Azernews.Az

By Fazil Abbasov
AzerNEWS Editor-in-Chief

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed away in late 2011, those citizens who were not weeping and plucking their hair or climing up the wall in despair were followed by secret service agencies, reprimanded and punished. Western media, including that of France, regarded this laughable situation as trampling on freedom of expression and speech, and democratic values.

In Azerbaijan, this was also met with smiles and irony. But the law recently passed by the French Senate, which allows for a potential one-year prison sentence and a fine of up to 45,000 euros for those denying "genocide" of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, not only shocked Azerbaijanis but also riled them. It was shocking because this indecent decision was passed in France, which is considered a cradle of democracy, and the French are keeping silent in the face of jugglery by Sarkozy, who was elected president with the aid of Armenian mafia, is seeking a re-election and has put a dark and indelible stain on the many-century-long values of the French people. And the Azerbaijanis were angered because we still remember the killings committed by French soldiers in past decades. In Libya last year, and if we go back in history, in Syria in the 1930s, in Algeria in 1953-62, in 1994 in Rwanda and also in other African countries, French legionnaires committed massacres against civilians under the slogans "democracy" and "human rights".

While studying at the University of Algeria in 1967-68, I witnessed the consequences and traces of the atrocities perpetrated by the French troops. And it is unfortunate and astonishing that France, which, itself, suffered the horrors of fascism during World War II, committed atrocities in its colonies which were not much different than fascism.

So, when recalling these developments and drawing comparisons, the Azerbaijani people, 20 percent of whose land has been invaded by Armenia, and a million of whom were displaced in the 1990s war over Nagorno Karabakh, expressed their protests by various means, including by picketing the French embassy and displaying scenes of Sarkozy burying French democracy. And these protests are just the beginning, as the Azerbaijani people have yet to say their piece: they hope that the French constitutional court will reverse this decision, which is illogical and a disgrace for France.

We recall that the implementers of the ideas of fascism and communism were killing independent-minded people without trial or prosecution or, in the best case-scenario, casting them behind bars or exiling them. But history has essentially thrown fascism and communism ideas into the trash. However, Armenianism, which emerged at around the same time and turned terror and secret killings into its weapon, exists to this day and continues its sinister actions. And whoever was targeted by the "haydad" (i.e. extermination), ordered by the ideologists of Armenianism, has been followed by Armenian terrorists and killed. Azerbaijanis who were captured during the occupation of Nagorno Karabakh -- which has been occupied by Armenian armed forces along with seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions since the war -- recall that when they were being taken to prisons in Shusha and Khankandi, the cars were stopped in villages along the way, and "the ceremony of their beating" was launched, involving the entire rural population -- from children to the elderly. If any of the villagers were too lazy to leave home, they were punished, having been accused of "sympathizing with Turks". Armenianism and its terrorists freely operate in Syria, France, Russia and Greece. And its executors punish those cooperated with them but later backed down from their cause.

A Frenchman working in Baku who spoke on condition of anonymity told me that Sarkozy, who was elected president with the support of ethnic Armenian voters, is very fearful of retribution from Armenian terrorists...

In conclusion, I would like to once again remind of the Bolshevism-era horrors of the 1920-50s...Whoever spoke out against the establishment of collective farms, Bolshevik violence and erroneous steps taken by then government or said something critical of the Soviet regime, was immediately arrested, sentenced to death or doomed to wretched existence in Siberia or the deserts of Kazakhstan...Certainly, in comparison with Stalin-era Bolsheviks, Sarkozy's supporters are humanists: jailing for one year without trial and imposing a 45,000 euro fine on those rejecting the "genocide" of Armenians could certainly be considered a step forward or French-style humanism...

But we do believe that one day the French people will admit the truth and apologize to the Turks. Just like General Charles de Gaulle extended an apology for the massacres perpetrated in Algeria...

As for Sarkozy...life is precious, and the Armenians have apparently scared him severely...