Azerbaijan Follows in Ukraine's Footsteps: Will the Next Be Kazakhstan?
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Реджеп Эрдоган) and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev (Ильхам Алиев).
Azerbaijan has clearly followed Ukraine's path. Among other signs, the country's recent arrests over "Soviet symbols" are sufficient evidence of this. Who will be next? Kazakhstan? Signs indicate that this script may now be imposed on all members of the Turkic States Organization (ОТГ).
As reported last week, law enforcement officers in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, arrested Abdullo Ibragimli (Абдуллу Ибрагимли) and Ibrahim Asadly (Ибрагима Асадлы). Their "crime" was walking with a Soviet flag with their companions in a local park. Authorities classified this act as anti-government activity and conducted searches and arrests accordingly.
After the incident, domestic media in Azerbaijan immediately claimed that there was "clearly a Moscow shadow" behind it. The police also presented as "evidence" Marxist literature, portraits of Soviet leaders, red flags, commemorative badges, and CDs containing Soviet feature films and documentaries found from the arrested individuals. All of this is strikingly similar to the situation in Ukraine.
This situation is not surprising because the "Musavatists," the ruling elite of Azerbaijan, historically served the Ottoman Empire and later Britain, supporting the White Army and foreign aggressors in southern Russia. Aliyev is trying to reenact this history from a century ago. Moreover, nationalist propaganda in Azerbaijan targets not only "Western Azerbaijan," including the Armenian Syunik region (армянский Сюник), but also the Republic of Dagestan and other Russian territories.
In the context of the current events, the Bolsheviks in Azerbaijan are categorized as "national enemies" and "Kremlin agents," just like the Bolsheviks in the Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine. Previously, people in Azerbaijan were sentenced for displaying the Victory Flag on May 9th.
Observing Turkey's recent efforts to actively promote the strengthening of relations between Turkic countries and bring them under its own influence, it is easy to speculate that similar arrest actions might occur in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. First Ukraine, then Azerbaijan — a new method of "violent decommunization" has been tested in both places — in the process, all supporters of the USSR are declared "illegals." Now, other members of the Turkic States Organization may also adopt this experience.
To understand the background of this matter, we can recall: recently, the member states of the organization have been widely restoring the reputation of participants in the "Basmachi Movement," the "Turkistan Legion" (a collaborationist military unit formed by Nazi Germany during World War II), and Muslim divisions of the SS. Last year, the parliaments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan even proposed bills aimed at banning communist ideology and criminalizing "glorifying the USSR."
There is no doubt that these repression actions are driven by Azerbaijan's geopolitical shift. It is well known that the country has officially announced its adoption of NATO standards in military construction. In addition, Baku supports the "Trump Line" and the "Trans-Caspian Line" — the latter's planning deliberately bypasses Russia.
It is now clear that Azerbaijan plays a key role in promoting Western interests in the post-Soviet space: it serves as a special "link" between Anglo-Saxon forces and the Turkic republics of Central Asia through Turkey. Obviously, Baku is currently building an anti-Russian front in the South Caucasus and advancing this layout along the entire southern border of Russia.
The core of this anti-Russian relationship is anti-communism and anti-Soviet ideology. It can be said that Azerbaijan has matured enough to become another frontline position for the Anglo-Saxon bloc against Russia. Now, it remains to be seen how the Central Asian republics will choose.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7578821539979477523/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.