generalspeaking

Nagorno-Karabakh's Travails

"Turkey expects Canada to follow a policy free of double standards and to act without being influenced from those opposed to Turkey."

"There is no explanation of blocking defence equipment exports to a NATO ally while … Canada does not see any harm in exporting arms to countries that have military involvement in the crisis in Yemen."

Turkish Foreign Ministry

"Over the last several days, certain allegations have been made regarding Canadian technology being used in the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. In line with Canada's robust export control regime and due to the ongoing hostilities, I have suspended the relevant export permits to Turkey, so as to allow time to further assess the situation."                                                                                                    Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne

"[Turkey will stand with its ally Azerbaijan until it reaches] victory. [The international community's silence in the face of past Armenian aggression encouraged it to attack Azerbaijani territory]."

"In truth, lending support to Azerbaijan's struggle to liberate territories that have been occupied is the duty of every honourable nation. It is not possible for the world to reach lasting peace and calm without getting rid of bandit states and their bandit leaders."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 

An unexploded projectile of a multiple rocket launcher stuck in a street after shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery during a military conflict in Stepanakert, self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Monday, Oct. 5, 2020. (David Ghahramanyan via AP)

In a classic agreement to disagree two NATO partners are in disagreement over effectively aiding one to help an ally in its conflict with another. Canada professes to have humanitarian, ethical and moral standards when it comes to warfare and military engagements, loathe to supply warring parties with armaments manufactured in Canada and exported to countries engaged in warfare. Turkey has far fewer scruples under its President Erdogan, claiming the right as an Islamic nation to aid and abet other Islamic nations in contests with non-Muslim countries.

And such is the affair between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is a tricky situation when one has citizens of both Azeri and Armenian ancestry, both groups declaring their adopted country, as expats of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, view their ancestral homes with favour. Neutrality is not a vote-winner. And interfering in the affairs of other nations, other than to urge calm and dialogue over violent militarism is not welcome in the theatre of engagement.

Canada has taken action to suspend arms exports to Turkey. It is taking time out to investigate credible claims of drone-sensor technology originating in Canada and exported to Turkey where those exports are mysteriously now in the hands of Azerbaijan and being used as high-tech military drones to smash the old Soviet-era tanks still in use in Nagorno-Karabakh. Canada wants no part of it, in the sense that Canadian-manufactured arms are being used to bomb civilian areas ... as they are.

 

Smoke rises above the city during a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Stepanakert, October 4, 2020 [Bars Media Documentary Film Studio/Reuters]

 

"We will gather further evidence to make sure that all exports comply with the spirit and the letter of the law", said Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Champagne. Which is to say Canadian law. Turkey, though a fellow-nation-member of the NATO alliance, faces allegations of involvement in the conflict taking place anew between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the disputed region of the Caucasus, the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where the last major dust-up was deadly for countless people, and where destroyed infrastructure has not yet been repaired or replaced.

Arms watchdogs have been raising the alarm, along with Armenian Canadians revolving around the export of a targeting sensor produced by a Burlington, Ontario manufacturer. And so, the export permits have been temporarily suspended until such time as the situation can be more intensely assessed. Project Ploughshares, the Canadian disarmament group, issued a report that Turkey is increasingly making use of a targeting sensor made by L3Harris WESCAM, Canadian subsidiary of L3Harris, an American company.

That being the case, there is a risk of human rights abuses; anathema to a country like Canada. Ploughshares' report claims that Turkey has made use of the sensors since 2017 while its military has been employing them in meeting an insurgency in southeast Turkey. Clearly enough against the Turkish-Kurdish population, long a target for Turkish reprisals for Kurdish aspirations for a geographic split of their traditional heritage lands encompassing corners of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan bridles with unmitigated fury at some words and concepts, and 'Kurds' and 'Kurdistan' and 'PKK' send him into an absolute fury of detestation. That he makes use of highly technical weaponry against the Kurds when denying them all aspects of their culture, their language, much less their heritage territorial aspirations fails to diminish their ambitions, it is no surprise he turns to violent repression and attacks.

And he sees no reason why those same methods and the military hardware to go with them, not be given to his friends and allies in their never-settled war against a neighbour over a disputed enclave. It's just that Canada wants no part of it. Moreover, the Armenian National Committee of Canada has rallied to call on their federal government "to condemn this outright aggression" by Azerbaijan, and to waste no time in halting arms exports to Turkey that mysteriously make their way to the Azeris.

Stepanakert, capital of Nagorno-Karabakh is reported to be without electricity after the shelling   EPA

Labels: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Military Hardware, Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, October 07, 2020