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Religious historian Michael Hesemann believes the war in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh is a war of Turkey's puppet regime of Aliyev against Armenia – which is the lighthouse of civilization in the midst of barbarism. He believes that Turkey’s goal is to silence the Armenian genocide by silencing the Armenian nation. Dr. Hesemann calls for stopping Erdogan and condemns Israel’s sales of weapons to Azerbaijan, saying that Artsakh is a red line that shouldn’t be crossed.

• Dr. Hesemann, as a historian who studied the Armenian genocide, can you comment on the current military-political support of Turkey on behalf of Azerbaijan against The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/Artsakh and Armenia in the light of Turkey’s long-term goals? 

Turkey feels threatened by Armenia because more and more nations recognize the Armenian genocide. Everybody who is a member of the ruling class in Turkey today owes his riches and possessions to the Armenian genocide. Thousands of Turks robbed the Armenians and their houses after they were either directly massacred or sent on the death marches to the Syrian desert. So if indeed an international court would serve justice and demand a compensation from Turkey, just like Germany supports the state of Israel with billions of Euros as a compensation for the murder of 6 million Jews during the holocaust, Turkey with its fragile economy would collapse. This is why Turkey tries everything to silence talks about the Armenian genocide – and now tries to silence the Armenian nation! This is not a war of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, but a war of Turkey's puppet regime against Armenia – always keep this in mind.

• What measures by the international community (especially countries that have recognized the genocide) can be effective in putting a stop to Azerbaijan’s aggression, if any? You once said, "had Turkey been condemned for genocide, the situation in Middle East would have been different". How about the current situation?

Turkey should become a total outlaw until it recognizes the Armenian genocide. You can only prevent future genocides if you don't let anyone get away with it. Genocide should be considered an unforgivable, major crime against humanity which in any case requires adequate retaliation. The denial of any recognized genocide, not just the holocaust, should automatically cause sanctions on the responsible state. The international community should recognize Artsakh, which has been an Armenian land for 5000 years or more; so is Western Armenia. Turkey broke the taboo of international justice and re-introduced genocide into modern history.

The Armenian genocide was the role model for the holocaust and any other subsequent genocides. Also, Neo-Ottoman aspirations caused the terrorist war in Syria, in Iraq and now in Libya and Artsakh. Turkey is the main aggressor in any of those cases, the power behind the murderous civil war in Syria, behind Islamist terrorism, behind the chaotic situation in Libya. First of all, Turkey deserves no place in NATO. It should be outlawed until it learns that terror is not a method of 21st century policy any longer. If Turkey is not willing to become a civilized nation, the international community should reinforce the Treaty of Sevres and return the stolen territory to the Greeks, the Armenians, the Kurds, the Aramaic and the Assyrians.

• As a citizen of Germany – a country which apologized and paid Israel for holocaust, how do you feel about Israel providing massive amount of arms to Azerbaijan fueling its intentions to destroy Artsakh and Armenians?

I love the state of Israel and would defend the Jewish homeland at all cost. But Israel ignores that holocaust was a brainchild of Turkish Islamic-fascism and that the Turks even planned to massacre the Jewish Zionist settlers in Palestine in 1917 and now they support Azerbaijan! This is a Schande – a great shame! Israel should be a natural ally of the Armenian people, especially because of their common history. I can only call the Israeli alliance with Azerbaijan extremely short-sighted, because Azerbaijan is just the puppet state of Turkey and Erdogan already openly declared that the ultimate goal of his policy is the "liberation" of Jerusalem, the Israeli capital. Liberated from whom? From the Israelis and from the Jews. The murderer of Armenians today is the murderer of the Jews tomorrow. Any Israeli who supports Erdogan should know that he supports the new Hitler, the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people and the great, beloved nation of Israel!

• Why should the world care about Armenia and about stopping Erdogan? To what extent do you see this as a fight against civilization or Christianity? What consequences would this have for Europe and the civilized world?

Because Armenia is a lighthouse of civilization in the midst of barbarism. The Armenians by nature are a peaceful nation of artists and intellectuals. Armenia has given so much to the world and has the potential to give even more. Armenians just need to live in peace. That's their nature. They are builders of civilizations, not destroyers. The civilized world has the responsibility to protect a peaceful civilized nation against any aggressor. Erdogan is the Hitler of our times. He inserted Islamist terrorism into Syria and Libya, he supported Islamist terrorism in Egypt. Why nobody stops him? Why is there appeasement everywhere, like there was in Munich 1938? Artsakh should be the red line.

The world should get up and tell the most dangerous dictator of our times, Mr. Erdogan, to stop now or he would be stopped. The Turkish aggression has to end right here and now. Not one step further. Otherwise, he will also go for Jerusalem, attack Israel, and then we all have to expect World War III. If you learned anything from history, from the great mistake of the masters of the "Appeasement" policy in Munich 1938, it is this: Never give any dictator the impression that the world would hesitate and close its eyes, since this always is understood as a permission to go one step further. Erdogan has to be stopped now by the international community, before it is too late. If we wait, we will all regret it sooner rather than later.

Interview by Nvard Chalikyan