Even though Moscow tries to mediate in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Russians do not know much about the Khojaly tragedy
By Alexei Vlasov, exclusively to VK
Twenty years have passed since the collapse of the USSR, but the consequences of this geo-political catastrophe can still be felt. Thousands of people died, millions became migrants, pecuniary losses were enormous – this is the price our people had to pay for the incompetence of our rulers. Some events of that epoch still await comprehensive research. It isn’t only a problem of the scholarly community; it is a problem of general indifference of society regarding those tragic events: we prefer to forget rather than remember and learn from the mistakes of the past.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of these darkened pages of our history. Many studies have been made on the recent state of the conflict settlement, on the efforts of Russian diplomacy, etc. However, no researcher poses the most important question: “How could such a conflict come to be?” Is it even possible to conduct an impartial investigation of the atrocities committed in Sumgait, Khojaly and other ‘hot spots’ of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the atrocities that happened only one third of a lifetime ago?
I believe we should answer this question positively: after all, it is the civic duty of professional historians. In our case – i.e., in the case of Russian historians – we have to do it, as our state is trying to play the role of an impartial mediator in this and many other conflicts. And in order to fulfil these functions of an arbiter we need to fully understand the reasons that led to these conflicts. Unfortunately, today true research is usually substituted by colorful yet groundless propaganda.
In my opinion, the Khojaly Tragedy is one of those subjects that are poorly represented in our country’s media sphere. Maybe this is due to the fact that the Khojaly events disprove a common stereotype about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict… But still, 63 children, 100 women, 70 elderly people were killed in that Azerbaijani town. Each and everyone who has a heart, no matter their ethnicity, should feel shame and should wonder how such a terrible tragedy could have happened.
Of course, it is easier to turn away from such a disturbing subject, but in this case there is a great risk of history someday repeating itself in this new loop of instability that has seized post-Soviet space. Some say that this is impossible. But I would like to remind you of the events that took place in Osh, when Kazakhs and Uzbeks killed each other for land, while central Soviet authorities named it a mere domestic incident. Twenty years have passed, and once again: 2,000 houses burned to the ground, 300,000 refugees and 500 casualties.
You can’t argue with facts. Today, when we remember the Khojaly Tragedy, we look into the future and hope that nothing like this will ever happen again, as there’s nothing more frightening than a nation that doesn’t know its history thus risking repeating it.
