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SEARCH FOR CAUSES OF USSR DISINTEGRATION IN KARABAKH -3
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 10 2014
10 September 2014 - 12:53pm
By Peter Lyukimson, Kuryer, Israel, N28-32, June 1992
Peter Lyukimson lived in Baku until 1991. He worked as a journalist
there in the late 80s-early 90s and witnessed the events preceding
the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh, Sumgayit, Khojaly...
The feature story "Nagorno-Karabakh: chronicles of the conflict. Notes
of a Jew from Baku" was written in 1992, soon after the move of
the author to Israel. It was published in a Russian-language paper
of Israel named Kuryer. Those were the times when the tone in the
cultural and the public life of the Russian-speaking community of
Israel was set by the Moscow and Saint Petersburg clerisy. It had a
big impact on the attitude of Israeli society towards the events on
the territory of the former USSR. They sympathized with Armenia in its
conflict with Azerbaijan. As it turned out, most Israelis knew nothing
about the origin of the conflict or the truth about its development.
The position of the Jewish clerisy on the issue was formed based only
on publications in the central Soviet and partly on Western press,
which were not always impartial.
... In early March, Armenian cinematographers start demonstrating
dreadful shots of the Sumgayit tragedy. The announcer said that
Armenians could not live in a single state with Azerbaijanis and the
only solution was to take the NKAO under Armenian control.
Soon Armenia started indiscreetly talking about driving Azerbaijanis
out of Zangezur. On March 2 new Azerbaijani refugees started moving
from Armenia. Strikes were declared again in Stepanakert and Yerevan
20 days later. Moscow decided that it was time to do something about
it. On March 24, 1988, the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council
of Ministers passed a decree on measures to speed up the socio-economic
development of the Nagorno-Karabakh Oblast in 1988-1995 that would
suit protesters in Stepanakert...
Then, orators started saying that the case was not an economic or
cultural problem and that the NKAO wanted nothing from Azerbaijan.
"Turkomans get out of Karabakh!", "Never with Azerbaijan!" were some
of the slogans seen at demonstrations. Carriages with food froze on
the Stepanakert Tovarnaya, people showed that they would rather die
of hunger than take bread from their foes....
Meanwhile, deportation of Azerbaijanis from Stepanakert started, more
and more refugees kept moving to Baku from Armenia... By late June,
their number amounted to about 200,000 people... The situation was very
complicated. On July 12, 1988, the attendees of the regional session
of the NKAO Council separated from Azerbaijan. When enterprises began
shutting down in Baku, everyone figured that it would cause greater
losses than the strikes in the NKAO and Yerevan. Moscow appointed
Vezirov as the head of the Communist Party in Azerbaijan.
A few days later, an expended session of the Presidium of the
USSR Armed Forces, where Gorbachev demonstrated qualities of an
outstanding political duelist, took place. He gave amazing proof that
the pretensions of the Armenian side were absurd and the scenario of
such developments was dangerous, as he started realizing just then.
Azerbaijan was watching the political show breathlessly... There,
Gorbachev interrupts the speech of academician Ambartsumyan with
what seemed like a fair question: "Tell us, what was the Azerbaijani
population in Yerevan at the start of the century?"
The academician got confused.
Ambartsumyan: In Yerevan in the early century?
Gorbachev: Yes.
Ambartsumyan: It is hard for me to tell.
Gorbachev: You must know it. I will remind you, 43% were Azerbaijanis
in Yerevan in the early century. What is the percentage of Azerbaijanis
today?
Ambartsumyan: Very few now. Maybe one percent.
Gorbachev: At the same time, I do not want to accuse Armenians of
driving out Azerbaijanis...
And this is his "counterview" with writer V. Petrosyan.
Gorbachev: And another question for you. In your speech and other
speeches, appears an idea that the problems of Nagorno-Karabakh could
be solved by ceding it to Armenia. Tell me, is there any other way
available?
Petrosyan: Mikhail Sergeyevich, I do not see one.
Gorbachev: Let's say we did make the decision you offer. I am speaking
figuratively. But 400,000 Armenians remain in Azerbaijan, 207,000 of
them in Baku. 500,000 Armenians live in Georgia. What do we do with
them? Should we send them to Armenia?
Petrosyan: That is a different story...
Gorbachev: If we cannot resolve the problem other than by constructing
some state formation and amendments to the Constitution for one part
of the population, then we need to do something for the other part
of the population. What do we do with Tajiks living in Uzbekistan,
Uzbeks living in Tajikistan then? How many Azerbaijanis are there in
Georgia now, Comrade Gilashvili?
Gilashvili: Up to 500,000.
Gorbachev: What do we do with them? They live on the border with
Azerbaijan, they are easy to separate...
As a result, the Presidium passed a set of decisions supporting
Azerbaijan in general. On September 3 reports were made about attacks
on the last Azerbaijani district - Kirkijan. Villagers found leaflets:
'Azerbaijanis! You do not belong on Atsakh land!" On September 8,
Stepanakert started a new political strike supported by huge foreign
assistance. Most of the money settled in the pockets of the heads of
the Karabakh committee. Part of it was distributed among the strikers,
and it seemed enough for people to feed their families for quite
a while.
