Establishing peace in the region and the world in the course of political processes in the modern world, promoting a common approach to foreign policy issues, coordinating the fight against international terrorism, separatism, extremism and transnational crime, promoting media relations and broader information exchange , the exchange of legal information, the expansion of cooperation in the field of law is one of the important issues.
For many years, a provocative information war has been waged against each of the member countries of the Turkish Council, and the misinformation has become a political campaign. Unfortunately, it such of the information is on the agenda of the legislatures of the world’s powers, the parliament and the senate. Of course, the Turkish Council’s civil society institutions and non-governmental organizations are working to prevent such misinformation, exposing false information, and spreading the truth at the international level. This is unsatisfactory, and we must work together as civil society institutions of the member states of the Turkish Council to strengthen our position in the world media. We have enough internationally recognized organizational resources for this.
The 3rd meeting of the Ministers of Information and Media of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, held on April 10, 2021 in Baku, is important in terms of uniting our domestic and international forces and is contribute to our future activities. It will be important for the further development of existing friendly and fraternal relations between our countries and peoples, the introduction of our common history, historical Turkish culture to the world, as well as the development of a road map to convey the truth about our countries to the international arena.
As a result of the occupation policy of Armenia, which is a potential threat to peace in the South Caucasus region, the Turkish-Muslim, as well as other religious-national cultural heritage was completely destroyed after the liberation of Azerbaijani lands occupied for 30 years.
Over the past 30 years, more than one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs have become refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing against the local Azerbaijani population living in our historical lands of Irevan and other occupied territories. In addition to looting and destroying traces of Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage and material and cultural monuments, the mono-ethnic Armenian government has completely changed Turkish historical toponyms and place names, and ancient Turkish toponyms have been replaced by Armenian names. As a result of the policy of the Armenian monoethnic state, more than 300 mosques were completely destroyed or use has been changed. More than 500 Azerbaijani Turkish-Muslim cemeteries were destroyed in Gullubulag and Saral in Armenia. The grave of Ashig Alasgar, who was born and buried in Goycha district, was destroyed. The demolition of the tombstone of Ashug Alasgar, a prominent representative of Azerbaijani ashug art, included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, once again shows that Armenia does not recognize universal values.
The burning of settlements, forests with white phosphorus, destruction of fauna and flora in the Second Karabakh War, illegal archeological excavations in Azerbaijan, transportation of rare artifacts to Armenia, looting of Azerbaijan’s material and cultural heritage are serious violations of international conventions. It is important to propagate all these and other historical events in the history of other Turkic-speaking countries to the international community. In general, the international promotion of all our common history, national and spiritual values, historical culture and truths should be one of our main goals.
For many years, provocative misinformation against each of the member states of the Turkic Council has been spread in the world media, and in many cases, such false information becomes a political campaign. Such cases are even brought to the fore by provocative misinformation at the level of the legislatures of the world’s powers, parliaments and senates. In order to prevent information provocations and other provocations, the member countries of the Turkish Council must have an international media network. We have witnessed this need in Azerbaijan’s 44-day Patriotic War in 2020. The highest-ranking state officials, MPs and influential figures of the brotherly Republic of Turkey, including the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have openly expressed their support for the right cause of Azerbaijan. They removed external threats against Azerbaijan. Our Turkish citizens have unhesitatingly declared the true war of Azerbaijan to the whole international community.
In an interview with Turkey’s A Haber television channel, President Ilham Aliyev said, “If these precise messages had not come from Turkey in the first hours of the clashes, others might have interfered and said, ‘These messages from Turkey are for everyone.'” Azerbaijan is not alone. . Turkey is with Azerbaijan until the end. Of course, today the Azerbaijani-Turkish union has become a very serious geopolitical factor, and this is a positive factor. Our union is not against the interests of any country. We simply defend our interests, our We continue on our way. Let no one interfere in our work … We just say don’t touch us, stay away. Let’s be friends, partners, cooperate. But yours is yours, ours is ours. We want it and we deserve it. ”
Azerbaijan-Turkey friendly and fraternal relations are an example. The activities of the Turkic Council, the media platform of the Turkic Council in a stronger form, comprehensive and covering all areas will be important in bringing these relations to the world as an example between our other Turkic-speaking countries and peoples.
Turkey is a great power that ensures peace in various regions of the world, and is a guarantor of trust and peace, both regionally and globally. For nearly 70 years, NATO has been contributing significantly to the Alliance. Last year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a speech, “Turkey has been a very important member of the transatlantic family for 68 years. Turkey has been the most affected and terrorized ally in the Middle East by instability, violence and chaos. On the anniversary of NATO membership, I thank Turkey for its valuable and ongoing support to the alliance. Turkey is a strong and important member of NATO. ”
Thanks to Turkey’s political and military power, terrorist elements such as ISIS have been dealt a serious blow. Turkey is making great efforts for peace and stability in many regions, including the Balkans, the Caucasus and Europe. As a member of the Turkish Council, it is time to join forces in the joint fight against the covert activities of terrorist groups such as the PKK, YPG, ISIS, FETO, as well as the information struggle. This will increase the importance of the Turkish Council.
NUSHABA MAMMADOVA
COJEP International Central Asia Coordinator,
Chair International Dialogue and Development Alliance,
PHD in Historical Sciences
