Azerbaijan says world should not ‘turn a blind eye’ to ‘disgusting practice’ of neo-colonialism

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that the world must not “turn a blind eye” to ongoing practices of neo-colonialism.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, Aliyev said that his country has always promoted one issue during its chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), namely combatting neo-colonialism.

Expressing that most NAM countries have a “very dark and tragic colonial past,” Aliyev said that combatting neo-colonialism is something that Azerbaijan believes in “because we speak for justice, because we speak for international law.”

“We cannot afford today in the 21st century some big European countries to continue to colonize other peoples. This is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

Aliyev further said that Azerbaijan raised this issue during its chairmanship in NAM because it “defends international justice and law,” not due to being against a specific country.

“The world should not turn a blind eye to this disgusting practice of neo-colonialism, which actually leads now to assimilation. Forceful assimilation of more than 10 French overseas territories is absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped,” he said.

He went on to question why European institutions, such as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, sometimes try to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that are outside of Europe.

“Don’t they see that neo-colonialism today continues? Why don't they criticize? Why don't they impose sanctions? Why don’t they raise their voice?” he further questioned.

“We cannot demonstrate hypocrisy and double standards. Or just to ignore or to turn a blind eye when we see that hypocrisy and double standards are demonstrated. When you articulate very pleasant-to-the-ear values of tolerance, dialogue, democracy, human rights, and at the same time continue to colonize more than a dozen overseas territories, this is nothing but hypocrisy,” he added.

He also touched on the situation in the South Caucasus, in regards to which Aliyev said that they are seeing positive trends on the peace track between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as border delimitation and demarcation between Baku and Yerevan.

“This was achieved by two countries without any mediation. This once again demonstrates that we don't need mediators, especially those who pursue their own goals and those who don’t want to help but who want to penetrate in our region for their personal, political, and economic interests,” he said.

He argued that these foreign powers want to “put oil to the fire and explode the Southern Caucasus,” indicating they will not allow this to happen.

“I think Azerbaijan and Armenia, after 30 years of confrontation, clearly understand that we need peace in the Southern Caucasus. And the peace in the Southern Caucasus can be achieved only through normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” he said.