The True Face of Azerbaijan

 

Acknowledgement

Sincere thanks to Prof. Éric DÉNÉCÉ & Prof. Tigrane YÉGAVIAN for granting me the consent to translate their co-authored article. It is a privilege that I will cherish for a long time, and I hope that my translation did not compromise the spirit of the message they are trying to convey, even if at times the literal translation is not 100% accurate.

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The true face of Azerbaijan

By Éric DÉNÉCÉ & Tigrane YÉGAVIAN

January 2024 - The French Centre For Intelligence Research (CF2R.org)

Original French Text:

https://cf2r.org/actualite/le-vrai-visage-de-lazerbaidjan/


A French national was arrested in early December 2023 in Azerbaijan, falsely accused of espionage, as part of a diplomatic falling out between Paris and Baku. A practice from a bygone age, which we thought had passed since the end of the Cold War but which the Aliev regime seems determined to resurrect.

A dictatorial and warmongering regime

Established in 1918 on the rubble of the Tsarist Empire, the Democratic Republic

of Azerbaijan is a state construction from scratch resulting from the will of several Pan-Turkist nationalist ideologues and co-responsible for the genocide of the Armenians of 1915, originating from the Caucasus and Turkey[1]. Like the case of Macedonia, the very name of this state poses a problem, to the extent that it was borrowed from the northern province of neighboring Iran which is home to an Azeri community twice as large as the population of Azerbaijan. Enough to fuel Azeri irredentism which threatens Tehran.

Not content with being an authoritarian regime, muzzling the opposition[2] and persecuting, even eliminating, those who criticize its regime and are refugees abroad, notably in France[3], Azerbaijan has for decades been broadcasting racist and hateful speeches against the Armenians, refuses to recognize the history of the millennial presence of Armenians in the region, going so far as to falsify history and destroy all traces of their culture (churches, cemeteries) on its territory. Aliyev refused to recognize the right of the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh to security and self-determination, rejected any negotiation or arbitration, and resorted to force in order to annex this region described as a separatist enclave. During The Second Artsakh War, the Baku army relied extensively on Islamist mercenaries (war of 2020), and its forces engaged in barbaric acts on Armenian soldiers and civilians. Finally, Azerbaijan is the ally – the auxiliary – of the Turks who support the Baku regime in all its projects, because they are part of Ankara’s new Neo-Ottoman strategy. The dictatorial regime of Ilham Aliyev is therefore determined to continue its operation to eradicate Armenians from their ancestral lands and is now attacking France, which is diplomatically committed to Yerevan's side.

A threat to the stability of the South Caucasus

After having taken the territory of Nakhichevan in 1921 and expelling the Armenian population, after having reconquered Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh by force causing the exodus of more than 150,000 people (September 2023), Azerbaijan’s Army took control of parts (200 km2) of Armenian sovereign land without anyone protesting, Baku is now multiplying its territorial claims on its neighbour Armenia – including even the capital Yerevan – in the name of fanciful revisionist historical justifications.

The Aliyev regime is thus seeking to annex the south of this sovereign state in order to open by force an extraterritorial corridor (The Zanguezour Corridor) linking it to its exclave of Nakhichevan and neighboring Turkey. The issue of the new Silk Roads and the geostrategic barrier preventing the junction between Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Zanguezour corridor, risks provoking an armed confrontation with Iran. Especially since Baku is also making demands on Iranian Azerbaijan creating acute tensions with Tehran, which are added to the fact that Aliyev has allowed the Israelis to install on Azerbaijan’s territory listening stations and air bases to gather intelligence on Iran.

Everything is therefore in place for a major crisis to break out in the South Caucasus for which Azerbaijan will bear full responsibility. This will be partly shared by Russia, which supports Baku and did not move during the Azeri offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. Moscow's attitude is, on this issue, the polar opposite of the positions adopted by the Kremlin to defend Crimea, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, revealing a surprising inconsistency of the Kremlin.

Certainly the Russians have been exasperated by the clumsiness and provocations of Yerevan since the arrival of Nikol Pashinyan in office in 2018. But we cannot completely blame the latter for wanting to free himself from the tutelage of Moscow since his abandonment by The Kremlin, and for now Pashinyan seeks to establish security partnerships with the West to confront Azeri aggression.

A threat to France

Baku is now attacking France, because our country has decided to provide support, albeit very timid, to Armenia in the face of the successive military aggressions initiated by Azerbaijan, targeting Armenia, and posing an existential threat to its neighbour. Ilham Aliev spreads harsh criticism against our country and no longer hesitates to engage in dirty tricks against Paris.

– Having taken over the presidency of the non-aligned group at the UN, Azerbaijan first improvised itself as a champion of the fight against colonialism by denigrating the image of France, launching accusations of oppressing its overseas subjects. Last October, Baku was the host city of a conference against colonialism in which several overseas and Corsican delegates (New Caledonia, French Polynesia, French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe) took part[4].

– Paris accused Azerbaijan in November of being behind a campaign of information manipulation aimed at damaging France’s reputation in its ability to host the 2024 Olympic Games[5]. 

– Baku launched a destabilization attempt against Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu in mid-November during his visit to New Caledonia[6].

