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THE
MINSK GROUP
WORKING FOR PEACE OR FOR ARMENIA? |
BY SAMUEL A. WEEMS
In 1991 ten countries of the former Soviet Union met and organized the Commonwealth of
Independent States in Minsk, Belarus. Three of the states were Russia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), dominated by Russia, declares on its
computer internet web site that the CIS was “formed on the basis of sovereign equality
of all its members and that the member states were independent and equal subjects of the
international law.”
The Commonwealth of Independent States’ organizational charter proclaims that the
purpose of the former Soviet Union States (CIS) is for the “development and
strengthening of relations of friendship, good neighborhood, inter-ethnic accord, trust
and mutual understanding and cooperation between states.”
The headquarters of the Russian dominated Commonwealth of Independent States was
established in Minsk, Belarus — Russia’s most loyal ally of the former Soviet Union
states.
Less than one year later, the promises of the Russians and Armenians became meaningless as
they invaded Azerbaijan. Russia gave the Armenians more than one billion US dollars in
military armaments and equipment to use in the invasion of neighbor Azerbaijan.
Consider the fact that less than twelve months before the invasion — in Minsk, Belarus
— Russia and Armenia stated (in writing) that they each acknowledged the “sovereign
equality” of Azerbaijan. Russia and Armenia signed a “charter” agreement and gave
their solemn oath stating they were each working with Azerbaijan in “friendship, good
neighborhood inter-ethnic accord, trust and mutual understanding.” Less than twelve
months later both Russia and Armenia would break their word and their individual written
oaths and attack Azerbaijan.
In the beginning the Russians denied that they were helping Armenia invade Azerbaijan.
However, after independent journalists from around the world began to publish photographs
of Armenian (and even Russian) soldiers attacking Azerbaijan using Russian equipment, the
Russians changed their story. The Russians finally did admit to giving Armenia 84 of their
top of the line battle tanks, 50 armored personnel carriers, 24 Stud missiles and other
unnamed military equipment.
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The Russians also, at first, denied that any Russian troops fought with the
Armenians against the Azerbaijan people. The actual proof was that soldiers of the
Russian 366th combat regiment did take part in the Armenian invasion. The Russian
Ambassador to Turkey attempted to explain away the Russian troop involvement. The
Ambassador said, with a straight face, that perhaps some Russian soldiers “deserted”
from their posts and joined up with the Armenians to fight against Azerbaijan. The
Ambassador of course didn’t say what the Russian soldiers were doing in “independent”
Armenia in the first place so they could “desert” and join the Armenian
invasion. The Russian military never court marshaled a single one of their soldiers
for such “desertion”.
Khojaly was an Azerbaijan city near the Armenian border. This city was composed of
unarmed Azerbaijan civilians. However, the Armenians and Russians wanted Khojaly
because it was the only city in the region with an airport that large-winged
military aircraft could use to bring in arms and ammunition to re-supply the
Armenians and Russian troops. (The Russian ambassador to Turkey forgot to mention
that Russian military aircraft also helped the Armenian and Russian “deserting”
soldiers.)
The Armenians, with the help of Russian troops, attacked and captured Khojaly. The
United States press witnessed the Armenian/Russian massacre of more than 3,000
unarmed Azerbaijani civilians. These press reports were widely circulated throughout
the United States during the first two weeks of March of 1992. A few examples of
these press reports are as follows.
Newsweek: “Face of a Massacre.”
New York Times: “Massacre by Armenians.”
Sunday Times: “Armenian Soldiers Massacre Hundreds of Fleeing Families.”
Time: “Massacre in Khojaly.”
Washington Times: “Armenian Raid Leave Azeries Dead Or Fleeing.”
On April 10, 1997, investigative reporter, Martin Sieff, writing for the Washington
Times newspaper published an article revealing exactly who supplied the weapons to
Armenia to start its war with Azerbaijan. The Times headline reads: “Armenia
Armed By Russia For Battles With Azerbaijan.”
Time passed and politics became the watchword for what politicians came to call the
“conflict” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Truth would become distorted and
truth would not be considered in “Christian” nations when making political
decisions relating to Azerbaijan.
The 30,000 Azeries, massacred in the Armenian killing fields of their own country,
would have called what happened to them a Hitler/Nazi “genocide.” The massacre
of innocent civilians is not new to the Armenians. More than 100,000 Armenians were
partners with Hitler and fought with his Nazis during World War II and they learned
first hand about taking part in genocide. Armenia can trace its acts of cold-blooded
terrorism back to the middle of the 1800s when Armenians first joined up with the
Russians in an attempt to obtain other people’s lands for free just as they are
attempting to do today in Azerbaijan.
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The US Congress placed all the blame ... on Azerbaijan |
The more than one million unarmed Azeries the Armenian and Russian troops drove from their
homes would not call what happened to them a mere “conflict” as “Christian” nation
politicians do today. For these one million poor souls who have lived in Azerbaijani
refugee camps for more than ten years — these one million individuals lived through a
war of Armenian “terrorism” and they are the victims. This evil unprovoked
Armenian/Russian attack is in truth an all out war seeking someone else’s land for free
and it cannot truthfully be called a “conflict.”
