Court of the Caliph: BC Hotseat Council Thread

[rossahh]

ooc: I haven't received any diplomatic offers from you in game yet. I sent you a diplomat with an offer last turn. You should talk to BZ though (you'll understand when you do - but keep in mind that happened after my last turn).

[Banzai Kamikaze]

The entire Ayyubid delegation cheers at the words of the Caliph. The Ayyubid ambassador seems relieved

Allah has blessed us, for he has guided these negociations towards success.

Bless the Caliph, for without him, blood would continue to flow in the rivers of Anatolia.

The Ayyubids are greatly pleased by this peace treaty, and hope it will last.

We would like to congratulate the Turks, the Romans and the Armenians for concluding peace.

I would like to formally invite all of the ambassadors for a feast, to celebrate the dawn of a new age.

[phonicsmonkey]

The Caliph is visibly delighted at the prospect of a feast hosted by the Ayyubid ambassador.

[rossahh]

Seizing upon what the Turk just said

Oh, so if Armenia is united with you in foreign policy, what you are saying is that a mere season (turn) after offering and receiving a cease fire agreement, the Armenians declared war upon the Kingdom?

Or worse still, as you were a collective on these matters, did you negotiate a cease fire, only to violate it a season later by attacking us?


And you say we have no concept of honour!

[Askthepizzaguy]

What I am saying is that since you negotiated only a cease fire with the Armenians, and refused any such thing with the Turks, the cease fire is invalid.

The Turk rolls his eyes at the Jerusalem ambassador

You cannot be at peace with the Armenians and not with the Turks. According to the Treaty of Adana, we are one nation and we have one foreign policy. Since they are technically our protectorate according to the treaty, the proper course of action is to contact US in matters of foreign policy, as stated in the treaty which was made public to all.

Hands a copy of the treaty to an aide, who places it at the feet of the Jerusalem ambassador, and with a slight bow, returns to the delegate table.

[rossahh]

The man from Jerusalem kicks the scroll away


Your memory is fading somewhat. This is about what happened before the war between us started with your attack on our Cicillian holdings. Your words do not make sense. How could there be any cease fire arrangement with the Turks before there was any conflict?

[Askthepizzaguy]

You declared war on our ally... according to the terms of the treaty, that makes you our enemies. Our strike against your prone territories was the only thing we could do to help Armenia militarily, besides attacking Rome. And as for the cease-fire with Armenia, they have publicly stated what a hostage negotiation that was, and how glad they are that we have intervened on their behalf. It seems the only person who thought there was a real cease fire was you.

Now you can either discuss a real cease fire with us or not. We've wasted enough time talking about this. Any agreement must be a fair return to the status quo prior to the Armenian massacre and it must include both Turkey and Armenia, otherwise we will throw it out, like we did with your ever-so-generous ceasefire agreement with Armenia, which even the rats which nibble on those tattered scrolls now spit upon.

[rossahh]

The ambassador hears the Turks words and hurriedly motions to someone behind him. A scroll is passed forward, and the ambassador begins to read the Turks' own words back to him.


"In fact, on a more positive note, we seem to have reached a peace arrangement with the Latin kingdom, and we will verify this shortly. Therefore, we wish to make clear our position; Jerusalem is not an enemy of the Turks. Those who attack Jerusalem without just cause will not be friends of the Turks. That is the official position of the Sultanate of Rum.

We are committed to peace, great council. Since the Kingdom of Jerusalem has accepted the terms of a peace agreement, we must now press the Romans to do the same. Until then, we regret that we are still at war with the Imperialist aggressors."


The man looks up at the Turkish delegation briefly, before continuing.


"Forgive my servant, honorable messenger of King Baldwin. If you speak the truth, then there shall be no war. It has always been the stated policy of the Sultanate of Rum that we shall brook no aggression, we will arm ourselves to destroy aggressor states, but we will not be the ones who start wars against peaceful factions.

If you are serious about peace, then you shall have it. We have far more important matters to attend to on the Roman front, anyway."


The man hands the scroll back to one of those seated behind him, before facing the Turkish delegation once more.


Like I said, you seemed to have forgotten your own words and your nation's actions. I shall spell out the order of events for the court and yourself, as you have seen to forgotten them:

After Jerusalem attacked Armenia, you publicly declared war. Therefore, Jerusalem was at war with Armenia and the Sultanate.

The Turkish Sultanate concluded a peace where Jerusalem would cease attacking Armenia and let the refugees and survivors flee in Turkish-held Anatolia. The eastern part of Cicillia remained under the control of the Kingdom. Therefore, Jerusalem was at peace with the Turks but still technically at war with Armenia, though the fighting has stopped.

Armenia OFFERED a cease fire, which we, thinking that the war was over between Jerusalem and the nations of Anatolia, accepted gladly. Therefore, Jerusalem was at peace with both Armenia and the Turks.

The very next season, the Turkish Sultanate attacked our possessions in Cicillia, thereby declaring war on Jerusalem again, after already engineering peace less than a year before. And as you say the Armenians are united in your foreign policy, Jerusalem was at war with both the Turks and Armenia again, yet had just concluded a peace with both of them.

That is the way it stands at the moment, and so far you have rejected our cease fire proposals because you do not feel that we are in a position to demand compensation (for something slightly more complicated than ->), despite being suddenly attacked by a 'peaceful' nation. Likewise, we have rejected your proposal (I got one this turn) as there is absolutely no possibility of us rewarding you with a sum of money, no matter how small, for attacking us.


And you once accused us of not following our words, yet look at your own actions!

Do you not see how decietful both your nations have been to us?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Ah pity the poor kingdom of Jerusalem... yes indeed, we have been such terrible neighbors to you.

We sit idly by while you rape and pillage Armenia openly, not even bothering to hide your actions before the council. We sent an invasion army against Rome in the hope of limiting the war to one front. Hopefully Armenia was to fight a guerrilla war against you, but indeed they only succeeded against Rome and triumphed valliantly. Then you abandoned your lands, allowing Rome to take them by force (the ONLY reason someone would so this is so that they could pillage the city, which in an action objected to OOC by other players besides myself) and we were able to acquire your abandoned land.

Your cease-fire with Armenia was a farce, and now we can openly treat it as such. Surely you must have thought Armenia signed it as a delaying tactic, perhaps? Or to spare their lives from your unprovoked aggression and massacre?

Ah but they lied to you when they signed the cease fire. And so did we. So that makes us the bad guys.

Arrest me! I'm a criminal! Put me in chains, for I deserve to be crucified for this horrendous atrocity!

As stated above. A real cease-fire would include the restoration of Armenia, and nothing short of that. And by the way, since I managed to accomplish that, and through peace with Rome, that is now possible, I offered you a cease fire. I have allies that require my assistance in the East, and this squabbling is pointless.

Either you can accept the terms of an honourable and equitable ceasefire which doesn't even chastise you for your involvement in attempted GENOCIDE, or you can reject the cease-fire again. It doesn't matter to me.