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
The Karabakh conflict: the testimony of a witnessBy Peter Lyukimson, Kuryer, Israel, N28-32, June 1992Peter 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 conti
