The Supreme Commander-in-Chief and head of state raised the Azerbaijani flag in Aghdara, Khojaly, Khojavand, and finally on the main square in Khankendi, inspected the office of the leaders of the illegal junta…
But there was another image in the coverage from Hankendi that rubbed many like sandpaper.
“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who trampled on the Artsakh flag for the entire international community to see, continues to revel in his impunity,” Armenian Telegram channels writhe in hysterics. “Ilham Aliyev toured Stepanakert, the city that was the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. He walked on its flag in his army boots,” wails the quasi liberal Russian Meduza.
Some even go as far as to talk about the need to “respect for the flag” and so on. First of all, let us recall the demonstrative abuse of the Azerbaijani flag by the occupants throughout the 30 years of the conflict. The Azerbaijani flag was thrown under the feet of the President of Armenia right in the parliament of that country as everybody there laughed and hooted.
Video from Armenia parliament where they throwing flag of Azerbaijan under foots of president of Armenia, and this after ethnical cleanse of 700,000 Azerbaijanis and invasion of 20% Azerbaijanis territories.
Did any of hypocrites bithching today write a word about that? No. So… https://t.co/vCbXaPTGz2 pic.twitter.com/GUz19BzcAK
— Диана 🇺🇦🇦🇿 (@4nevereveragain) October 17, 2023
At the Lachin checkpoint, our border guards detained a bunch of young so-called football players who defiled the Azerbaijani flag on camera, shared that on social media and were sure that they would not be punished for it. At the local “museum” in Khankendi, the Azerbaijani flag was deliberately thrown under the feet of visitors at the stand with portraits of “Azatamartiks”, i.e., participants of the first Karabakh war, a photo of a military parade and a model of the Shusha fortress.
Such examples are too many to mention, and there is no doubt that this was the usual modus operandi. Where were all these “flag respect experts” then?
Once again: the Armenian occupants defiled the flag of Azerbaijan, a state recognized by the international community, on the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, and no one even wagged a finger at them. And yet the footage of President Ilham Aliyev’s trip to Khankendi, which caused hysterics among the Armenian crowd and Russian liberals, does not even show the state symbols of Armenia, which incidentally have no business being on the territory of Azerbaijan in the first place.
We are talking about the “Tetris” rag that the unrecognized junta in Khankendi declared as its symbol. Are we now expected to show reverence and respect for this rag? Are those characters who lecture us on this kind of morals even aware of the difference between recognized states and their flags and such regimes?
Historian Professor Shirmammad Huseynov did say: “A flag is a piece of cloth, but not any piece of cloth is a flag”. It is fair and appropriate to talk about respect for a flag when it is indeed a state symbol. And even then, it is necessary to distinguish between state symbols and symbols of occupation.
Ilham Aliyev, President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was drawing the final line in the protracted conflict in Khankendi on October 15, and he had every reason to exercise his right of the victor.
Anyone familiar with the military protocol knows how the symbols of invaders are dealt with in the previously occupied and now liberated lands. Here is a reminder: in the 44 days of the Patriotic War, the symbols of the invaders in the previously occupied and now liberated Azerbaijani lands repeatedly ended up under the army boots of our heroic warriors. And it was absolutely right, fair and in full compliance with the military protocol and the right of the victor.
The same thing is now happening after the defeat of the junta in less than 24 hours. And, how should we put it, if the Armenian and pro-Armenian crowd did not want to see their flag under someone else’s boots, they should not have raised it on someone else’s territory. And when fleeing from someone else’s territory, they should have taken with them not only toilet bowls, but also their Tetris rags, if they cared so much about them. What they definitely should not do is try to lecture that someone.
