foot in Maraga, they started murdering every ethnic Armenian they could get their hands on. They tortured and raped women, elderly & children. They mutilated them and then proceeded to murder them- by sawing off their heads, hands, legs or shooting them indiscriminately. They proceeded to set Armenian homes on fire and loot all their valuables. They looted materialistic items from the bodies of the people they had murdered as well as the homes they have destroyed. Around 100 Armenians were murdered in under 24H. International media ignored it completely. There were no headlines.
Armenian Forces retook the village the next day.
The above story serves as a prime example of the fate Armenians stuck in Artsakh will now face under Azerbaijan. It has been under a week since Azeris propped up their presence in Artsakh and we’ve already seen mutilations of civilians, including cutting their ears off for simply being present in the historically Armenian land of Artsakh.
The international community is ignoring the situation and siding with Azerbaijan, who is an economically important and resource rich business partner.
History shows that the world sees Armenians as disposable. Their lives will never be more important than Turkish and Azeri economic potential.
- Follow us on twitter for coverage of the Artsakh conflict at @ASBMilitary
