BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 6. Having lost the military battle with Azerbaijan, Armenia has launched a large-scale propaganda war against Azerbaijan and Türkiye all over the world, using all its possibilities and connections, Parvin Mirzazade, Ambassador-at-Large of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, writes in his latest article, Trend reports.
"Since the Armenian army was defeated in an open military confrontation with Azerbaijan and virtually ceased to exist as a military force, the leaders of the Armenian diaspora abroad and politicians in Yerevan decided to beat Azerbaijan in a media space. At the same time, using significant means and influence of the Armenian diaspora, they tried to gain the support of leading countries of the world," he said.
According to the author, Armenian political technocrats have shifted the focus of their subversive actions to the US, Canada, Australia, and European countries.
By spreading misinformation about events taking place in the region to foreign political circles and media, Armenian politicians play on their traditional themes of so-called "genocide and persecution of poor Armenian Christians", he noted.
Islamophobic and Turkophobic sentiments are strong in these countries. Playing on these sentiments in the society, the Armenian side, spreading disinformation in the media and using old Turkophobic politicians, tried to create a negative image of Azerbaijan and influence the policy, of their governments with regard to the already silent conflict and the peace process in the South Caucasus region, Mirzazade added.
However, as the author pointed out, Armenian diplomacy’s attempts to win over Asia, Africa, and Latin America have largely failed. The skillful diplomacy of President Ilham Aliyev, who successfully used the factor of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement, did not allow the false Armenian propaganda to change the attitude of these countries, based on respect for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of borders.
Thus, the basic course of Armenian propaganda and information war against Azerbaijan has developed in the US-European direction. Taking advantage of the economic and political crisis in France, the Armenian lobby managed to get Paris to support Armenia, he explained.
"France openly sided with Armenia, throwing off the mask of an "impartial" mediator, supporting baseless Armenian accusations of Azerbaijani "aggression", "occupation" of Armenian territory, "blockade" of the Lachin-Khankendi road, not accepting the arguments of Baku based on international law and decisions of influential international organizations such as the UN and OSCE," he said.
According to Mirzazade, the arrival of Ruben Vardanyan, a fugitive Russian billionaire of Armenian origin, who illegally seized the power in Karabakh, undoubtedly increased tensions and forced Armenian diplomacy to put forward completely unacceptable demands, as well as to abandon the negotiation process.
"Short-sighted Armenian politicians, inspired by the bellicose statements of Vardanyan, who is clearly aimed at seizing power in Yerevan after Khankendi, play along with him in the hope of getting support from the West since no help has come from Moscow and its CSTO allies," he pointed out.
Meanwhile, having bought into this cheap Armenian advertising, some Western media daily publish tearful articles and reports about "poor and hungry Armenians", with fabricated video and photo documents paid for by the Armenian diaspora, Mirzazade noted.
Naturally, the leading role in this propaganda campaign is played by the French media, which, forgetting about their main principles of objectivity and neutrality in covering global events, literally reproduces whiny Armenian tales, often surpassing the misinformation of the primary sources. Using the traditional hostility of some countries towards Türkiye and Muslim Turks, the Armenians of the world made sure that this antipathy was automatically transferred to Azerbaijan. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Greece and Cyprus have issued statements expressing concern over the protests of Azerbaijani environmentalists near the city of Shusha. They were joined by the MFAs of Luxembourg, Estonia, and Lithuania, he said.
All these countries are often proud of their commitment to the common foreign policy of the EU, the ideals of a united Europe, etc. However, with their ill-considered statements, they not only strike at the principles they declare but also cast doubt on the mediation activities of EU President Charles Michel in reaching a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Some European politicians decided to "help" the young Armenian democracy to escape from its traditional ally by satisfying the territorial claims of its newfound "friend" at the expense of Azerbaijan. But it is not clear to all these politicians that this is just another Armenian game, an attempt to sit between two chairs for the sake of the mythical "Great Armenia", he said.
"Azerbaijan, as President Ilham Aliyev has always noted, is a self-sufficient country and builds its domestic and foreign policy without looking back at anyone else. If someone abroad continues to think that by exerting pressure on Azerbaijan, it is possible to achieve unilateral concessions in favor of the Armenian lobby and their clients, they are sorely mistaken. Only equal cooperation and respect for territorial integrity are conditions for the development of mutually beneficial relations between Azerbaijan and its foreign partners, and no one can turn the Azerbaijani people off this path," he concluded.