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Aug 18, 2011

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ARTSAKH ,NAKHIHCHEVAN ,JAVAGHK ,EAST TURKEY THE ARMENIAN HIGHLANDS OF HISTORICAL ARMENIA

Armenia

A LIFE TIME DEFENDER OF ARMENIA AND THE ARMENIAN NATION

ALL THE FREEDOM AND JUSTICE LOVING PEOPLE

ACADEMY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVALS

LIBERATE OCCUPIED ARMENIAN LANDS

First, religion plays an important role in the region. The politics of the region is difficult to describe because they are complicated. I will try my best. I have shortly lived in the Middle-East. I have been in Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Europe, and America, therefore, I will be objective. The heart of the conflict is connected to the 500 years of brutal treatment of the Christian minorities under the Ottoman Empire ending with the Armenian Genocide. Clearly, this is not a war between Christianity and Islam, but it is necessary to understand that the dividing line between Armenian and Non-Armenian in the region is also, at the heart, a religious difference. With regards to Iran, Armenians have a strange relationship with Iranians. Today, Armenians in Iran do not and have not intermingled with Non-Armenians in Iran, ever. You will never find a Muslim Armenian and it is very taboo. This in general is the culture in the region for both Iranians and Armenians. I would say almost all the ethnic groups tend to marry within themselves. Very rarely does anyone marry outside their ethnic group and even then, most of the time, they stay within their religion. For Armenians, this is partially due to the historical antecedents of the region and how Armenians came to be in Iran. They were wealthy merchants, artisans, and craftsmen that were forced by the Shah of Iran in the 16th century to move into Iran. The Shah destroyed the their villages and moved the Armenians into new villages and towns that he had built for them.

It is crucial to understand this point when understanding the dynamics of the relationship between Armenians and Iranians. It took many centuries before Armenians had rights under the ruling Iranian government and even under the Pahlavi government of the 20th century Iran, it was not uncommon for Armenians to confront prejudices against them by Muslim Iranians. Going back even farter in history, Armenians even a fought a war against Persians. It was the first recorded war between Christians and Non-Christians. However, with that being said, Armenians and Iranians share a cultural link that go back to the antiquity, prior to the birth of both Christianity and Islam. They share many pagan religious beliefs that you will find today in both Armenia and Iran. There are also many instances that an extreme bond of friendship has developed. Armenians have contributed to the nation building process of Iran. Yeprem Khan, in fact, was an Armenian that was instrumental to the Iranian Constitutional movement and the many contributions of Armenians to the development of the Iranian nation is immense. Likewise, during the Armenian-Azeri war, the Islamic Republic of Iran supported, the very Christian, Armenia. "Christian" Europeans and "Christian" Americans, essentially, turned a blind eye to the atrocities (pogroms) against Armenians in Azerbaijani when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) collapsed. Furthermore, they hedged there bets against Armenia. Israel also supported Azerbaijan via weapon sales. It was not unusual to find Western made arms and military support gear funneled through Israel. Again, you have to all understand. The war between Armenian and Azerbaijan could have been largely avoided if Western governments had acted responsibly after World War I instead of turning their back on the region. The war is a remnant of the struggle of Armenians for self-determination against Turkish oppression. At the heart, again, is the Armenian Genocide and the lack of Western powers to properly punish the Turks. The same individuals that formed the Turkish Republic were part of the same ruling elite during the Ottoman Empire and the, short-lived, Young Turk Government lead by Jamal, Talat, and Envir Pasha.

The actual semantics of what triggered the war between Armenians and Azerbaijan is also, largely, overlooked by the West because it is not in their interests. Essentially, Stallin gave parts of Armenian enclaves that were historically Armenian to Georgia and Azerbaijan. There were three such regions and I am ignoring details for the sake of scoop. The only enclave that was not depopulated of Armenians was Nagorno-Karabagh, which in Armenian is actually called Artsakh. Go forward 100 years and the USSR is about the collapse. The Azerbaijani ruling government at that time wanted to forcibly remove Armenians in Artsakh because when Stallin had signed the agreement he had written with in it a clause that would give land over based on the population demographics at that time. Since Artsakh was primarily Armenian, they wanted to influence the demographics via pogroms and genocide. Armenians, remembering the Armenian Genocide and what they had given up to the same Turkish ancestors of Azerbaijan, resisted and an arm struggle was waged. It is interested to note that there are a few themes that many in the West try to push forward which is not true and never has been documented. First, the war between Armenians and Azeris was primarily fought between Armenians living in Artsakh and the Azeri Government. At no time was the Republic of Armenia involved directly in the conflict. You have to understand, everyone was better on Azerbaijan because they knew there was a chance to develop the oil industry in the favor of the West. Russians primarily stayed out of the conflict until they were certain of a winner, which turned out to the Armenians. Interestingly, this idea of Christian against Muslim was also used by Azerbaijan, in fact, Al-Qaida terrorist, Chechens, Afghani fighters, and Pakistani soldiers were brought over to fight against Armenians. There is well documented evidence collected that many of these groups initial were coerced into fighting a holy war, but eventually, these groups also realized that it was not a war between nations nor religions, but a war for self-determination of the Armenians. That is primarily why Muslim do not support Azerbaijan.