(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more The more Russia mires into the Ukrainian crisis, the more
Armenia reveals its long-hidden intention - to get away from Russia
as far as possible. It is well known that Armenia owes everything
that it has today to Russia and its predecessors, but whenever
Russia falters Armenians are the first nation trying to get rid of
it. So, as is said history repeats itself. Since the time leading
up to the collapse of the USSR, Armenia has tried to go out of
Russian orbit. Recall that Armenia was one of the six former Soviet
Republics that voted against the USSR on the eve of its downfall,
in the 1980s. However, due to its expansionist foreign policy
Armenia was obliged to swallow its pride, stepped back, and became
the strategic ally of its 'founder'. At the same time, they have
never stopped to cooperate covertly against Russia. With the launch
of the Ukrainian crisis, Armenia was endared to stab back its
strategic ally last time. Besides, the initiation of the Ukrainian
crisis emboldened Armenia to find new allies for pushing Russia out
of the Caucasus. It invited Iran, India, and France to the region
respectively. The last such invitation was made for Greece and
Southern Cyprus.
The mass media in Armenia speak about the tripartite military
cooperation and brag it. However, any possible cooperation among
the said countries raises questions. Because, Greece and Southern
Cyprus are members of the EU and the former is also a member of
NATO - the Russian arch-enemy. Besides, Greece is also eager to
cooperate with Azerbaijan in the field of economy and natural gas.
However, the most important question is what benefits Armenia will
get from debt-ridden Greece.
Speaking to Azernews on the issue, Elchin
Alioghlu noted that being NATO member is not obstacle to cooperate
with Armenia, because none of the NATO members have made any
commitment to conduct their foreign policy in a centralized manner
within the organization - the Northern Alliance. There is no such
word about this in either in the Luxembourg or London
agreements.
“As for the activity of Greece in the South Caucasus, it has
many goals here. Recall that during the presentation of the
credentials of the new ambassador of Greece in Baku, the President
of Azerbaijan stated that Azerbaijan will always take steps with
Turkiye in the Mediterranean Sea, especially on the eastern shores
of the Mediterranean Sea, and in generally in the world political
arena. Azerbaijan will take exactly one steps, neither parallel,
nor coordinated. This means that whatever position Turkiye takes in
the current period of tension in Turkiye-Greece relations,
Azerbaijan will automatically take the same position. Because we
have alliance and strategic partnership agreements with Turkiye in
geopolitical, military and other issues. This is not surprising,”
Alioghlu said.
He also touched on the Greece's support to Armenia, and said
that it has historical roots. He recalled that when the Greek
troops occupied the western provinces of Turkiye during the WWI,
they necessarily relied on and used the local Armenian communities.
Even Armenians performed the functions of proxy forces and
paramilitary units of Greece at that time.
“To put it more simply, the local civilian population inflicted
reprisals. Before the Second World War, Armenians living in Western
countries had massively joined the Greek paramilitary units bearing
Nazi idology. The same situation was observed during the Second
World War. After the junta of black colonels came to power in
Greece, the street police functions of that junta were performed by
Armenians living in the country.
After the collapse of the USSR, Armenia gained so-called
independence. Why so-called? Because Armenia became de facto
independent, it was never de-jure independent. Greece's goal now,
based on those historical traditions and emotional ties, is to use
Armenia in the region as a means of influencing Azerbaijan,
Turkiye, Russia, and the West at the same time,” he opined.
Regarding to the Southern Cyprus, Elchin Alioghlu pointed out
that Greek Cypriots are in the same boat with Armenia to look
through the relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
and to put pressure on both TRNC and Ankara. He mentioned that
during the 44-day war, representatives of the Armenian community
from both Greece and South Cyprus fought against Azerbaijan as
mercenaries. They consisted of about 162 people, and 154 of them
were killed, 8 were injured, and after being treated in Armenia,
injured ones were evacuated to Greece.
“I do not think that Greek-Armenian relations are likely to turn
into any serious military-technical cooperation. It is not
possible. This is just a show of force (by Greece) against
Azerbaijan, and for Armenia, it is the creation of a kind of
security umbrella with the active involvement of Greece and
Southern Cyprus in order to ensure its security,” he opined.
As is known Armenia related its defeat in the 44-day war to
Russian-made weapons and frequently voices to find new arm
supplier. Responding the question whether Greece can arm Armenia,
he called it illusion. He reminded that Armenia is a member of
Russian lead organizations, therefore Greek will not do it.
“Greece cannot arm Armenia. This is an illusion. It is not
possible. Because Armenia is a member of the CSTO within the CIS
and has close relations with Russia. Greece is not allowed to
provide lethal weapons to Armenia. This is also related to the
fringe agreement on the limitation of conventional arms in Europe.
It clearly shows how many armored vehicles, firearms and etcetera
weapons Armenia can have. So it's just an image, a demonstration of
muscle,” he added.
However, Turkish military expert Abdullah Agar commented on the
Armenians' complaint about the quality of Russian weapons and said
that this is simply due to their incompetence. He believes that
Russian weapons are too dangerous to be underestimated, and it is
the fault of Armenians who could not use them properly.
“We must not take Armenia's words seriously over the Second
Karabakh War. It got enough Russian weapons and used them very
well. They were not able to use effectively due to lack of
personnel training.
In addition, to some extent, it could not obtain the desired
efficiency from the Russian weapons. I know very well how powerful
Russian weapons are. The important thing is to be able to use them
effectively and properly. Here they should blame not only Russia,
but also themselves.
But are the Russian weapons insufficient in some technical
issues? Yes. We saw this in the Ukrainian war as well. There were
some technical problems in comparison with Western weapons.
However, underestimating Russian weapons does not mean correct
judgment. As for the question, whether Greece can give weapons to
Armenia? It is possible. But Greece will not do it of its own free
will. Currently, Greece is sending Russian made weapons to Ukraine.
Can it send some of them to Armenia (instead of Ukraine)? Yes, it
can,” he affirmed.
He also noted that he does not think Greece cooperated with
Armenia despite NATO and the USA. After all, when we look at the
big picture, no matter how big the fight is between them, the USA,
France and Russia are in a trend of supporting Armenia in some way.
Recently, we can see that some problems have developed between
Russia and Armenia, especially in the Ukraine and the Garabagh
wars. But this does not mean that these ties have been severed and
that Armenia does not receive support from Russia. After all,
Armenia can see cooperation with EU countries as part of the big
picture, very appropriately.
“The common features of Greece, Southern Cyprus and Armenia are
enmity towards Türkiye and Azerbaijan. Secondly, these three
structures have undertaken a mission in the historical process.
This mission consists of destabilizing the Turkish homeland. With
their similar historical memorizations and today's motivations,
they are again in a cooperative rectification action. One of the
most obvious features is that they have the same Christian
denomination. Let us remind you that this is why they are close
with Russia,” he concluded.
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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow him on
Twitter: @g_ashirov