American journalist Lindsey Snell and cameraman-director Corey Pope prepared a large-scale documentary report about the war in Artsakh, ethnic cleansing and current aspirations of Azerbaijan. As mentioned, first Azerbaijan started a war, then carried out ethnic cleansing in the entire region. And now, Azerbaijan claims that all of Armenia is “Western Azerbaijan”.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has a long and complicated history.
In 2020, with the support of Turkey and billions of dollars of Israeli weapons, Azerbaijan started a war against Artsakh and Armenia. “I was in Artsakh and covered the war, witnessing extreme destruction. The war lasted 44 days. In the end, Azerbaijan gained control over a significant part of Artsakh. After that, Azerbaijan carried out numerous attacks on the Armenian territory, violating the ceasefire regime and blaming Armenia again,” Snell said.
Azerbaijan opened an alley” and filled it with racist statues of Armenian soldiers, which is not just a show of strength, but an open act of humiliation and destabilization. And the worst thing about it is that Azerbaijani schoolchildren go on an excursion to that alley, and thus seeds of hatred is sown among them.
During the ceasefire violations, Azerbaijan committed terrible military crimes. And then, from December 2022, he blockaded the Lachin corridor, closing the only road connecting it with Armenia and depriving the 120,000 Armenians living there of access to food, medicine and basic services.
Despite many international calls to end the blockade, Azerbaijan has not done so. It all ended in September 2023, when Azerbaijan launched a new military attack on Artsakh, subjecting almost the entire Armenian population to ethnic cleansing. Despite starting the war, numerous attacks and invasions, blockade and ethnic cleansing of the entire region, Azerbaijan did not suffer international consequences; no sanctions were applied. Moreover, after the start of the war in Ukraine, the EU signed new gas deals with Azerbaijan, calling it its reliable energy partner.
COP29, the U.N. climate conference, will take place in Azerbaijan. “This pattern of global indifference to Azerbaijan’s bad actions makes the rhetoric about ‘Western Azerbaijan’ particularly worrying,” the journalist said.
Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions and demand towards Armenia make this campaign a serious threat, potentially creating a basis for future conflict. The recent past shows that Armenia cannot depend on other countries.
From the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh to making more and more bold demands on the Armenian territory is a regularity. This is not just about land or resources. It is about erasing the people, their culture and history. That is why it is necessary to take their seemingly ridiculous propaganda seriously, as in the hands of an aggressive, rogue state, even the strangest demands can become pretexts for very real and dangerous actions.
