Say what? Trump touts ‘Aber…baijan–Albania’ as a win for peace
Donald Trump was stood in a 16th century manor house in England when he declared he had brought peace to “Aber…baijan”. Apparently, it was accomplished by facilitating handshakes and hugs with Albania.
Say what?
Where on the world map might “Aber…baijan” be?
And what sort of war was it fighting with Albania?
Why? What for? And for how long?
How did Mr Trump know about this Albanian war with Aber…baijan, a conflict that no one else has ever mentioned? In history. Anywhere. Not even Albania!
As it turns out, Mr Trump’s grasp of what’s been going on in the south Caucasus is deeper than many realise and you have to salute his understanding of the subtle but grand sweep of events. Perhaps the US president was feeling the hand of history on his shoulder when he touted his ‘Aber…baijan’-Albania peace deal as a win for everyone?
It’s true that a state called Caucasian Albania once existed in the territory that is now Azerbaijan.
Historical records say the Sasanian Empire (out of ancient Iran) turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state in 252 AD. Unpleasant or not, everything chuntered along for a few hundred years, until the advent of Islam. Caucasian Albania then became a vassal state of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty. After the decline of the Abbasids, the second Muslim dynasty, the 11th century saw the territory’s gradual incorporation into the Turkic sphere of influence.
So that’s Azerbaijan. Or Aber…baijan in Trumpspeak (but what do a few letters matter)!
On to the other party in Mr Trump’s much-advertised peace deal. You’ve probably guessed by now that it was not Albania. In fact, it was Armenia, which has fought three wars in as many decades with Azerbaijan.
In August, Mr Trump hosted Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev at the White House. The peace summit enabled the leaders of those countries to sign the first agreement in their history.
A grand outcome. Peace is always worth it, whatever the cost.
And yet, pedants and pesky media types have insisted on calling out Mr Trump for his “gaffes”. A report in an authoritative outlet seemed to snigger at Mr Trump for mistakenly referring to Armenia as Albania “while claiming to have resolved a conflict with Azerbaijan that never involved the Balkan nation”. The outlet also had the cheek to note the US president’s struggle “with the pronunciation of Azerbaijan, giving a lengthy pause before coming out with ‘Aber…baijan’.”
Other sharp-eyed types have started a spreadsheet that might be the media equivalent of a dossier.
Entry 1: Note from a shifty outlet: “Just days ago, he also told Fox News he had stopped a war between ‘Azerbaijan and Albania’.”
Entry 2: Note from same shifty outlet: “In August, during an appearance on conservative talk show The Mark Levin Show, he stumbled over the pronunciation again: ‘For the Aberbaijan – that was a big one going on for 34, 35 years, er Albania, I mean, think of that, going on for years’.”
