“Anschluss” in the Caucasus: Thanks to complete negligence of the world community
https://moderndiplomacy.eu
By Fuad Akhundov
On March 12, Austria commemorated a sad date, the 80th
anniversary of the Anschluss, a bloodless “absorption” of the country by
Hitler’s Germany. March 12 is an official Day of Remembrance in Austria. During
a ceremony held in Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, Austrian President Alexander van
der Bellen urged young people not to be “taken in” by neo-fascist and far-right
ideologies. “The German armed forces came overnight to seize
Austria. What did not come overnight was contempt for democracy, disregard for
basic human rights and freedoms, militarism, intolerance and violence. Austria
has a shared responsibility for the atrocities of National Socialism. Austrians
were not only victims but also perpetrators, oftentimes in leading positions,”
said van der Bellen.
Anschluss is translated
from German as reunification. An Armenian word miatsum has a similar
connotation used since 1988, half a century after the Anschluss, by Armenian
fascists to label their claims to Azerbaijani Karabakh.
There are many parallels
between the events of 1938 and 1988. Indeed, the Anschluss was a seemingly
bloodless event, and most Austrians welcomed the annexation of their country by
Germany, albeit unaware of the upcoming global consequences of this experience.
Same as in Karabakh, when the crowds yelling “mi-a-tsum!” did not realise the
cost they were going to pay because of their actions and that they were
actually pushing their people to war. But most importantly, in 1938, the world
community did not react to Hitler’s annexation of Austria as it should have
reacted. It did not foresee the readiness of Nazi Germany to destroy the
recognized borders behind the crowds who enthusiastically welcomed Reich
Chancellor Adolf Hitler, an Austrian by birth. Nor did it foresee the
territorial appetites of Hitler. Many researchers believe that if the world did
properly react to the Anschluss of Austria and prevent the Munich agreement, it
would be quite possible to avoid the Second World War.
There is no doubt that if
the actions of Armenian nationalists were properly evaluated in 1988 without
excessive complacency and if, after the collapse of the USSR, there would be a
clear signal that the world would not tolerate any forceful redrawing of
borders, I am sure that many of the existing acute political crises could be
avoided.
Yet another warning of
the Austrian President is more relevant than ever, that is the danger of
fascination with neo-fascist ideas.
Today hardly anyone seems
to believe in the urgency of reminders about the dangers of such ideas,
especially in countries where these ideas were taken for granted as a guide to
action. Surprisingly though, it is hard to realize that even today Nazi ideas
are being promoted to the rank of state policy. This is exactly what transpires
in neighbouring Armenia, which not only denies the “Anschluss-Miatsum”, but
also promotes the Nazi accomplice Garegin Nzhdeh, the deputy commander of the
Armenian Legion of the German armed forces and author of the racist theory of
Tseghakronism as “a father of the nation” and “a symbol of patriotism”.
This Hitlerite butcher
began his bloody career with ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in Zangezur,
later applying his rich experience in countless massacres of civilians
including the children, women, and old people, whose only fault was that they
belonged to a “wrong” nationality. The only difference was that in Zangezur the
people was killed for being Azerbaijanis, while in Crimea – for being Jews or
Karaites. A pompous monument has been erected in the centre of Yerevan for
Nzhdeh the Butcher, and his ideology, Tseghakronism – officially promoted in
Armenia as a state policy.
Yet Armenia is trying to
mislead the world community by resorting to tricks typical to conmen but not
the state authorities. The word tseghakron in Armenian means race. During his
stay in the United States, Nzhdeh created an organisation from young Armenians
that he would openly call tseghakron in Armenian, and racists in all other
languages. If, for instance, someone is speaking about a race in
anthropological sense of this word, tseghakron is normally translated into
other languages as race. But as soon as it comes to Nzhdeh and his ideology,
then the Armenians prefer using tseghakronism, a word of incomprehensible origin.
But all these interpretation tricks do not make Nzhdeh’s ideology any less
explicitly racist and fascist.
This cheap trick can
deceive only the naive people unfamiliar with the situation in Armenia, where
the fascist ideology of Nzhdeh is manifested in everything. The fascist tenet
of “purity of blood” has turned into a series of ethnic cleansing events in
Armenia. Being a hard-core fascist, Nzhdeh preached “the purity of Armenian
language” forbidding Armenians to communicate in other languages but Armenian.
In fact, education in any other language except Armenian is prohibited in
Armenia. There is a small number of Russian classes in high schools but they
are only for the children who have at least one non-ethnic Armenian parent.
An outrageous incident occurred
recently during the selection of participants for the Junior Eurovision Song
Contest started in Armenia. The head of the Armenian delegation at contest,
Gohar Gasparyan stated clearly: “All children of Armenian nationality of 9-14
years old can participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, regardless of the
place of residence. We are waiting for talented Armenian kids.” Then one named
Anush, answering a question if children of other nationalities can participate
in the selection, replied: “Actually, it is impossible according to the law.
Generally speaking, if a participant is from Armenia, he or she must be of
Armenian origin.” This is fascism in action, isn’t it?
In fact, the first
Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan was well aware of the danger of such
ideology. Tseghakronism, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, etc. were strictly banned during
his tenure. But then Ter-Petrosyan was overthrown as a result of the “creeping
coup” and fascists like Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan usurped the power.
In one of his interviews, Kocharyan, in the spirit of the fascist Nzhdeh, tried
to reason a “genetic incompatibility” between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In
his interview with Thomas de Waal, the incumbent president Sargsyan was
boasting of his complicity in the massacre of the peaceful population of
Khojaly: “Before Khojaly, Azerbaijanis thought that they could joke with us;
they thought that Armenians are incapable of laying hands on civilians. We
managed to break this (stereotype).” Needless to say that the irresponsible and
aggressive behaviour of Armenian authorities remains a serious threat to the
security of the entire region. But above all, this policy is dangerous for
Armenia itself, whose citizens are better not to forget the outcome of
fascination with the ideas of “racial superiority” and claims to the lands of
neighbouring countries for Germany. Although, given the current statistics of
emigration from Armenia, I believe that many of its citizens understand the
implications of the dangerous game played by official Armenian authorities.
Furthermore, one can see a manifest of the fascist
ideology on the symbol of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), which
is very similar to the symbolism of the Third Reich. The RPA logo depicts an
eagle with stretched wings almost exactly repeating the coat of arms of Nazi
Germany; even the head of an eagle looks at its left wing. It is not a shame to
use an eagle as a symbol of party and country. But both symbols (RPA and Third
Reich) match entirely, and such things cannot be accidental.
Today, one can find an image of a steel eagle neither
in Germany, nor in Austria, let alone in any other country of the world. But in
Armenia the authorities revived the eagle, which is flaunting not only on the
emblem but also at all party congresses, like years ago at party congresses of
the Third Reich. Armenian authorities have surpassed even the Fuhrer in his
effort to spread the ideology of fascism. If Hitler dreamed of creating a
mono-ethnic state in the Third Reich, destroying the most beautiful cities of
Europe including Paris, Krakow, Prague, and Warsaw and changing ethnic
identities of people living therein, none of his efforts were fruitful. It is
hard to believe but the current leaders of Armenian nation have managed to do
this, thanks to the complete negligence of the world community. As a result,
Armenia is a mono-ethnic state, where no Azerbaijanis are living; the entire
Azerbaijani architecture previously populating the historical centre of Yerevan
and also the whole territory of Armenia has been destroyed; and absolutely all
Azerbaijani toponyms and hydronyms have been changed to Armenian ones.
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