Where did the name ‘Azerbaijanis’ even come from? Timofey Ermakov on Aliyev’s words about ‘occupation’ of Azerbaijan

Journalist and war correspondent Timofey Ermakov, in an interview with Alpha News, commented on Ilham Aliyev’s remarks about the “occupation” of Azerbaijan by the Soviet Union, the agreements between the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the United States in Washington, the transformation of Azerbaijan into a NATO country, as well as the statement by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov about the “positive role” of the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Artsakh.

“Of course, there was no occupation of Azerbaijani territory by the 11th Army. If we look back at history, at that time there were British interventionists who wanted to take over the Nobel oil industry. They were not allowed to do this, and Azerbaijan’s entry into the Soviet Socialist Republics happened voluntarily. Who started calling them ‘Azerbaijanis’? Where did that name even come from? After all, they were mountain Tatars all the way. And at the same time, the territory, resources, industry, mining industry, agriculture in Azerbaijan flourished. By the way, internationalism also flourished. Baku was never a nationalist Azerbaijani city. Armenians, Russians, Jews, and Azerbaijanis, of course, lived there. But we all remember the events of the late 1980s in Baku—how Azerbaijanis ‘repaid’ Armenians, Russians, and everyone else for this coexistence,” Ermakov emphasized.

Addressing the agreements in Washington, the expert noted particular concerns around the repeal of Section 907, announced by Trump.

“The repeal of Section 907 will have a negative impact on the security of the region. When conducting a special military operation in Ukraine, one of our goals was to demilitarize this country. Now one of the requirements in terms of peace agreements is Ukraine’s non-aligned, neutral status. But when dealing with Ukraine, we are on two fronts—military action and a diplomatic presence in another region—we cannot pull back our forces,” the journalist noted.