HAND IN HAND AGAINST ARMENIA
Armen Tsatouryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 5 2007

Recently the Azerbaijani propaganda has, by a wave of some "magic
wand", changed the preferences it had on the Armenian political
arena for around 10 years. Now the Azerbaijani Web sites, especially
"Day-Az", unanimously insist that instead of the victory of their
former idol, they favor the victory of Serge Sargsyan, their sworn
enemy.

Why have the outstanding representatives of the Azerbaijani
propaganda, i.e. Akper Hasanov, Ledani Guliev and the others have
within a few days diametrically changed their belief according to
which Levon-Ter-Petrosyan is the only person among the Armenian
politicians who is capable of making serious concessions with regard
to the Karabakh issue.

To answer this question, it is first of all necessary to pay attention
to the following fact.

Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s September 21 speech for a moment aroused an
obvious euphoria in Azerbaijan. But those singing praises to our
ex-President from Baku quickly realized that their words were first
of all addressed to the rivals.

It was quite natural and logical that after Ter-Petrosyan’s return
to active politics, the Azerbaijani propaganda, which had sung his
praises for around 10 years, would change its targets and direct its
blows towards the rival’s side. Because, if the former approach had
been preserved, Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s rivals would have made sure once
again that this person is trying to return to the post of President in
order to realize his well-known defeatist program adopted in 1997-1998
with regard to the Karabakh Issue.

It is quite conceivable that the "propaganda-based solutions" deriving
from the interests of one’s own country currently demand that people
like Eldanizguliev present Ter-Petrosyan as a clever and a much more
dangerous activist for Azerbaijan than Serge Sargsyan whom they hate
so much.

The following question comes up: what does our country’s national
interest demand in that case? The answer is clear and obvious: to find
out the causes of such a sudden transformation of the Azeri people’s
views and not to be misled by the change of their preferences.

Whereas the majority of the media supporting the Armenian pan-National
Movement are currently engaged in disseminating this kind of primitive
provocation elaborated by the Azerbaijani propaganda, and they are
trying to convince their readers that Azerbaijan is anxious rather
than happy by the prospect of Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s return.

What makes those media engage themselves in disseminating Azerbaijan’s
"propaganda-based provocations"? Is it the lack of elementary knowledge
or the coincidence of interests with the Turks?

If this kind of approach results from ignorance or naivety, let them
at least remember the well-known proverb saying "Never confide in an
ass". And if they consciously commit themselves to disseminating the
Azerbaijani "target change" operation in Armenia, there is already
a certain role-casting between the Azerbaijani "Day-Az" and some of
our newspapers.

That is, on the one hand the Azerbaijani media are currently
presenting Levon Ter-Petrosyan as a dangerous and cruel rival, a real
"Armenian extremist" under whose rule the Armenians occupied Shushi and
performed the military operations of Khodjalu, and on the other hand,
by presenting to the reader the publications of "Day Az" and other
Web sites, the media supporting the Armenian pan-National Movement
are trying to convince us that it is by all means necessary to ensure
Mr. Petrosyan’s victory in the upcoming presidential elections in
order to give Azerbaijan a good lesson.

When the Armenian media engage themselves in disseminating Azerbaijan’s
primitive sabotage, it only remains to draw a conclusion that the
obvious role-castings between the "parties" are simply a manifestation
of a propaganda war against the "common rival"; they rather present
dangerous political provocations.