Shortly after the surprise joint Armenian/Russian attack on Azerbaijan — the United
Nations Security Council passed four Resolutions (822), (853), (874) and (884) reaffirming
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of
international borders. The UN called upon the Armenians to withdraw from Azerbaijan a
total of five times.
The Armenians and their Russian supporters refuse to honor the UN demand to withdraw from
Azerbaijan and Armenia continues, after more than ten years, to illegally hold more than
20% of the lands of Azerbaijan. So much for the Commonwealth of Independent States and the
charter that guaranteed “sovereign equality of all its members and that the member
states were independent and equal subjects of the international law.” The Armenian and
Russian invasion proves that the Armenian and Russian word is not to be believed regarding
what they say.
After the Armenian/Russian invasion, politics and politicians began to involve themselves
in what they called a “conflict.” In the United States, even though the American press
was publishing front page report after report of Armenian aggression, terrorism and of the
Armenian massacres of unarmed Azeries — the United States Congress passed what became
known as “The Freedom Support Act (Section 907)” of 1992.
This American law prohibited the United States government from sending even humanitarian
aid and assistance to Azerbaijan to help the more than one million refugees the Armenians
had forced out of their legally owned homes. The US Congress placed all the blame for
causing the “conflict” on Azerbaijan because US members of congress claimed that after
the Armenian invasion, Azerbaijan stopped allowing Armenia to use its ports to bring in
military supplies to be used against the Azerbaijani people. The Freedom Support
Act-Section 907, states that Azerbaijan created what American law defines as an “illegal
blockade” of Armenia.
Isn’t this a strange law? The proof is that Armenia, with Russian help, invaded
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has never had a single soldier in Armenia, however, the United
States Congress passed a law stating that Azerbaijan used “offensive force.” in
self-defense of its country. The US Congress stated that this was a terrible thing for
Azerbaijan to do in attempting to protect itself. Certainly the United States would have
done exactly the same thing had Armenians invaded the United States.
The question must be asked: “Why would the United States involve itself in taking a ‘terrorist’
country's side in a matter such as this?” The question must also be asked: “Why would
the United States Congress pass a law when the facts and truth are clear and what congress
did is just the opposite of fact, honesty and truth?”
The answer is clear and simple: The Armenian lobby within the United States gives many
millions of dollars to American members of congress each and every election campaign year.
The Azerbaijanis have no such lobby organization at all within the United States. This is
the reason the Armenians were able to get this law passed and this is why Armenia received
more than $1.5 billion in US foreign aid over the past ten years while they hold
Azerbaijan lands they captured and stole by armed force.
It is because of the Armenian lobby that the United States ignores the five United Nations
Resolutions calling on Armenia to withdraw from Azerbaijan. Also sad but true is the fact
that the United States hands over to Armenia more than an average of $100 million dollars
each year as foreign aid. The American government should not give the terrorist state of
Armenia one penny until such time as they obey the United Nations resolutions and depart
from the Azerbaijan lands they stole by armed force.
During this time period when the United States Congress passed the unjust law for Armenia
and against Azerbaijan, the United Nations delegated its responsibility for resolving the
“conflict” between Armenia and Azerbaijan to a new European organization called the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
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OSCE thereupon created what is called the “Minsk Group” to negotiate a
settlement of the “conflict.” The name “Minsk Group” comes from the Russian
dominated Commonwealth of Independent States that was organized and headquartered in
Minsk, Belarus. This clear Russian influence should have been apparent to the entire
world from day one but the warning notice was ignored.
The Russian dominated “Minsk" Group” is made up of 13 nations: Belarus,
Germany, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia
and with France, Russia and the United States as the three co-chairs.
Even a first grade student can clearly see there is something very wrong with the
makeup of Minsk Group countries. First of all — why is the United States a member
of this European group? The United States isn’t in Europe! However, the United
States is clearly in the Armenian pocket and this is why the United States became a
member of the Minsk Group even though it is not a European Country.
Secondly — Why is there only one other “Muslim” country included as a member
of the Minsk Group other than Azerbaijan? The evidence is clear that the “Christian”
nations of Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, France,
Russia and the United States are not friends of Azerbaijan. Only Turkey is a
friendly nation to Azerbaijan of the Minsk Group member nations. To say the Minsk
Group is unfairly biased in favor of Armenia is an understatement.
The Minsk Group has been in existence for more than ten years and there has been no
progress for establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The reason is
because Russia dominates this group of nations. The question must be — what is it
exactly that the Russians want? Clearly the Russians are manipulating the “Christian”
politically called “conflict” and the Russians want to reestablish their
dominance of oil rich Azerbaijan just as they dominate poverty-stricken Armenia. If
the Russians told their puppet state of Armenia to withdraw from Azerbaijan the only
question the Armenians would ask is this: “When do you want us out?”
