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FORMER AZERI COMMANDER VISITS ARTSAKH
http://asbarez.com/114375/former-azeri-commander-visits-artsakh/
Thursday, September 26th, 2013
Alikram Hummatov, former Azerbaijani deputy defense minister, speaks
in Stepanakert (Photo courtesy of RFE/RL)
STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL)-An exiled former Azerbaijani military leader
currently campaigning for the rights of an ethnic minority in
Azerbaijan visited Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday two decades after
confronting Karabakh Armenian forces on the battlefield.
Alikram Hummatov, a retired colonel who had served as Azerbaijan's
deputy defense minister, deplored the 1991-1994 war and called for a
peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as he met with
university students in Stepanakert. His messages of peace and criticism
of the current Azerbaijani government repeatedly drew cheers from an
audience that is too young to remember the horrors of the war.
"It's nice to be in Artsakh," Hummatov declared, using the Armenian
name of the disputed territory. "I believe that we must do everything
to establish peace in the region so that our beloved children live,
create and study in peaceful conditions."
"I always say that if you fight in a war like a real man, you must
also be able to make peace like a real man," he added.
Asked by RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) how he feels about
visiting a region which he had sought to forcibly put back under
Azerbaijani control, Hummatov said, "Yes, I went to war against
Nagorno-Karabakh and I don't make secret of that, but today I hate
war because of having seen it. What gave me the right to send young
men to the battlefield? This and many other questions are keeping
me restless?"
Hummatov, who also met with Karabakh parliament speaker Ashot Ghulian,
rose to prominence in Azerbaijan in late 1991 as one of the organizers
of first Azerbaijani army units. He set up a battalion, subsequently
expanded into a brigade, that largely consisted of fellow Talysh, an
Iranian-speaking ethnic group concentrated in Azerbaijan's southeastern
region bordering Iran. The unit battled Armenian forces at various
sections of the Karabakh frontline in 1992-1993.
Hummatov became deputy defense minister several months before
proclaiming in June 1993 a short-lived Talysh-Mughan Autonomous
Republic amid political turmoil in Baku. He was deposed and arrested
later in 1993. He subsequently received a life sentence on prison
charges.
The Azerbaijani authorities pardoned and freed Hummatov in 2004 under
pressure from the Council of Europe. The 65-year-old has since lived
in Europe.
Hummatov traveled to Karabakh from Armenia where he inaugurated
on Tuesday a graduate program of Talysh studies at Yerevan State
University (YSU). Addressing dozens of university professors and
students, he praised the initiative approved and clearly encouraged by
the Armenian government. He claimed that the Azerbaijani authorities
have been suppressing the cultural rights of Talysh as part of a
long-running policy of forced assimilation.
According to the Regnum news agency, Hummatov also called for
the revival of the Talysh republic, suggesting that it form a
"confederation" with the rest of Azerbaijan.
Hummatov's trip to Armenia and Karabakh has caused a stir in Baku,
with many politicians there condemning it as high treason and accusing
the Armenians of fanning Talysh separatism. "The Armenians are thus
trying to show that Nagorno-Karabakh's existence within Azerbaijan
is impossible," 1news.az quoted Zahid Oruj, a pro-government
parliamentarian, as saying on Wednesday.
Another news agency, Salamnews.org, reported that Talysh leaders in
Azerbaijan have issued a statement condemning Hummatov and saying
that he cannot speak for their community. "The Talysh have given many
martyrs in the battles for Karabakh's liberation from the Armenian
aggressors," they said.
Azerbaijani officials accused the Armenian side of whipping up
separatist sentiment among their country's Talysh and other minorities
even before Hummatov's high-profile visit. In particular, they
condemned the launch last March of Talysh-language radio broadcasts
from Karabakh.
The Voice of Talyshstan radio station was founded by Garnik Asatrian,
a prominent Armenian academic who also set up the Talysh studies
program at YSU. Welcoming Hummatov at Armenia's largest university
on Tuesday, Asatrian denied any ulterior motives behind the Armenian
interest in the Talysh people.
