By Ivan Gharibyan

The October 20 plenary session of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis turned into a platform for political elite’s new wails at the Armenian-Turkish Protocols. During the very first hours, representatives of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party led by President Ilham Aliyev made statements. Using the same old stock phrases about the firm Azerbaijani-Turkish friendship, the speakers continued their political blackmail on the “big brother.”

The most “substantial” speech was delivered by Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Askerov, who, after expressing his resentment at Turkey’s “insulting the Azerbaijani flag,” made a “slight shift” to criticizing the OSCE Minsk Group for being passive in the process of “getting the occupied territories vacated.” “The great powers’ double standards in getting Azerbaijan’s occupied territories vacated are taking an infamous form. If the international norms are nothing, let them say it,” Askerov said. The greatest resentment over the latest developments is that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were signed in the presence o U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs were involved. Mr. Askerov’s discontent with the international mediators’ latest statement refuting any link between the Armenia-Turkey normalization and Nagorno-Karabakh peace process “betrayed” once again the actual reasons for official Baku’s concern.

Although with reluctance, the Azerbaijani authorities have come to realize the only optimal option selected by the international mediators: following the principle of territorial integrity in the case of a number of Azerbaijani regions, which currently form a security zone round about the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), and that of nations’ rights to self-determination by determining Nagorno-Karabakh’s status through a referendum.

It is realizing this fundamental principle — the world geopolitical players are following with the obvious intention to act through Turkey’s mediation — that has recently made the Azerbaijani leaders suffer from fits of hysteria. This hysteria is what is “taking an infamous form” mentioned by Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Askerov, who referred to the OSCE MG Co-Chairs’ activities.

One more piece of evidence of the deepening rift between the Azerbaijani and Turkish peoples is the latest statements made by the second Vice-Speaker of the Azeri Parliament Bakhar Muradova. “As regards the national flags of Turkey and other states, the Law on the National Flag of Azerbaijan was applied — without any malicious intent,” she said at the plenary meeting, commenting on the removal of the Turkish flags from the “Shahid lane” in Baku. Thus, with her own mouth, a high-ranking official in Azerbaijan’s political hierarchy confirmed that the incident was not a mere coincidence. Her further statements about the absence of any anti-Turkish propaganda in Azerbaijan, despite her own admission of “Azerbaijan’s sharp response to the Armenian-Turkish Protocols,” proved to be striking evidence of disagreements between the Armenian and Turkish leaders, which are getting sharper and sharper.

Of course, one can hardly speak of an inevitable “global” conflict between Ankara and Baku. The Azerbaijani authorities, which are “going through pain” because of the present geopolitical changes in the region, cannot do anything. In any case Turkey remains Azerbaijan’s most reliable and closest ally. It is just high time for Azerbaijan to realize that Turkey cannot fuss over Azerbaijan to the detriment of its own interests. And if Turkey’s interests are in harmony with great powers’ position now, Azerbaijan has to do nothing but revise its uncompromising policy – or else it will become a rogue state.