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TURCOTTE: ON SAFAROV AND ARTSAKH
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/10/23/turcotte-on-safarov-and-artsakh/
October 23, 2012
By Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte
As an Armenian refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan, senseless, violent
acts committed against innocent Armenian women, men, and children by
Azeris no longer shock me. I was forced to grow up with their hatred
and violence, committed on the basis of nationality alone. It doesn't
surprise me in the least.
Safarov In 1988, the Azeri government orchestrated pogroms on the
Armenian citizens of Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku. Twenty-some
years later, the existing Azeri government hardly differs from its
predecessor in its continual propaganda and education of ignorance,
distrust, and obsessive hatred toward Armenians as a whole.
The brutal murder of Armenian officer Gourgen Markarian in Budapest in
2004 is no exception. The Azeri officer, Ramil Safarov, who murdered
the sleeping victim with an axe was sentenced to life in prison by the
Hungarian judicial system. That is where the story should have ended.
But of course the story doesn't end there, and that is because we're
talking about Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani bribery and corruption
machine is in full force, as oil money keeps flooding the pockets
of the Aliyevs. While the general population is not thriving
economically, as would be expected, the government wields its money
to buy championship trophies, build enormous structures to show
off its fortune, and buy its power. It's done within the region,
and apparently it's now done outside of the region.
Hungary's extradition of a brutal murderer back to Azerbaijan is not
an isolated event that hurts officer Markarian's family alone. That
act, and the subsequent pardon of the murderer, Safarov, by the Azeri
government are quite possibly a violation of international law and
a clear message to the world that Azerbaijan is not a democracy
that respects international law and human rights of all mankind,
as it proclaims.
Aside from the pain I feel as an Armenian-with my home uprooted and
destroyed, my childhood demolished-I also feel the pain of history
repeating itself: The Azeris slaughtered Armenians in Azerbaijan in
1980's. The Turks slaughtered Armenians during the genocide in 1915.
No one is brought to justice. The world turns away. And it is happening
again. It cannot happen again. We cannot let it happen again.
The world, along with Hungary, must stand by the Armenians. The world
must see the Azeri dictatorship for what it is, in all its violence.
And Nagorno-Karabagh Armenians must be free from Azeri rule. Because
if an Azeri "hero" can slaughter an Armenian in his sleep on foreign
soil and get praised for it, imagine what he will do within his own
borders. The Nagorno-Karabagh Republic must be independent. Now more
than ever.
Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte is the author of Nowhere, a Story
of Exile.
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/10/23/turcotte-on-safarov-and-artsakh/
October 23, 2012
By Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte
As an Armenian refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan, senseless, violent
acts committed against innocent Armenian women, men, and children by
Azeris no longer shock me. I was forced to grow up with their hatred
and violence, committed on the basis of nationality alone. It doesn't
surprise me in the least.
Safarov In 1988, the Azeri government orchestrated pogroms on the
Armenian citizens of Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku. Twenty-some
years later, the existing Azeri government hardly differs from its
predecessor in its continual propaganda and education of ignorance,
distrust, and obsessive hatred toward Armenians as a whole.
The brutal murder of Armenian officer Gourgen Markarian in Budapest in
2004 is no exception. The Azeri officer, Ramil Safarov, who murdered
the sleeping victim with an axe was sentenced to life in prison by the
Hungarian judicial system. That is where the story should have ended.
But of course the story doesn't end there, and that is because we're
talking about Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani bribery and corruption
machine is in full force, as oil money keeps flooding the pockets
of the Aliyevs. While the general population is not thriving
economically, as would be expected, the government wields its money
to buy championship trophies, build enormous structures to show
off its fortune, and buy its power. It's done within the region,
and apparently it's now done outside of the region.
Hungary's extradition of a brutal murderer back to Azerbaijan is not
an isolated event that hurts officer Markarian's family alone. That
act, and the subsequent pardon of the murderer, Safarov, by the Azeri
government are quite possibly a violation of international law and
a clear message to the world that Azerbaijan is not a democracy
that respects international law and human rights of all mankind,
as it proclaims.
Aside from the pain I feel as an Armenian-with my home uprooted and
destroyed, my childhood demolished-I also feel the pain of history
repeating itself: The Azeris slaughtered Armenians in Azerbaijan in
1980's. The Turks slaughtered Armenians during the genocide in 1915.
No one is brought to justice. The world turns away. And it is happening
again. It cannot happen again. We cannot let it happen again.
The world, along with Hungary, must stand by the Armenians. The world
must see the Azeri dictatorship for what it is, in all its violence.
And Nagorno-Karabagh Armenians must be free from Azeri rule. Because
if an Azeri "hero" can slaughter an Armenian in his sleep on foreign
soil and get praised for it, imagine what he will do within his own
borders. The Nagorno-Karabagh Republic must be independent. Now more
than ever.
Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte is the author of Nowhere, a Story
of Exile.