Paul Antonopoulos
Bureau Chief for Greek City Times in Athens. PhD Candidate.
As means of dehumanizing and maintaining hatred against Armenians, it is will established that the Azerbaijani government imposes heavy indoctrination on its population through the education system and media.
Lindsey Snell, who reported on the Artsakh War directly on the ground last year, conducted a series of interviews with Azerbaijani and Turkish nationals on their perspective of the Armenian Genocide.
Although the article recounts personal experience of Turks discovering the blatant lies of their own government, one particular testimony was of interest, demonstrating how consolidated the idea that Turkey and Azerbaijan are “two states but one nation.”
A 27-year-old Azerbaijani government worker in Baku told Snell that “the hate we are taught is not limited to Armenians.”
“I grew up learning in school that Turkey rightfully owns all of Cyprus, and that Greece is bad,” he said, adding: “Greeks and Armenians are portrayed as equally bad.”
He also explained that this hatred against Greeks and Armenians is also tied into radical Islam, explaining “they tell us they’re infidels because they aren’t Muslims.”
Despite Greece and Azerbaijan being separated by over 2,000km, Samet, the alias given to the government worker, said “I grew up believing these things with all my heart.”
It is recalled that on September 4 2020, just weeks before the Turkish-sponsored invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh began, Greece’s newly appointed ambassador to Baku, Nikolaos Piperigos, was told by Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev:
I can tell you, and it is no secret, that Turkey is not only our friend and partner, but also a brotherly country for us.
Without any hesitation whatsoever, we support Turkey and will support it under any circumstances.
We support them [Turkey] in all issues, including the issue in the Eastern Mediterranean.