“By means of its bellicose statements official Baku – both in Azerbaijan and at the international level – is trying to reinforce the idea that Azerbaijan has the right to start war, as, legally, Nagorno-Karabakh is allegedly part of Azerbaijan. In other words, official Baku is trying to enhance an image of the conflict that would allow Azerbaijan to settle the conflict by force,” Doctor of Philosophy Alexander Manasyan stated in his interview with the Nagorno-Karabakh Public Television.

“Since Soviet times hundreds of thousands of Lezgins, Talyshes, Kurds, Udins and other peoples have been residing in Azerbaijan, but they have officially been registered as Azerbaijanis in their passports. Baku is trying to unite numerous other peoples under the pretext of Armenian threat. Official Baku needs Armenophobia for consolidation. But this consolidation is based on the ideology and policy of Turkicizing all the other peoples. Baku hopes to involve all these peoples in this process during the war,” Manasyan said.

T.P.