November 24, 2012 - 19:40 AMT
ARTICLE
If Adolf Hitler had a Twitter account...
Ilham Aliyev seems to have studied Mein Kampf and Joseph Goebbels' quotes instead of Marxism-Leninism theory during his study at Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
Azerbaijani president pursues, or rather seems to be pursuing information war against Armenia by uttering the same pompous nonsense. It is hardly likely that Ilham Aliyev is so poorly aware of the South Caucasus history that every now and then mentions Armenia as a country “artificially created on ancient Azerbaijani lands."

It is true to say that Aliyev lacks education rather than schooling. A head of the state posing itself as a democracy model in the East, has no right to defame a neighbouring country only because it does not like it. Armenia is not happy with its Turkic neighbours, either; however, it does not engage in unbridled fascism and racism propaganda. The world has faced such lessons in 1930s, and everybody remembers the outcome pretty well. Well, Aliyev won’t have to face the Nuremberg trial, but all this heavily damages the image of Azerbaijan, given the total dictatorship, tough restrictions on the freedom of speech and other “delights” of Azerbaijani democracy. The most ridiculous thing is that a person dispersing rallies got suddenly concerned over demonstration dispersing in Europe, and decided to preach at EU. Ilham Aliyev seems to have studied Mein Kampf and Joseph Goebbels' quotes instead of Marxism-Leninism theory during his study at Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Maybe this is where he borrowed the Ten National-Socialist Commandments:

1. Your fatherland is called Germany. Love it above all, and more in deeds than words. In Aliyev's case, Turkey seems to be the fatherland.

2. Germany’s enemies are your enemies: hate them with all your heart! The Armenians are Turkey's enemies, hence enemies of Ilham Aliyev as well.

3. Every national comrade, even the poorest, is a piece of Germany. Love them as yourself! This is a bit difficult for the Azerbaijani president for he loves himself only.

4. Demand only duties for yourself: then Germany will get justice! Duties appear sort of a failure, and so does the justice unless it means aggression.

5. Be proud of Germany. You ought to be proud of a Fatherland for which millions have sacrificed their lives. This does not work for Aliyev at all…

6. He who abuses Germany, abuses you and your dead. Strike your fist against him! The Armenians are again to blame for all this…

7. Hit a rogue more than once. When one takes away your good rights, remember that you can only fight him physically! Again, this can be applied to the Armenians, according to Aliyev's ideology.

8. Don’t be a hooligan anti-Semite. But beware of the “Berliner Tageblatt”! One should behave like a hooligan with Armenians, no other options available.

9. Make your actions that you need no blush when the New Germany is mentioned! Maybe the New Azerbaijan Party is intended here?

10. Have faith in the future for only then will you win it! Well, there is no future since they are running out of oil. Quotations by the chief Nazi ideologist were not cited incidentally here. The thing is that the whole propaganda machine in Azerbaijan follows Goebbels' principle: “A lie should be enormous enough for people to believe it.” Aliyev and his supporters have yet to reach the level of the Third Reich ideologist, yet he strives to achieve it.

Now, the turn of Twitter has come, with Aliyev posting the following tweets:

"Armenia as a country is of no value. It is actually a colony, an outpost run from abroad, a territory artificially created on ancient Azerbaijani lands."

“Azerbaijan grows stronger and more powerful by the year, while Armenia weakens and declines every year.”

“We will continue our efforts to isolate Armenia.”

"The Armenians and the Armenian Diaspora are our main enemies."

Just imagine how strongly one fears its neighbours and its own people to make statements like these to feed his hatred.

In 2013, Azerbaijan will hold so-called presidential elections, with Ilham Aliyev expected to win the race again, unless his Western allies are really fed up with him by then. Most likely, these very allies will simply “cheat” Aliev once they realize the unreliability of the oil supply and its limited resources. Then, hostilities with Nagorno Karabakh may loom large, but there is hope Aliyev will be curbed soon.

Karine Ter-Sahakian