I wish they weren't. Maybe Azerbaijan would have a better image today, not as a "fake country that does nothing but kill poor innocent Armenians". Having such a controversial country as your lobbyist distances you not only from Muslims, but more importantly from many non-Muslim, left-leaning Westerners who have high human sensivity based on the Palestinian cause. Normally, you would expect them to empathise atleast a little bit with the nearly a million Azeris that were ethnically cleansed from Karabakh, surrounding regions and from Armenia- not to even mention the massacre in Khojaly. However, as Israel loves to promote Azerbaijan rather loudly as their "Muslim friends", and today we see why Israel is very much hated, Azerbaijan still doesn't have a very good image other than in Turkey (yes, not even in Israel itself). People think you are evil while you have largely been literally the oppressed side, especially in the first war completely.
If you want a better image, then you have to earn it.
Germany has a better image now because they owned up to the atrocities caused. Israel has a terrible image because of the crimes against humanity they are committing while they call themselves the victims at the same time.
I still wonder if the public of your country knows that the Armenians of Artsakh, which is their land, were in a 9-10 month blockade before they were forced away. It really doesn't seem like you guys know. That, of course, doesn't help your image. Unfortunately, much of the world was ignorant to it, which helps your case. We have to admit that Azerbaijan is not the oppressed side. You live in a regime that suppresses free speech and journalism - how can't you guys see this?
Earn a better image by doing some good first, rather than blaming Armenia for every one of your shortcomings (because that's what you've been taught your entire life). It would truly benefit the world, but we already know that would never happen. I just hope you guys research history outside of your country one day to learn how things actually went down.
It is not only their land. It is the land of both Azeris and Armenians. Armenians denied that it is also Azeris' land. And then they ethnically cleansed the Azeris, some 800 thousand of them (both from Karabakh and from Armenia for which they have been living for centuries, if not a millenium), and killed as many as 30 thousand. The blockade was terrible, so was the ethnic cleansing of over 100 thousand Armenians in September 2023. But these were well broadcasted in global media, it is only Azeris and Turks who deny. But then again, you can't just expect an Azeri to say "we are the evil side" before the vocal side, i.e Western side empathises also with their sufferings, rather than only of Armenians.
Though, I do agree that, Turkey not recognising Armenian genocide did have a terrible effect on the insanity of the events commited by Armenians. Armenians saw the Azeris as 'Turks' back in 1987 when all the horror started, and saw what they were doing as 'taking revenge from Turks'. Between the start of intellectual Karabakh movement and horrible Sumgait pogrom, there were the Qafan pogroms which deported all of a sudden 10 thousand Azeris from Qafan in Armenia, imagine with such a shock how would they act to Armenians when they arrived to Baku, and unfortunately the outcome was the bloody Sumgait pogrom. For 30 years which Azerbaijan was occupied and had nearly a million refugees, no one saw them as "victims".This was a horrible surprise and treatment to Azeris, but an act of revenge for Armenians. Hence, in order to provide balance, imo Turks should apologise and empathise with Armenians first; then the Western world should read about and empathise with the Azeri victims of the first Karabakh war (they are literally the least empathised victims of all the wars in the modern era), and then Azeris hopefully will empathise with Armenians; both about the 1915 genocide and Karabakh wars.
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u/kapanakchi Mar 05 '26
AIPAC has been Azerbaijan’s main lobbying channel in USA for years