Prof. Dr. İbrahim Öztek, Chairman of the Anatolian Intellectuals' Hearth: "May the great homeland victory be blessed, Karabakh is Azerbaijan" he said.
In his statement on the 1st anniversary of the November 8 Karabakh Victory, Prof. Dr. Öztek said, "From Tsar Peter onwards, the Russian dream of reaching warm seas, coupled with the settlement of Armenians in Azerbaijani lands, gradually disrupted the balance in the South Caucasus. The center of this buffer zone, created between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, was Karabakh. According to Russian strategists, whoever controlled Karabakh would control Anatolia, the geography of Azerbaijan, and Iran. Our defeats after the Ottoman-Russian and Iran-Russian wars of 1813, 1827, and 1828 progressively brought the Russians closer to their goals. The Armenians gathered in the region were trained, equipped, and unleashed upon the Turks for Russian interests. During the First World War, Russian troops, reaching as far as Trabzon, Erzurum, and Muş, also carried out great massacres and genocides in Azerbaijan. In the final months of the Great War, the Caucasus Islamic Army and Nuri Pasha, and later Kazım Karabekir Pasha, taught both Russians and Armenians the necessary lesson, devastating their armies. Azerbaijan's ordeal did not end. In 1990, the Russians entered Azerbaijan with an army of 60,000. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the unrepentant Armenians, with the support of Russian troops, carried out the Khojaly genocide and the occupation of Karabakh in 1992. In the occupied region, Turkic homelands, historical, and cultural assets were plundered. Thousands of our kinsmen were massacred. 1 million of our kinsmen were displaced. This torment and torture lasted for nearly 30 years. Armenia disregarded the decisions of both the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations. However, President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani diaspora, without giving up, kept their righteous cause alive on all global platforms with great effort, always staying ahead of Armenia politically. The cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan in all areas, especially in oil and gas, energy, economy, culture, politics, and military, and Azerbaijan's growing status as the shining star of the Caucasus, infuriated Armenia. From time to time, it made efforts to divert attention away from Karabakh through border provocations. In particular, its aggression towards the strategic Tovuz region, where energy arteries and the railway pass, was the last straw. Following this, the heroic Azerbaijani Turkish soldiers, ready for war, full of faith and belief, sharpened for years against the unjust aggressions of their enemy, launched an offensive from many fronts on July 27, 2020. Assaults from the north, south, and front, close-quarters combat in mountainous regions, an unprecedented Turkey-Azerbaijan solidarity in the world, and successive UAV strikes collapsed the Armenian Armed Forces, forcing Armenia to surrender. One of the greatest gains of the war was the corridor to be opened between Nakhchivan, which is the eastern gate of the Turks, and Azerbaijan. This corridor is a corridor that will unite the Turkic world. The head of this corridor is Turkey, the neck is Azerbaijan, and the body is Great Turkistan," he said.
Stating that the great homeland victory achieved in 44 days proved the righteousness of "Karabakh is Azerbaijan" and ended 30 years of longing, Öztek said, "Azerbaijan liberated its own lands from occupation and reunited the lost homeland territories, for which Azerbaijan longed, with the nation. This victory is not only Azerbaijan's victory but also the victory of the entire Turkic nation. This victory is a significant and undeniable triumph achieved against Russia, America, France, and the entire Western world. Today, we are celebrating the first anniversary of this victory with great enthusiasm. This victory will bring stability to the Caucasus. Our wish is that from now on, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia join hands, and other regional countries also participate in this cooperation, so that our region can develop and prosper in peace. We wish Allah's mercy upon our martyrs who lost their lives for the homeland and healing to our veterans," he concluded.