Heydar Aliyev is not Azerbaijani, he is Kurdish: Gabrielyanov

Aram Gabrielyanov, the president of News Media publishing house, responded to our Moscow correspondent Vahe Avanesyan's questions. In the excerpt below, Gabrielyanov discusses the persona of Erdoğan, the genealogy of Ilham Aliyev, the power clan in Azerbaijan, societal issues, and the ethnic groups living in Azerbaijan.

Question: Russia entered Syria to protect its interests. Now you say Turkey is entering Nagorno-Karabakh, which is 80 kilometers away from Russia. It is clear that this territory is in the Russian sphere of interest. Can Russia diplomatically stop Turkey?

“Honestly, I don’t believe that Erdoğan can be stopped diplomatically. I do not believe it. I understand his psychological type. He behaved in the same way in Syria, do you remember? He shot down a Russian plane. Many do not know this; now I will say: that plane was shot down by Turkmen. There was a large mountain there. Turkmen lived on that mountain. Do you know that now that mountain is gone? In two weeks, the Russian armed forces completely removed that mountain, along with all its inhabitants and everything. Now there is no mountain, nothing is left, it’s empty land. Putin’s revenge was very harsh. He simply removed that mountain, and that’s it; now no Turkmen lives there. Now Erdoğan is trying to take revenge for Syria and do something here. I believe that when Russia finally realizes that Turks, Arab terrorists, and Iran are raising tensions, something will happen. I think they have a plan—they want to extend to the border with Iran. There are 30 million Iranian Azerbaijanis there. Essentially, Aliyev is nothing here. Look, the general staff is Turkish, all commanders of large units and corps are Turks, all military instructors are Turks. In other words, Aliyev is nothing there, and he can no longer push Erdoğan out of there. If you notice, under Russian pressure, Aliyev starts to swim. He said they would sign a document, do you remember? They discussed one document for 10 hours, but the next morning, Aliyev's assistant announced that the agreement would not work without Turkey, and so on. It is clear that the Turks have pressed them and said, ‘What are you doing, guys?’ Erdoğan is directly blackmailing Aliyev and Azerbaijan. He says, ‘Do you want to be friends with the Russians? Well, then, I’m taking my generals, military personnel, and advisors, and Armenians will be at the borders of Baku in two weeks.’ Aliyev understands this very well; he also realizes the condition of the Azerbaijani army and the army of Nagorno-Karabakh. Why do they constantly shell from afar, bomb from above, and there is no open battle? He understands very well that there was an open battle in Hadrut, and within a few hours, we eliminated them.”

Question: So, has Aliyev trapped himself?

“Aliyev is trapped, but the deeper he goes, the more trapped he becomes. To be honest, what does Aliyev want? He wants to leave power to his son after he steps down—that Heydar Ilhamovich becomes president. Well, that is understandable. It’s that kind of country, that kind of nation. Officials pass on their chairs to their descendants. If you are a factory director, then your grandson will be the director after you. That’s how it is in Azerbaijan. If you are the police chief of a certain district, then that district is yours. They say, ‘This is my district,’ and later his grandson will say, ‘This is my district.’ What, I haven’t lived in Baku? I don’t know this? Everything is like that there; there is no freedom, there are no free elections like in Armenia. On one hand, this is bad for the Armenians, as new political processes will begin, while on the other hand, the Armenians are the kind of nation that will not submit. Meanwhile, people there endure with their heads bowed; if you raise your head, you will get hit, and that’s it. What choice, what voting? Do you understand? The president of the country appoints his wife as the first vice president, and the second vice president must be his horse. The third vice president would be the mother-in-law or some other person, say a chef. The whole essence is in this, do you understand? He is not a political player. He saves himself and says, ‘It’s me, it’s me.’ There is an Azerbaijani expression, meaning ‘I am who I am,’ that is exactly what he says, but he is nothing; he is a soap bubble that, if touched, will burst; he is nothing, without the Turks he is nothing. Yes, I understand that behind them stands Turkey with 90 million people, with its army, with its Erdoğan, but the time will come when Erdoğan will deal with him the same way he dealt with Assad. The situation was exactly the same. Almost the entire army of Assad was managed by Turkey, then everything changed when Assad realized that he was becoming nothing. Aliyev is now like a woman who has married but does not like her husband and is trying to escape somehow, but it doesn’t work. I am convinced that nothing will work out for Ilham. Time will pass, Erdoğan will remove him, and appoint some Turkish nationalist similar to him.”

Question: That is, if Russia maintains a certain territory?

“I can hardly imagine that Russia could influence Ilham now; I can hardly imagine that. This is similar to the situation with Zelensky. Zelensky was also trying to somehow avoid the Americans, but they told him, ‘Come here, we’ll put you in your place,’ and Ilham is very much like Zelensky; he is simply controlled by the Americans. Everyone knows that an entire floor in the building of the Ukrainian Security Service is occupied by American special services. I assure you that in the building of the Azerbaijani Security Service, one floor is occupied by Azerbaijanis, while the remaining floors—by Turks. There, Azerbaijanis are guests. They are told who sits where, who stands where, who does what. I understand that system. Azerbaijanis, you know, look at Turks the way villagers look at city dwellers when they come to town. Azerbaijanis are an under-educated, inferior people compared to Turks. Most of them will suffer; there are kind people among them. I had a good neighbor in Derbent; he was an Azerbaijani. You know, when you are good neighbors, everything is normal, but when someone wants to take something from you, you should hit them in the teeth. They will suffer and endure, do you understand? They look at the Turks as educated great men who will teach them. And also, you know that there is no such nationality as ‘Azerbaijani.’ It is an artificially created nationality consisting of several dozen tribes and different nations. When I lived in Derbent, when an Azerbaijani married a girl, he never said, ‘I give my daughter to an Azerbaijani,’ while Armenians said, ‘I am marrying my daughter to an Armenian.’ Azerbaijanis never said that. They would say, for example, ‘I am marrying my daughter to a Gajar,’ the Gajari being one of the Turkish tribes that make up Azerbaijan.”

Question: Mainly these are the Tatars of the South Caucasus?

“Yes, but they are not even Tatars; they are Turkish tribes. Lenin called them Tatars; this is also an artificial name. They created Azerbaijan from these Turkish tribes and got an artificial nationality. Let me tell you something else; many do not know about this. Aliyev himself is not Azerbaijani. He is Kurdish; the old Azerbaijanis know this. Heydar Aliyev is Kurdish; there are documents proving that he was admitted to the party's higher school through a quota for Kurds. All of this exists; it has been published. The journalist who uncovered and proved this is no longer alive; he was killed in Azerbaijan. Currently, a clan is ruling in Azerbaijan that is plundering the country. If we take ordinary Azerbaijanis, they are not richer than Armenians. Now, of course, they are in an emotional state, shouting, ‘Our lands, our lands.’ Well, what can I say, if you can, take them.”