– A French national was arrested in early December in Azerbaijan, accused without proof of espionage. The Azerbaijan justice system ordered his detention for a period of four months[7].

– Diplomatic tensions rose a notch between Paris and Baku, at the end of December, with the expulsion of two French diplomats. France declared two Azerbaijani diplomats “persona non grata” as a measure of reciprocal retaliation. Tensions are said to be such that they forced the DGSE (Directorate-General for External Security) to close its office in Baku[8].

It should also be remembered that the Azeri despot (Ilham Aliyev) had threatened to kill Valérie Pécresse, then a candidate in the presidential election, in January 2022, when she went, accompanied by Michel Barnier, to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. [9]. The Quai d’Orsay (The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs) reacted very weakly.

The “intrigues” of the Baku regime against France in recent weeks are worthy of the practices of the KGB during the Cold War. Aliyev – son of a former local KGB boss – uses the same big tricks, showing his lineage and his lack of imagination. These acts of hostility are implemented by a small state (10 million inhabitants) whose leader suffers from delusions of grandeur, could not be more explicit, and cannot remain unanswered.

Moreover, it should be remembered that the Baku regime has been pursuing a very active policy of “influence peddling” in our country for several years thanks to revenues derived from significant hydrocarbon resources. This “Caviar Diplomacy”, consisting of financing various politicians, Think Tanks, researchers[10] or journalists[11] so that they relay the narratives of Azerbaijan, aims to ensure that France turns a blind eye to its machinations of continued dismemberment of Armenia. 

Thus, a difficult year begins for Rachida Dati (France’s Culture Minister) who, after a journalistic investigation highlighted her links with the Aliyev couple[12] will have to pilot precariously her ministerial functions in 2024, the year designated as “Culture of Armenia” in France, and participate in the tributes paid to the resistance fighter Missak Manouchian who will enter the Pantheon (Mausoleum in Paris for the most distinguished citizens of France) in February.

Of course, we should also highlight the fact that these French personalities are not the only ones colluding with Baku. The double standard is also a trait of the leaders of the European Union. The reprehensible approach of Ursula Van der Leyen and Charles Michel, who regularly denounce violations of human rights and international law when it comes to Russia or China, went to prostitute themselves in Baku, turning a blind eye to the numerous abuses by the Aliyev regime, to ensure a stable energy supply for Europe... that is to say mainly Germany, deprived of Russian gas!

This is also the case for Israel, which for two decades has been one of the two main suppliers of arms to Azerbaijan, although Tel Aviv knows well that its weapons are intended to eliminate the Armenians. Not an honourable attitude for the people who were victims of the Shoah, and whose authorities have never officially recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

At a time when Turkey is asserting itself more and more aggressively, both in the Middle East, in Africa, and in Europe, undermining international law, demonstrating the zealous desire to reconstitute its former Ottoman Empire, the role of Azerbaijan, an insignificant state in itself, cannot be neglected, both for its abuses and for its commitment to serve the designs of the Erdogan regime. It is time that we open our eyes to the true nature of this regime which is carrying out clearly hostile actions against Armenia and against France.


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References:


[1] https://cf2r.org/livres/haut-karabakh-le-livre-noir/

[2] L’Azerbaïdjan figure en 151e position sur 180 dans le classement 2023 de Reports sans frontière pour la liberté de la presse (https://rsf.org/fr/pays/azerba%C3%AFdjan) ; et obtient la note de 2/40 pour les droits politiques et 7/60 pour les libertés civiles selon le classement de Freedom House, qui le classe parmi les pays où les libertés en sont pas respectées (https://freedomhouse.org/country/azerbaijan/freedom-world/2022)

[3] https://www.marianne.net/monde/lazerbaidjan-poursuit-ses-opposants-jusqua-nantes

[4] https://www.lagazetteaz.fr/news/international/13666.html

[5] https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/azerbaidjan-la-grande-offensive-de-bakou-pour-denigrer-la-france-20240114

[6] https://www.lejdd.fr/international/indo-pacifique-nouvelle-tentative-de-destabilisation-de-lazerbaidjan-lors-dune-visite-de-sebastien-lecornu-140345

[7] https://www.europe1.fr/societe/info-europe-1-indopacifique-lazerbaidjan-a-mene-une-operation-de-destabilisation-lors-de-la-visite-de-sebastien-lecornu-en-nouvelle-caledonie-4219432

[8] https://www.intelligenceonline.fr/renseignement-d-etat/2024/01/11/le-poste-de-la-dgse-a-bakou-demantele-par-le-service-de-securite-d-etat,110136423-eve

[9] https://www.senat.fr/questions/base/2022/qSEQ22012246G.html

[10] https://lecourrierdesstrateges.fr/2023/04/24/bruno-tertrais-ou-comment-les-neo-cons-americains-agissent-en-france/

[11] https://www.lagazetteaz.fr/news/france/14538.html

[12] https://www.france.tv/france-2/cash-investigation/5328240-mon-president-est-en-voyage-d-affaire.html

https://www.marianne.net/agora/tribunes-libres/les-troublants-rapports-de-rachida-dati-avec-l-azerbaidjan

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Le Centre Français de Recherche sur le Renseignement (CF2R) lance I-Sources


 

 


 

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