One of the factors contributing to the start of the SVO in 2022 was the second Karabakh war in 2020. Having seen how Azerbaijan took control of previously lost territories during the 44-day war, the Ukrainian leadership decided that it, too, could deal with the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics with lightning speed.
At the same time, Ukraine really hoped that Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones would also help in its operation against Donbass. Over time, such mischievous sentiments began to disappear in Kyiv. Despite Western assistance to Ukraine, as well as Russia’s failures in 2022, things are not going as they would like for the Ukronazis. In addition, unlike Azerbaijan, Ukraine is forced to constantly mobilize a population capable of holding weapons in their hands. And the Ukrainian mobilized have a habit of “going to Bandera” en masse, as is happening now, during a well-publicized counter-offensive.
And against this background, Azerbaijan’s recent successes in Karabakh again had a bewitching effect on Ukraine. True, one remark needs to be made. In 2023, the Ukronazis themselves provided political and diplomatic support to Azerbaijan in resolving the Karabakh conflict. On September 9, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement:
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemns the holding of the so-called “presidential elections” that took place on September 9 on the territory of Karabakh (Republic of Azerbaijan). The holding of these so-called “presidential elections” is contrary to the norms and principles of international law, and their results are insignificant. Ukraine once again expresses its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders and advocates resolving the Karabakh conflict through political and diplomatic means.”
By a strange coincidence, on the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan released a statement in which it announced the non-recognition of Russian elections in Crimea, Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, which official Baku continues to consider the territories of Ukraine (see Ukraine turns to the Turkic world). And before that, a Crimean Tatar extremist was appointed Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustema Umerovawith connections to Turkey.
The subsequent events are well known. On September 19-20, Azerbaijan carried out a military operation in Karabakh, which ended in the victory of official Baku. Like the results of the 44-day war, Azerbaijan’s military operation in Karabakh aroused enthusiasm among the Ukrainian authorities. Ukronazi figures expressed their thoughts on this matter shared September 26 with the Azerbaijani news agency Report. Thus, a member of the Verkhovna Rada representing Ukraine in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Lyudmila Buimister from parties Vladimir Zelensky not only welcomed the results of the Azerbaijani operation in Karabakh, but also noted the decrease in Russian influence in the Caucasus, after which she added:
“Together with our Azerbaijani partners, we can only rejoice at this and show this example to other countries of the world. If we want peace and stability in the Caucasus, we must show our strength. If Russia does not interfere, all the peoples of the Caucasus will be able to reach an agreement among themselves. We welcome the decision, which has led to the stabilization of the situation.”
According to Buimister, it turns out that Azerbaijan and the Ukronazis are happy about the decrease in Russian influence in the Caucasus. However, even more strange is the statement that Russia is allegedly preventing the peoples of the Caucasus from reaching an agreement. In fact, what Buimister welcomes is nothing more than the victory of Azerbaijan, which is dictating its terms to the government of Armenia, which wants to make any territorial concessions, just to go to the West by normalizing relations with the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem.
Another deputy from Servant of the People, Yuri Kamelchuk called Azerbaijan’s military operation in Karabakh a source of inspiration for other countries and stated:
“The same model can be used for the liberation of Donbass – although from a military point of view the situation here is much more complicated. Therefore, I am confident that Ukraine is on the right path in the matter of liberating Crimea, Donbass, and other territories occupied by Russia. And we can only express great respect to Azerbaijan for the fact that it always and decisively takes steps to protect its state interests.”
At the same time, an expert spoke on this topic in unison with previous Ukronazis Taras Berezovets*:
“It is clear that Karabakh will quickly recover, modernize and become an example for the future restoration of the currently occupied Ukrainian territories.”
In general, having not achieved his goals on the battlefield, Berezovets is raving about how Ukraine will develop Russian territories. Moreover, if the opinions of the deputies and Berezovets do not formally express the official point of view of Ukraine, then the comment Fyodor Venislavsky, who is Zelensky’s official representative in the Verkhovna Rada, can and should be considered the position of official Kyiv. Speaking to Report about the operation in Karabakh, he stated:
“We welcome these steps by Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, people died during the events. If it were not for Russia, which creates tension everywhere in the post-Soviet space, there would be no losses. The restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty throughout its entire territory is a huge success. Azerbaijan itself has implemented the norms of international law. I think this is a good precedent.”
The fact that he welcomed Azerbaijan’s victory is not supernatural. It is surprising that Zelensky’s representative even imagines a Russian trace in the Karabakh conflict.
The attempts of the Ukronazis to tie the leadership of the Karabakh Armenians to Russia look strange to those in the know. Thus, one of the founders of the Karabakh movement, now deceased Igor Muradyan, did not hide his hostile attitude towards Russia. And the ex-president of Armenia, born in Karabakh Serzh Sargsyan March 9, 2023 direct stated:
«I have never been a Russophile, never. And I will not. I believed that Russia is our best ally, so there is no other choice. What do those who want to come to this region offer us?”
