"Propaganda, revisionism and disinformation against Armenia" by Carlo Coppola
la versione italiana di questo articolo di Carlo Coppola si trova su "La Fiaccola" diretto dall'avv. Paolo Scagliarini al seguente indirizzo https://www.lafiaccola.it/wp/propaganda-revisionismo-e-disinformazione-ai-danni-dellarmenia/
«Քարոզչություն, ռեվիզիոնիզմ և ապատեղեկատվություն Հայաստանի դեմ». Կառլո Կոպպոլայի հոդված
Provocative statements from official representatives of Azerbaijan continue in Italy, fueling a tense climate of unfounded accusations, veiled threats and continuous distortions of reality. The one paying the price is above all historical truth, systematically manipulated by a political-media apparatus that alternates victimist attitudes with displays of strength, without ever taking responsibility for its actions.
In recent months, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Holy See has made controversial statements, accusing the Armenians of wanting to “rewrite the history” of the Caucasus. An accusation that is at least paradoxical, considering that it is precisely the Azerbaijani government that has been carrying out an aggressive campaign of revisionism for years, using self-proclaimed scholars, complacent journalists and even poorly informed or appropriately directed religious figures. This is not an attempt at rewriting, but a true invention of history, aimed at erasing the Armenian identity from territories inhabited for centuries, such as Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan. Above all, this is happening after a scandal conference, a real feast of lies in which Azerbaijan has reached one of the most striking levels of media muscle ever.
The physical and cultural elimination of the Armenian people in Azerbaijan has documented origins. From the forced depopulation of Nakhichevan to the exodus induced after the pogrom of Sumgait in February 1988, up to the targeted attacks of recent years, the common thread is always the same: the annihilation of the Armenian presence, accompanied by the systematic denial of the crimes committed. In the pogrom of Sumgait, for about ten days, Armenian civilians were attacked with such brutality that it recalls dystopian scenarios. The violence was never condemned with the necessary firmness by the international community.
Another emblematic episode is the murder of lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, beheaded in his sleep by the Azeri soldier Ramil Safarov during a NATO program in Hungary in 2004. The subsequent extradition and triumphal welcome in Azerbaijan — with official honors — highlights the perverse logic of the regime: rewarding violence when directed against Armenians.
Azeri propaganda has recently been reactivated also through media attacks in Italy. After the armed aggression of July 2020 in the Armenian region of Tavush, unrelated to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Baku's communication machine has once again begun to target not only the Armenian authorities but also independent journalists such as Simone Zoppellaro, who have long been involved in documenting the conflict in the South Caucasus. A parallel front has emerged made up of Italian blogs and pseudo-journalistic portals, of dubious reliability, which have uncritically repeated the official Azeri positions, contributing to the spread of a hostile climate towards the Armenian community in Italy.
In 2020, there was instead the symbolic initiative promoted by Anna Hakobyan, wife of the Armenian Prime Minister, aimed at training a group of women in self-defense techniques. The news, totally decontextualized, was transformed by the pro-government Azeri press into an alleged training of "guerrilla mothers" ready to invade "peaceful territories" of Azeri. Once again, a distorted narrative has been used, leveraging stereotypes and artfully constructed fears.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has even protested the alleged resettlement of Armenian citizens from Lebanon in Nagorno-Karabakh, calling it a violation of territorial sovereignty. But it is, in reality, a symbolic return to a land that historically, culturally and spiritually has belonged to the Armenian people for centuries. The website politicamentecorretto.com, which relaunched these accusations, has once again proven itself not only inadequate on a journalistic level, but complicit in the disinformation orchestrated by Baku.
Faced with this campaign of falsification and intimidation, it is necessary for the European institutions, the OSCE and UNESCO to intervene firmly, promoting educational measures and sanctions to counter the spread of ethnic hatred and cultural denialism. Historical memory and the freedom to exist as a people are not negotiable.
Meanwhile, dozens of Armenian politicians are still being illegally detained in Azerbaijani prisons and subjected to show trials. Among them is the Armenian-Russian-American businessman Rouben Vardanyan, former Minister of State of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Rouben Vardanyan was subjected to torture during his illegal detention, and to these actions he himself has added a hunger strike to call the international authorities to what is happening to him and other fellow sufferers.
Carlo Coppola
