Biden's "genocide" remark generates anti-Azerbaijan, anti-Turkey hysteria among Armenians
By Vafa Ismayilova
US President Joe Biden’s decision to label the events of 1915 in the Ottoman era as “genocide” stirred up the anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani hysteria among the Armenian nationalists globally. Some experts believe that by this step, Biden allowed radical Armenian nationalists to express their ferocious hatred of Turkey and Azerbaijan.
New wave of violence
A protest by radical and revanchist Armenian nationalists in Los Angeles, the "capital" of the Armenian diaspora in the U.S, calling for ethnic violence against the Azerbaijanis on April 24 is considered to be the essence of Armenian nationalism, which broke through with all its might after Biden's short-sighted step.
A new wave of violence against the Turks was registered in Europe as well. Armenians attacked a Turkish family in France on April 24. As a result, three of the four injured were hospitalized, one had a crack on his head. One of the injured underwent surgery.
The aforesaid developments in Los Angeles and France are believed to be just the beginning of the anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani hysteria.
Head of the Public Relations Department of Turkey’s Presidential Administration Fahrettin Altun said that Turkey is concerned over an escalation caused by Armenian extremists in the U.S, encouraged by distortions of history.
"Distorting history further encourages Armenian extremists, who threaten violence against Azerbaijanis in the U.S. We are concerned about this escalation, stand with Azerbaijan against threats and urge the [US] authorities to act," Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter.
U.S. "support" for Armenians
Earlier Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva said that impunity is behind the Armenian hate crimes against Azerbaijanis in the U.S.
"We can see another manifestation of hate crimes of radical Armenians in Los Angeles apparently because of impunity. Our serious concerns on this issue will once again be conveyed to the US embassy in our country," she said.
Abdullayeva described the incident as fairly serious.
"As you know, this is not the first time that we have faced such hateful, even criminal actions of radical Armenian groups. I would like to remind you that in July last year, hundreds of radical Armenian Dashnaks brutally attacked and injured a small number of Azerbaijanis in front of the Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles," Abdullayeva stressed.
The spokesperson said that the Los Angeles Police Department had launched an investigation into a hate crime in connection with the violence against the Azerbaijanis in 2020.
Although two people involved in the violence had been detained, the search for the other two individuals who were particularly active in the process is still ongoing, she added.
"It is very regretting and surprising that the main suspects in the crime of extremism have not been found and brought to justice although about 10 months passed since the incident. We have officially expressed our dissatisfaction to the opposite side over this," she added.
Israeli political scientist Mikhail Finkel said that Biden's steps untie the hands of insane Armenian nationalists, whose behavior immediately exceeded all the bounds of decency in the U.S, as evidenced by the action in Los Angeles.
"But even more striking is the fact that the Armenians in the U.S. feel their impunity and the American government's support," he said.
Finkel added that in 1915 there was no Geneva or any other convention, there was no international humanitarian law that would protect the civilian population during military conflicts and that would qualify local excesses as "genocide".
"Through the protest in Los Angeles, the Armenians demonstrate their true terrorist essence both in state policy, in the military sphere, and at the level of the diaspora... Los Angeles today is one of the American cities where the Armenian diaspora has taken root. That is why every time in this city we witness more and more violence and radicalism of Armenians against the Turks," Baku-based Day.az commented.
It stressed that the acts of vandalism regularly committed by Armenian terrorists against our compatriots, the buildings of the embassies and diplomats of Azerbaijan, indicate that Armenia is far from the philosophy of civil and democratic statehood.
"Terror and provocations against our compatriots abroad testify to the fact that the fascist-terrorist theory lies at the heart of the concept of Armenia's statehood... However, both Armenia and its notorious diaspora, and individuals serving their interests, as well as organizations and foreign circles seeking to use the 'Armenian question' against Turkey and Azerbaijan, should know that their actions are an obstacle to the establishment of peace and security in the region and also cause negative precedents. Azerbaijan, at the cost of blood and the lives of its sons, returned to the historical land - Karabakh. Everyone must now consider this new reality," Day.az said.
On April 24, President Aliyev described Biden’s decision as “a historic mistake” and “unacceptable”.
Aliyev said that Biden’s statement seriously damages the emerging cooperation tendencies in the region, adding that Azerbaijan stands by Turkey.
Turkey is against presenting the 1915 incidents as “genocide”, rather calling them a tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians suffered casualties in the heat of World War I.
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