On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijani forces attacked the Armenian Christian community in Nagorno-Karabakh, subjugating the small, unrecognized republic of about 120,000 people within 24 hours. International of Christian Solidarity (CIS) and other human rights organizations have long warned about the possibility of genocide in this territory. The warning was repeated in August this year by Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. In September, a threat of genocide even came from Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Karabakh was purged of all its Armenian inhabitants.

Despite these warnings and developments, the UN Security Council remained passive. This indicates the existence of a new imperial constellation of pan-Turkic and neo-Ottoman origin, a constellation stretching from the eastern Mediterranean, past the Black Sea, to the Caspian Sea. At the top of this structure is Turkey, a major military power and member of NATO. Neo-Ottoman influence increased after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The war in Ukraine is perceived by Washington and most European countries, but also by Moscow, as an existential problem. Neo-Ottoman forces are taking advantage of this situation to gain important strategic concessions from both sides. Both Washington and Moscow participate in this game. The surrender of Karabakh Armenians is in this sense a concession, even a service to the neo-Ottomans.

But the arrangements do not end there. Turkey and Azerbaijan seek to rule over Armenia itself. To achieve this goal, the Turkish-Azerbaijani axis seeks to strengthen. Therefore, Ankara and Baku are now demanding a transport corridor that is not controlled by Armenia, the so-called Zangesur Corridor, which, passing through TERRITORYArmenia (Sinyuk province in the south of the country) to connect Azerbaijan with Turkey. Washington is also willing to accept this Armenian concession to the neo-Ottomans, and Russia, under pressure, is also willing to accept this situation, provided that it can manage the security of the corridor. But even this reality will only mean a step towards a more ambitious vision. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, claims that virtually all of Armenia is Azerbaijani territory, which he calls “West Azerbaijan” in public discourse.

Aliyev’s vision is that of a Greater Azerbaijan that includes not only Armenia but also northwestern Iran, an area populated mostly by Azerbaijanis. And here is the same semantic game, the president of Azerbaijan directly called this territory “South Azerbaijan”. This territorial claim against Iran also worries the Iranians, of course, but it satisfies the leaders in Washington and Jerusalem.

Armenia’s clumsy and increasingly unpopular government is trying to resolve the crisis by preparing a “Peace for Our Time” agreement with Azerbaijan modeled after the Munich Agreement (1938). The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, also places his hopes on the West. Recently, during a visit to Yerevan, these hopes were encouraged by the director of the US Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, as well as the representative of the US State Department, Yuri Kim. Instead, Russia called Pashinyan’s strategy a big mistake. – Read the entire article and comment on Contributors.ro