Yesterday I published a letter from Azerbaijan and included criticism of CTP Secretary General Kutlay Erk and his delegation. Mr. Erk sent a response. I am publishing it verbatim.
“Dear Mr. Cem Kar,
Thank you for sharing this letter with me and asking for my views. I will make a more extensive statement to the public later, but it would also be useful to share some brief information with you. I understand our Azerbaijani brothers’ and sisters’ feelings very well, and I can empathize with them. However, it is useful to respond to certain events on the basis of information and without letting emotions take over. The series of panels I attended was organized by a UK-based organization with an international reputation that undertakes similar work for peace in many conflict zones around the world. The organization explained to us, with unmistakable clarity, and shared with us that the relevant parties had been informed about the implementation of this ‘sensitive’ program, that they had given their approval, and that all necessary permissions had been obtained. Therefore, the claim that this was done ‘without Azerbaijan’s consent’ and the assertion that ‘they did not do it with Baku’s permission’ are not based on accurate information.
In Cyprus, people have suffered greatly, regardless of their ethnic origin; it has always been ordinary people, workers and citizens who have suffered. In Nagorno-Karabakh, the cause of the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict, people have also suffered greatly, regardless of their ethnic origin; there, too, it has always been ordinary people, workers and citizens who have suffered. The economic situation in Cyprus is relatively good at present, but people in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are living in poverty, workers are not receiving the value of their labor, and there is unemployment… In Azerbaijan, a country rich in natural gas, where vast sums are spent on all kinds of armaments from a three-billion-dollar defense budget and bridges are adorned with granite, workers live in poverty, and the average monthly income does not reach five hundred dollars. Armenia is no better… The Armenians currently living in Nagorno-Karabakh are trying to heat their homes with firewood in that cold, snowy climate, in houses with corrugated metal roofs; life in the border villages is below the poverty line… There is only one reason for all this… The peoples are victims of conflict and war, victims of a protracted lack of resolution and the absence of peace… And the peoples want peace; they deserve peace and better living conditions. Those in power who are not unhappy with the status quo, even as they threaten war, can see their people’s desire for peace and are seeking a solution. This is where the deadlock lies: the parties’ policies and approaches to a solution do not yet take their peoples’ need for peace seriously or offer a path to a solution. As a Turkish Cypriot who has lived through similar stages, I would be honored to share my experiences with the suffering and dignified peoples of this sensitive region of the Caucasus and with those who govern them, and to contribute to world peace. I did not submit to regimes in my own country in the cause of peace, and I will not submit to any regime in order to contribute to world peace… Peace is the right and aspiration of peoples; as an internationalist, revolutionary and libertarian socialist, I will not allow my efforts for peace to be subjected to the threats of any regime.
The work I did was intended to contribute to the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples living in their own lands in peace and good-neighborly relations. I did not stab the Azerbaijani people in the back, nor did I stab the Armenian people in the back; I shared my experiences and knowledge in international solidarity with the peoples. I saw that the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples have suffered the same things I have: blood, tears, loss of life and property, displacement… Extreme nationalism, aggression… And the groups that benefit from these things…
As for Azerbaijan’s relations with Turkish Cypriots, we appreciated its well-intentioned approaches. We have never doubted the brotherhood of the people of dear Azerbaijan. However, the Baku–Ercan flight took place once, and even then it did not fully happen and ended in disappointment. Our representative office in Baku could not become a diplomatic mission; it is there as the representative office of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, and it is not invited to every official ceremony… The reason is that the leaders of the people of dear Azerbaijan are wary of the Greek Cypriots… They will neither establish official relations with Turkish Cypriots because they fear them, nor will they allow Turkish Cypriots’ efforts to contribute to the Azerbaijani people’s right and aspiration to peace without threatening them?!… What is being done to me is what Greek Cypriots do to Turkish Cypriots. The deterrent threats made by Greek Cypriots to those who wish to visit the TRNC and meet with the President of the TRNC and members of its government are an issue I raise in my international contacts, asking my interlocutors not to give in to them and criticizing those who do, by asking, ‘Why are you so afraid?’ If I accepted a political practice that I oppose when it is applied to me, that would be political inconsistency and a lack of principles.
I am confident that the work I have done in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will contribute to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, efforts to find a solution and peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and even the improvement of Türkiye-Armenia relations. For this reason, if the Azerbaijani authorities ban me from entering Azerbaijan because I have cracked the hard shell of the existing status quos, I want to say that I would consider this decision an overreaction and would also undertake efforts in opposition to it, while continuing my internationalist solidarity with the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples on the path to peace.
Kutlay Erk”
That is how the parties involved have approached this issue, which arose and was discussed during the week. I hope the questions that have come to mind have been answered. Until next time...