Baku’s new tantrum: Gul’s congratulation on Sargsyan reelection

PanARMENIAN.Net - Almost every Azeri MP made a point of commenting on the fact, accusing “fraternal” Ankara of congratulating a sworn enemy. Baku, however, missed a point: Turkey has never been “fraternal” to Azerbaijan, putting its own strategic interests first.Let’s see what Baku has to say on the issue. We, however, warn that all of the “commentators” are, true to President Aliyev’s behest, openly declare their hatred towards Armenians worldwide who threaten the well-being of Azeris.

According to Azeri MP Zahid Oruc, Turkish President merely meant to extend a civilized gesture. “If Armenia’s presidential candidates based their electoral programs on Ararat ideals, then how can the winner of this race and criminal elections be congratulated? We won’t have to wait long before the president starts fulfilling his pledge of territorial claims to Turkey,” Oruc said.

A notorious ex-state adviser for foreign affairs, who was once sacked by Heydar Aliyev, political expert Vafa Guluzade slammed Gul’s congratulation as insulting to Turkey. In reality, Baku considers the fact to insult Azerbaijan, which Ankara chose to dismiss.

“It’s clear Sargsyan has falsified the polls, thus proving himself an enemy of the democratically-oriented population of Armenia. Does it mean that Gul’s congratulation is supporting dictatorship in Armenia?” he questions.

Let’s not mention the demands of international community for Baku to stop persecution of dissidents, and the fact that Azerbaijan is mainly referred to as “Aliyev’s Sultanate” these days. It’s easy to imagine what the October elections in Azerbaijan will be like.

Said an MP Fazil Aghamali: “the step won’t help Turkey to gain positive change in the eyes of the international community. We wouldn’t wish for Gul’s congratulation to negatively affect Baku-Ankara ties, seeing as they’ve been challenged enough during the signing of Zurich Protocols. Tensions between out counties aren’t in the interests of either Turkey or Azerbaijan.”

MP Mubariz Gurbanli: “those who hurry to congratulate Sargyan are aiming to cover up his illegal reelection. We’re sorry that Turkish president joined in their ranks. However, the congratulatory message won’t change Turkey’s attitude to Armenia in any respect.”

Poor Abdullah Gul. It won’t be long before he gets to be accused of bad upbringing. We, however, believe Ankara couldn’t care less about Baku’s tantrums. The interesting thing is, in the background information that follows the report on Gul’s congratulation, Hurriyet Daily News used the phrase ‘a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh’ rather than ‘occupation and millions of refugees’, in a usual Azeri vein. And same did the Anadolu News Agency.