Recently Russian President Vladimir Putin stated there should be “neither winners
nor losers” in the lasting solution to the “conflict” between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Someone should ask President Putin some very basic questions:
1. Armenia is the state financed by your government and supported by your army that
invaded Azerbaijan. It was the Armenian army supported by your Russian army that
massacred 30,000 unarmed Azerbaijani citizens and drove more than one million more
unarmed Azeries from their homes that are now in Armenian possession. President
Putin, these Azeries have already lost — how can you say there must be no winners
or losers as to them?
2. President Putin — how will you bring back to life the 30,000 souls your Russian
army, together with Armenian troops, massacred? How can there be justice for these
30,000 massacred victims of genocide if there is to be no winners and no losers?
Exactly how are you going to make things right for these 30,000 unarmed civilians
your Russian troops helped to murder in cold blood?
3. Mr. President, how will you compensate the more than one million poor
Azerbaijanis your Russian troops helped the Armenians terrorize and drive away from
their legal homes? Your Russian soldiers, together with your Armenian military
partners, have forced these one million Azerbaijanis to live under horrible
conditions in refugee camps for more than 10 years. If there are to be no winners or
losers will you do the right thing and at least arrange to pay these one million
individuals what they have lost? Unless, President Putin, you establish a way for
Russia to do this — you sir are not a truth teller when you say there are to be
“no winners or no losers” in the “conflict” between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
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President Putin has not announced any plans to compensate the families of the 30,000
innocent unarmed Azeries who were massacred by Armenian and Russian troops nor has
he proposed to compensate the one million Azeries driven from their homes. Unless
there is compensation for the more than one million Azeries refugees and
compensation of the 30,000 murdered Azeries — the Russian President is blowing “smoke”
and uttering meaningless “hot air” for one basic reason-- to help his Armenian
friends keep the land they murdered to obtain and then stole from Azerbaijan.
Spend a moment examining the Russian named and dominated Minsk Group nations:
Russia is a co-chair and is interested in its own peace proposal to force Azerbaijan
back into the Russian controlled and dominated CIS group of former Soviet Union
states headquartered in Minsk, Belarus wherein the name “Minsk Group”
originated. Why is Russia a co-chair of the Minsk Group when it took part in the
Armenian invasion of Azerbaijan? The Russians have no intention now or ever of being
fair to Azerbaijan unless the Azerbaijan government agrees to become a puppet state
of the Russian government!
The United States is a co-chair and is owned and dominated by the Armenian lobby
within the United States as evidenced by the unholy and unjust passage of the
Freedom Support Act (Section 907) of 1992. This Armenian domination of United States
politics is proof that the Armenians are in charge of this issue in America and this
is why the United States was placed on the European Minsk Group in the first place.
Certainly the United States is not a fair and neutral country and should not be a
co-chair of the Minsk Group.
France is the third co-chair of the Minsk Group. They, too, are dominated by an
Armenian lobby as evidenced by the fact the French are more interested in the
destruction of Armenian claimed “Christian” gravestones in “Muslim”
Azerbaijan near the Iranian border than in working for peace and justice for the
Azerbaijan people. France is not a fair or neutral country to serve as co-chair of
the Minsk Group any more than Russia or the United States should lead a peace
keeping organization such as the Minsk Group.
With the exception of “Muslim” Turkey, all the other “Christian” members of
the Minsk Group are anti Muslim Azerbaijan and pro Christian Armenia. After the
United Nations passed the five Resolutions calling on Armenia to withdraw from
Azerbaijan, Turkey closed its border with Armenia. Now, within the United States,
the Armenian lobby is spending millions of dollars to obtain political support to
have the United States proclaim that Turkey, like Azerbaijan, has created an “illegal
blockade” of Armenia. The Armenians are doing all in their power to force Turkey
to do business with them to help improve the Armenian crippled economy caused by the
war with Azerbaijan. If the Armenians didn’t have to pay for keeping more than
50,000 of their troops in the Azerbaijan lands they stole, they would not have such
economic problems and the Turkish border would be open to help their economy.
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The Minsk Group has accomplished little, or in reality nothing, during its ten year
existence. The truth is, the longer the Armenians remain in possession of the Azerbaijan
lands they stole with Russian help by armed force, the harder it will be for Azerbaijan to
get its lands back. The Minsk Group is in reality doing nothing but stalling for time to
help the Armenians create a stronger claim to keep the Azerbaijani lands forever.
Azerbaijan should simply say to the Minsk Group — “You have taken ten years from the
lives of more than one million of our people and you have helped force them into refugee
camps to live a hard life of poverty and want. Minsk Group, your countries are in reality
reducing, on a year by year basis, the financial help you give these refugees. You claim
to help us yet these negative actions are nothing more than an attempt to force us here in
Azerbaijan to surrender and give the captured lands to the murderers and thieves of
Armenia. Minsk Group — when will each of you give a ‘fair deal’ to the people of
Azerbaijan?”
With friends such as the “Christian” members Minsk Group — Azerbaijan doesn’t need
any more enemies!
Media Coverage
of the Azeri Massacres by Armenians
Karabakh Facts by Thomas Goltz
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