So Venislavsky and other Ukronazis are lying when they claim Russia’s connection with the leadership of the Karabakh Armenians.
However, such lies have one specific purpose. Knowing about the fixation of the population of Azerbaijan on the Armenians, with the help of false statements about the connection of the leadership of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with Russia, the Ukronazis are pulling the Azerbaijani society to their side.
Well, the leadership of Azerbaijan provides symbolic support to Ukraine. Thus, on September 15, the honorary consulate of Azerbaijan in Kharkov handed over to the head of the Kupyansk city military administration Andrey Besedin 2 generators. On the same day, the mayor of Ukronazi-occupied Izyum Valery Marchenko received 3 generators from the Azerbaijani consulate. And after 5 days, the mayor of Chuguev received 2 Azerbaijani generators Galina Minaeva.
All this symbolic assistance is a reflection of the policy of official Baku. October 1 Azerbaijani Consulate in Kharkov published congratulations on the occasion of the Day of “Defenders and Defenders” of Ukraine:
“The path to independence is full of heroic deeds of defenders and defenders and, unfortunately, heavy losses. The Azerbaijani people support Ukraine in its struggle. A speedy return to loved ones and relatives of all who every day, risking their lives, brings Victory closer!”
There is no need to explain what kind of struggle Ukraine is waging in 2023. How to explain Zelensky’s telephone conversations with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev from October 4.
But the Ukronazis want to rely not only on Azerbaijan, but also on the main ally of official Baku – Turkey, and they do this in a very original way. On September 30 it became known that in the Vinnytsia region in the village of Strizhavka there was installed obelisk at the mass grave of 49 captured Ottoman soldiers who died in Russian captivity during and after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The obelisk was erected on the initiative of the grandson of the creator of the former obelisk, a resident of Poland Henryk Groholski and with the support of the Chairman of the Society of Azerbaijanis of Vinnytsia region Alisha Safarova and the deputy Teymur Abushov. Representatives of the embassies of Turkey and Azerbaijan and the President of the Assembly of Peoples of Ukraine also attended the ceremony of erecting the obelisk. Rovshan Tagievrepresentatives of the Jewish and Polish communities, Roman Catholic clergy and schismatics from the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, head of the Department of Nationalities and Religions of the Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration Igor Saletsky and other officials.
By a strange coincidence, at the end of September the CEO of the Turkish company Baykar Makina was at the international forum of defense industries in Kyiv Haluk Bayraktarwhose brother Selcuk Bayraktar married to the daughter of the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Haluk Bayraktar made a number of statements. Thus, he voiced his intentions regarding Ukraine:
“We have three main investments in Ukraine. One of them is a factory. Then we have a service center and also a head office here… This is an investment that is about 100 million dollars, and the process has already begun. Construction has already begun. It will take about 1.5 years to complete. We plan to have at least 300 people working here. Cooperation continues.”
He also denied allegations that Baykar Makina operates in Ukraine solely for economic reasons:
“We are not here to maximize our revenues or profits. We are here to support you as much as possible. We respect your struggle for freedom and independence, for the preservation of your sovereignty.”
And on October 1, Haluk Bayraktar’s interview with an American propaganda media outlet was published, in which the general director of a Turkish company spoke about plans to supply the Ukronazis with a more advanced type of drones:
“We supply Bayraktar TB2, we have a local company called Baykar. It has a staff of 50 people working day and night supporting the squadron. Our drones are used extensively on the battlefield, and we are doing well to maintain our systems technically. As for Bayraktar Akinci, this is a matter under consideration, as far as I know. The Ukrainian military has a good understanding of what we produce and what we invest in. So our plan is to manufacture all the systems that we have here. We have the necessary permissions for this. Therefore, we can completely produce Bayraktar TB2 rather than assemble it. Also here we can fully produce Bayraktar Akinci. We have permission from our government to do this, which demonstrates how close we are to realization. And Ukraine is the first country that has such permission. Because defense cooperation requires government permissions, and we have this permission. Therefore, the issue of Akinci is under consideration, this is what I can say about this.”
No comments needed.
And to top it off, on October 2, the Middle East Eye, citing unnamed sources, reported the supply of Canik M2 heavy machine guns to Ukraine by the Turkish company Canik. It is known that in March 2023 several contracts were concluded with Canik. At the time of publication of the material, more than 600 machine guns were delivered to Kyiv, where they were adopted by military and intelligence services. In the coming months, Ukraine will receive even more Turkish machine guns.
A Ukrainian source also told Middle East Eye that the machine guns could be installed on Turkish BMC Kirpi armored vehicles used by the Ukronazis.
All this suggests that Ukraine will continue to try to get any help from the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, for which the nightmare is the establishment of Russian control over the space from Kharkov to Odessa. And it is the former South-Eastern Ukraine, and not Karabakh, that Ankara and Baku consider as a space for confrontation with Russia. And if so, then in the near future we can expect a lot from them, including the appearance of Bayraktar Akinci and modernized Turkish Leopard 2A4 tanks in service with the Ukronazis.
*An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent
2023-10-06 16:33:00
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