Asatrian insisted that YSU is simply expanding its department of
broader Iranian studies. "The Talysh are one of the largest Iranian
ethnic groups," he said. "Besides, despite the religious difference,
of all indigenous peoples, the Talysh are the closest to the Armenians
in terms of culture and genetic parameters."
http://asbarez.com/114375/former-azeri-commander-visits-artsakh/
Thursday, September 26th, 2013
Alikram Hummatov, former Azerbaijani deputy defense minister, speaks
in Stepanakert (Photo courtesy of RFE/RL)
STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL)-An exiled former Azerbaijani military leader
currently campaigning for the rights of an ethnic minority in
Azerbaijan visited Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday two decades after
confronting Karabakh Armenian forces on the battlefield.
Alikram Hummatov, a retired colonel who had served as Azerbaijan's
deputy defense minister, deplored the 1991-1994 war and called for a
peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as he met with
university students in Stepanakert. His messages of peace and criticism
of the current Azerbaijani government repeatedly drew cheers from an
audience that is too young to remember the horrors of the war.
"It's nice to be in Artsakh," Hummatov declared, using the Armenian
name of the disputed territory. "I believe that we must do everything
to establish peace in the region so that our beloved children live,
create and study in peaceful conditions."
"I always say that if you fight in a war like a real man, you must
also be able to make peace like a real man," he added.
Asked by RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) how he feels about
visiting a region which he had sought to forcibly put back under
Azerbaijani control, Hummatov said, "Yes, I went to war against
Nagorno-Karabakh and I don't make secret of that, but today I hate
war because of having seen it. What gave me the right to send young
men to the battlefield? This and many other questions are keeping
me restless?"
Hummatov, who also met with Karabakh parliament speaker Ashot Ghulian,
rose to prominence in Azerbaijan in late 1991 as one of the organizers
of first Azerbaijani army units. He set up a battalion, subsequently
expanded into a brigade, that largely consisted of fellow Talysh, an
Iranian-speaking ethnic group concentrated in Azerbaijan's southeastern
region bordering Iran. The unit battled Armenian forces at various
sections of the Karabakh frontline in 1992-1993.
Hummatov became deputy defense minister several months before
proclaiming in June 1993 a short-lived Talysh-Mughan Autonomous
Republic amid political turmoil in Baku. He was deposed and arrested
later in 1993. He subsequently received a life sentence on prison
charges.
The Azerbaijani authorities pardoned and freed Hummatov in 2004 under
pressure from the Council of Europe. The 65-year-old has since lived
in Europe.
Hummatov traveled to Karabakh from Armenia where he inaugurated
on Tuesday a graduate program of Talysh studies at Yerevan State
University (YSU). Addressing dozens of university professors and
students, he praised the initiative approved and clearly encouraged by
the Armenian government. He claimed that the Azerbaijani authorities
have been suppressing the cultural rights of Talysh as part of a
long-running policy of forced assimilation.
According to the Regnum news agency, Hummatov also called for
the revival of the Talysh republic, suggesting that it form a
"confederation" with the rest of Azerbaijan.
Hummatov's trip to Armenia and Karabakh has caused a stir in Baku,
with many politicians there condemning it as high treason and accusing
the Armenians of fanning Talysh separatism. "The Armenians are thus
trying to show that Nagorno-Karabakh's existence within Azerbaijan
is impossible," 1news.az quoted Zahid Oruj, a pro-government
parliamentarian, as saying on Wednesday.
Another news agency, Salamnews.org, reported that Talysh leaders in
Azerbaijan have issued a statement condemning Hummatov and saying
that he cannot speak for their community. "The Talysh have given many
martyrs in the battles for Karabakh's liberation from the Armenian
aggressors," they said.
Azerbaijani officials accused the Armenian side of whipping up
separatist sentiment among their country's Talysh and other minorities
even before Hummatov's high-profile visit. In particular, they
condemned the launch last March of Talysh-language radio broadcasts
from Karabakh.
The Voice of Talyshstan radio station was founded by Garnik Asatrian,
a prominent Armenian academic who also set up the Talysh studies
program at YSU. Welcoming Hummatov at Armenia's largest university
on Tuesday, Asatrian denied any ulterior motives behind the Armenian
interest in the Talysh people.
Asatrian insisted that YSU is simply expanding its department of
broader Iranian studies. "The Talysh are one of the largest Iranian
ethnic groups," he said. "Besides, despite the religious difference,
of all indigenous peoples, the Talysh are the closest to the Armenians
in terms of culture and genetic parameters."