There is a long-established characteristic among a significant portion of the socio-political activists in our country: when there are elections in neighboring countries or great powers, they engage in lengthy discussions, analyses, and take sides.
As a rule, the essence of this partisanship is as follows: how beneficial is the process for Azerbaijan?; if a certain force comes to power, it will be good for us, if its opponent comes, it will be bad for us, and so on.
This is also a manifestation of patriotism. The same exists in other countries as well. Everyone considers the interests of their own country.
That is why, in 2018, when Nikol Pashinyan was about to come to power amid the street movement in Armenia, many of our socio-political activists wanted him to defeat the Sarkisyan-Kocharyan duo and supported him.
At that time, some people said to those holding this position that whether it was Sarkisyan or Pashinyan, both were Armenian and whichever came would work for the interests of their own country.
The response was: “Sarkisyan and Kocharyan are war criminals who commanded in the Karabakh war. They will never return even a meter of land to Azerbaijan. If they do, they will become ‘leaders who lost the victory won on the battlefield at the diplomatic table.’ A new person must come to power so that it is possible to reach an understanding with them.”
Time showed that the departure of the Kocharyan-Sarkisyan tandem from power meant a green light for solving the Karabakh conflict by military-political-diplomatic means. If that duo had stayed in power, it would have been difficult. Because they would not have left Russia's embrace, and when we made moves to obtain our rightful territory, we would have faced Russian generals and soldiers, ministers and deputies, diplomats and intelligence officers in all trenches opposite us.
Currently, in the election process ongoing in Armenia, we see how Pashinyan's opponents are using the Russia card and promising the people, thanks to the Kremlin, that they will return Karabakh.
Our patriots, however, remain against them and wish for the continuation of Pashinyan’s rule to establish lasting peace in the Caucasus.
It is no secret that the majority of the patriotic segment of our country supports the second party in the Russia-Ukraine war. There is a serious reason for this. They think that if Russia takes control of Ukraine, it will further stimulate its appetite for the former Soviet republics and provoke various political-military interventions under different pretexts. After all, the fact that these republics have existed as independent states for 35 years does not prevent the Kremlin from still considering them its “backyard,” and Russian socio-political figures sit and talk about restoring the borders of the “mighty state” (USSR).
Therefore, our socio-political activists want Russia to emerge from this war battered so that the post-Soviet countries finally see the day.
There are many who also view the war between the USA-Israel duo and Iran through the prism of national interests.
Since our state regained independence, the Iranian ruling circles have looked down on the young republic, formed a large spy network and affinity groups within it, used the religion-sect factor to create tensions, and provided assistance to the enemy of our nation's blood and honor, bringing the situation to the point where the majority of our socio-political activists want the change of the Nazi-based clerical regime in the neighboring country and desire Iran to become a secular and moderate state.
It is believed that if power in Iran passes into the hands of normal political forces, this state will end its aggressive attitude towards neighbors, deal with its own problems, and neighboring countries will breathe freely.
The real reasons why our socio-political activists who support Ukraine, which has been subjected to military aggression, do not support Iran, which has faced even worse military intervention, are national interests. The victory of the former and the defeat of the latter are vital for the welfare of our country and state. There are no personal, mercantile, or corporate interests here; the main thought is to restrain the aggressors who pose a threat to us.
Then there are others. They want Russia to win the war against Ukraine and occupy it, and at the same time wish for the humiliating defeat of the USA and Israel in Iran. In fact, they do not only wish this; they actively propagate and try to form public opinion.
So what is their motive, and with what mindset do they hold such a position?
It turns out that concepts like state interests, independence, and sovereignty mean nothing to these people. Today it is clear to everyone who is mature and reasonably educated that both Russia and Iran are not only former empires that once divided our country in two but also the main obstacles to the unity and independent existence of this people. Knowing this and still siding with them means not standing with one's own people.
The most instructive thing is that those who see Russia as “right” in its war and those who support the current Iranian regime are roughly the same individuals. This indicates that, to put it mildly, they do not prioritize national interests.
Khalid KAZIMLI