/Armenianow.com/While Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was trying to explain to his compatriots living abroad that there are no preconditions in the protocols inked on August 31 on establishing diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Ankara, his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev was 100 km to the south from Yerevan voicing Turkic claims for Armenian lands.

The 9th summit of Turkic-Language Speaking Countries was the stage where the claims were made. And it wasn’t accidental that an ancient Armenian region of Nakhijevan – given to the Soviet Azerbaijan by Bolsheviks – was selected as the place for holding the summit.

During the Soviet times it took two hours to get from Yerevan to Nakhijevan. Today, a whole history separates the two.

It was there, according to the official version, that Azerbaijan’s current president’s father and his immediate predecessor, former president Heidar Aliev, was born.

A few years ago, it was in Nakhijevan that Azeris destroyed more than 4,000 medieval Armenian tombstones (cross-stones) with the purpose of eliminating the traces of the Armenian civilization in that territory.

And now, the time has come to, not anywhere else but in Nakhijevan, declare territorial claims for Armenia’s Syunik province known also as Zangezur.

Presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Prime-Minister of Turkmenistan took part in the summit.

Prior to his speech full of radical claims, the Azerbaijani president found it incumbent on himself to remind that “Nakhijevan is an authentic Azeri land and the only Azeri region bordering with Turkey”.

Aliev then carried on with a touching story about his undying father and his brothers.

“Alievs have forever remembered the bruising small and big stones of the mountainous paths of Zangezur, this grass, these trees and bushes saturating their hunger and giving them shelter. They were running away from Armenians. After long wanderings Nachijevan was like a Promised Land to them”.

The heart-breaking story about “Nakhijevan” and the unforgettable Heidar Aliev touched the president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev.

“Heidar Aliev and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Turkey’s first president) dreamed about the unity of all Turkic nations,” he said with a catch in his voice. “Our forefathers ruled the broad plains from the Mediterranean Sea to Altai; they left great values to us. We think the time has come, at last, to popularize those before the world society… ”

Aliev switched to contemplations over Armenia’s Syunik region – Zangezur.

“The severing of the indigenous, historically Azeri region from Azerbaijan long ago and its accession to Armenia, geographically dismembered the great Turkic world. Consequently, the Turkic world’s functioning as one family, one force was halted for decades.”

Two documents were signed as a result of the summit: Nakhijevan Declaration and an Agreement on the creation of a Union of Cooperation among Turkic language speaking countries.

After signing the documents Aliev stated: “By the decisions made and steps taken today we have made the Turkic bond even stronger. Although, geographically Zangezur – an ancient Azeri region currently under Armenia's control – is located in the middle.” (By “Zangezur” he refers to the Armenian province Syunik.)

He also pointed out that the South Caucasus had big opportunities, and regional cooperation could become even more versatile.

“All the roads may open, all communications, all the countries in the region would be cooperating based on mutual interests. But it is also true that for as long as our lands are occupied, no cooperation is possible between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said Aliev.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in his turn, said: “Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is of great importance to us and we will always be by its side.”

“We hope and believe that soon Azerbaijan’s occupied lands will be liberated. That would be a fair solution in order for peace and stability to be established in the region. Turkey will do its best to contribute to the peaceful settlement of that conflict and to peace in the Caucasus. However, the first and the most important step in that direction has to, undoubtedly, be the liberation of Azerbaijan’s occupied lands,” concluded Gul.

This was only 100 km south of Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, in Nakhijevan, where the Turkish president voiced the “non-existing” Turkish preconditions while the Armenian President was thousands of miles away trying to explain and assure his Diaspora compatriots that there are no Turkish preconditions in the initialed protocols.

 

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