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APPLES, ORANGES OF THE CONFLICT
news.az, Azerbaijan
Oct 31 2011
News.Az reprints a letter published in The Guardian, St Edward's
Island, Canada, entitled "Apples, oranges of the conflict".
In his letter titled "Locked in ethnic and territorial disputes"
in The Guardian of 18 October 2011 (ironically, the day also marked
the 20th anniversary of Azerbaijan's Declaration of Independence),
Henry Srebrnik listed some historical facts and linked them to the
present-day Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Some of
these associations, however, need clarification.
The ideology of [pan-]Turkism, which originated in the 1880s, did not
seek to create a unified Turkic empire, was never directed against
any other group, including the Armenians. It was a social movement for
liberation and modernization of the Turkic-speaking Muslim communities
within the Russian Empire. According to its key ideologists - Ismail
Gasprinski, Ali Huseynzade, and Yusuf Akcura - Turkism was aimed at
a language reform as a way of educating and bringing Turkic peoples
closer to the progressive and secular European values.
The unrelated 1919-1920 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was
not indecisive. Azerbaijani forces defeated Armenian militants and
remained in control of the Mountainous (Nagorno) Karabakh in 1919. The
Allied Powers recognized the authority of Azerbaijan-appointed
governor of Karabakh, Khosrov Sultanov, as did the region's Armenian
community. According to a prominent Armenian scholar, Professor
Richard Hovanissian of UCLA, the Armenian Republic also recognized
Azerbaijan's sovereignty over the Mountainous Karabakh in 1919.
The conflict did not re-emerge in 1991, but in 1987-88, when ethnic
Armenians in Karabakh and in Armenia advanced demands to transfer
the territory from Azerbaijan to Armenia. The first victims of the
conflict were two Azeris killed near the town of Askeran, and the
first refugees of the conflict were Azeris expelled from Kafan and
Gugark districts of Armenia in late 1987.
Neither modern Turkey nor Azerbaijan ever viewed Armenia as an
ideological or geographical barrier for co-operation. A perfect
proof of that is Armenia's neighbour Georgia, an ancient Caucasus
nation that preserved its rich cultural identity while living in
peace and understanding with its Turkic neighbours. So the ball is in
Armenia's court to cease the occupation of Azerbaijani territories,
to disassociate its foreign policy from fairy tales, and to live in
synergy with its ages-old neighbours.
Javid J. Huseynov, Ph.D., general director, Azerbaijani-American
Council (AAC) Los Angeles, California.
This letter was published in The Guardian, St Edward's Island.
news.az, Azerbaijan
Oct 31 2011
News.Az reprints a letter published in The Guardian, St Edward's
Island, Canada, entitled "Apples, oranges of the conflict".
In his letter titled "Locked in ethnic and territorial disputes"
in The Guardian of 18 October 2011 (ironically, the day also marked
the 20th anniversary of Azerbaijan's Declaration of Independence),
Henry Srebrnik listed some historical facts and linked them to the
present-day Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Some of
these associations, however, need clarification.
The ideology of [pan-]Turkism, which originated in the 1880s, did not
seek to create a unified Turkic empire, was never directed against
any other group, including the Armenians. It was a social movement for
liberation and modernization of the Turkic-speaking Muslim communities
within the Russian Empire. According to its key ideologists - Ismail
Gasprinski, Ali Huseynzade, and Yusuf Akcura - Turkism was aimed at
a language reform as a way of educating and bringing Turkic peoples
closer to the progressive and secular European values.
The unrelated 1919-1920 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was
not indecisive. Azerbaijani forces defeated Armenian militants and
remained in control of the Mountainous (Nagorno) Karabakh in 1919. The
Allied Powers recognized the authority of Azerbaijan-appointed
governor of Karabakh, Khosrov Sultanov, as did the region's Armenian
community. According to a prominent Armenian scholar, Professor
Richard Hovanissian of UCLA, the Armenian Republic also recognized
Azerbaijan's sovereignty over the Mountainous Karabakh in 1919.
The conflict did not re-emerge in 1991, but in 1987-88, when ethnic
Armenians in Karabakh and in Armenia advanced demands to transfer
the territory from Azerbaijan to Armenia. The first victims of the
conflict were two Azeris killed near the town of Askeran, and the
first refugees of the conflict were Azeris expelled from Kafan and
Gugark districts of Armenia in late 1987.
Neither modern Turkey nor Azerbaijan ever viewed Armenia as an
ideological or geographical barrier for co-operation. A perfect
proof of that is Armenia's neighbour Georgia, an ancient Caucasus
nation that preserved its rich cultural identity while living in
peace and understanding with its Turkic neighbours. So the ball is in
Armenia's court to cease the occupation of Azerbaijani territories,
to disassociate its foreign policy from fairy tales, and to live in
synergy with its ages-old neighbours.
Javid J. Huseynov, Ph.D., general director, Azerbaijani-American
Council (AAC) Los Angeles, California.
This letter was published in The Guardian, St Edward's Island.