Saturday, September 8, 2007

Report on Nagorni Karabakh

By  Bedir Memmedli

Dear France 24 Representative:

Your report on Nagorni Karabakh aired on August 31 was very biased. It doesn't describe the other side to the conflict as if it is Azerbaijan who is an aggressor but Karabakh Armenians are simply involved in building their state (which is legitimate part of Azerbaijan). According to you, the current conflict is between Nagorni Karabakh and Azerbaijan, which is absolutely false and misleading. The real conflict is between Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. It is Armenia who is holding 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territories. The United Nations has four resolutions demanding from Armenia immediate withdrawal of its troops from the lands that your TV reports describes as Nagorni Karabakh. The so called Nagorni Karabakh Republic is simply a puppet regime established by Armenia to justify its territorial expansion as if it is Nagorni Karabakh Armenians who decided to cecede from Azerbaijan and become independent. I also don't understand why you keep using the phrases like "Christian Armenians" and "Muslim Azerbaijanis" when this conflict has nothing to do with religion. As a matter of fact, it is Armenians who receive huge material and moral support from the Islamic Republic of Iran. I understand France is home to very powerful Armenian Diaspora who has a certain degree of influence over French media when it comes to highlighting Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict, but this should not give you any excuse to ignore the other side to the conflict. Thank you for your time.