To be continued
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/59783.html
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 10 2014
10 September 2014 - 12:53pm
By Peter Lyukimson, Kuryer, Israel, N28-32, June 1992
Peter Lyukimson lived in Baku until 1991. He worked as a journalist
there in the late 80s-early 90s and witnessed the events preceding
the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh, Sumgayit, Khojaly...
The feature story "Nagorno-Karabakh: chronicles of the conflict. Notes
of a Jew from Baku" was written in 1992, soon after the move of
the author to Israel. It was published in a Russian-language paper
of Israel named Kuryer. Those were the times when the tone in the
cultural and the public life of the Russian-speaking community of
Israel was set by the Moscow and Saint Petersburg clerisy. It had a
big impact on the attitude of Israeli society towards the events on
the territory of the former USSR. They sympathized with Armenia in its
conflict with Azerbaijan. As it turned out, most Israelis knew nothing
about the origin of the conflict or the truth about its development.
The position of the Jewish clerisy on the issue was formed based only
on publications in the central Soviet and partly on Western press,
which were not always impartial.
... In early March, Armenian cinematographers start demonstrating
dreadful shots of the Sumgayit tragedy. The announcer said that
Armenians could not live in a single state with Azerbaijanis and the
only solution was to take the NKAO under Armenian control.
Soon Armenia started indiscreetly talking about driving Azerbaijanis
out of Zangezur. On March 2 new Azerbaijani refugees started moving
from Armenia. Strikes were declared again in Stepanakert and Yerevan
20 days later. Moscow decided that it was time to do something about
it. On March 24, 1988, the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council
of Ministers passed a decree on measures to speed up the socio-economic
development of the Nagorno-Karabakh Oblast in 1988-1995 that would
suit protesters in Stepanakert...
Then, orators started saying that the case was not an economic or
cultural problem and that the NKAO wanted nothing from Azerbaijan.
"Turkomans get out of Karabakh!", "Never with Azerbaijan!" were some
of the slogans seen at demonstrations. Carriages with food froze on
the Stepanakert Tovarnaya, people showed that they would rather die
of hunger than take bread from their foes....
Meanwhile, deportation of Azerbaijanis from Stepanakert started, more
and more refugees kept moving to Baku from Armenia... By late June,
their number amounted to about 200,000 people... The situation was very
complicated. On July 12, 1988, the attendees of the regional session
of the NKAO Council separated from Azerbaijan. When enterprises began
shutting down in Baku, everyone figured that it would cause greater
losses than the strikes in the NKAO and Yerevan. Moscow appointed
Vezirov as the head of the Communist Party in Azerbaijan.
A few days later, an expended session of the Presidium of the
USSR Armed Forces, where Gorbachev demonstrated qualities of an
outstanding political duelist, took place. He gave amazing proof that
the pretensions of the Armenian side were absurd and the scenario of
such developments was dangerous, as he started realizing just then.
Azerbaijan was watching the political show breathlessly... There,
Gorbachev interrupts the speech of academician Ambartsumyan with
what seemed like a fair question: "Tell us, what was the Azerbaijani
population in Yerevan at the start of the century?"
The academician got confused.
Ambartsumyan: In Yerevan in the early century?
Gorbachev: Yes.
Ambartsumyan: It is hard for me to tell.
Gorbachev: You must know it. I will remind you, 43% were Azerbaijanis
in Yerevan in the early century. What is the percentage of Azerbaijanis
today?
Ambartsumyan: Very few now. Maybe one percent.
Gorbachev: At the same time, I do not want to accuse Armenians of
driving out Azerbaijanis...
And this is his "counterview" with writer V. Petrosyan.
Gorbachev: And another question for you. In your speech and other
speeches, appears an idea that the problems of Nagorno-Karabakh could
be solved by ceding it to Armenia. Tell me, is there any other way
available?
Petrosyan: Mikhail Sergeyevich, I do not see one.
Gorbachev: Let's say we did make the decision you offer. I am speaking
figuratively. But 400,000 Armenians remain in Azerbaijan, 207,000 of
them in Baku. 500,000 Armenians live in Georgia. What do we do with
them? Should we send them to Armenia?
Petrosyan: That is a different story...
Gorbachev: If we cannot resolve the problem other than by constructing
some state formation and amendments to the Constitution for one part
of the population, then we need to do something for the other part
of the population. What do we do with Tajiks living in Uzbekistan,
Uzbeks living in Tajikistan then? How many Azerbaijanis are there in
Georgia now, Comrade Gilashvili?
Gilashvili: Up to 500,000.
Gorbachev: What do we do with them? They live on the border with
Azerbaijan, they are easy to separate...
As a result, the Presidium passed a set of decisions supporting
Azerbaijan in general. On September 3 reports were made about attacks
on the last Azerbaijani district - Kirkijan. Villagers found leaflets:
'Azerbaijanis! You do not belong on Atsakh land!" On September 8,
Stepanakert started a new political strike supported by huge foreign
assistance. Most of the money settled in the pockets of the heads of
the Karabakh committee. Part of it was distributed among the strikers,
and it seemed enough for people to feed their families for quite
a while.
To be continued
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/59783.html