Azerbaijani Parliamentarians Visit University of CA Berkeley to Discuss the ‘Tragedy of Khojaly’

Andre Arzoo
andrearzoo@ucberkeley.edu

On February 20, 2009, the Turkic Student Association at the University of California, Berkeley invited Azerbaijani Parliamentarians, the ‘AzeriTaj’ News Agency, and representatives from both the Azerbaijani-American Council and the ‘Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan’ to present a one-sided panel discussion portraying the Azerbaijani-perspective of the events that took place on the night of February 25-26, 1992 in the then Azerbaijani city of Khojaly.

The panel discussion was titled ‘Justice for Khojaly’ and the main two themes in which all the presenters discussed revolved around, in their perspective, the crime of massacre which they accuse was committed by Armenian Armed Forces against the civilian population of Khojaly and steps in which they believe must be taken to bring those responsible to trial and justice within the context of an international tribunal.

Panel presenters included Shafag Mehraliyeva (U.S. desk of ‘AzerTaj’ news agency), Reshad Karimov (Center for Strategic Studies under the president of Azerbaijan), Thomas Goltz (Azerbaijani-American council from the university of Montana), and Asim Mollazade (Member of parliament, Azarbaijan).

The conditions presented by the panel in which this massacre took place was during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (1988-1994) between the newly independent Republic of Azerbaijan and the Armenian population of Karabakh over the autonomous and Armenian-homogenous region (Artsakh in Armenian), following the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During the ‘Sovietization period’ of Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, & Azerbaijan) in the early twentieth century, under the policies of the then Soviet ‘Commissar of Nationalities’ Joseph Stalin, the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh was territorially divided from Armenia proper and placed under the jurisdiction and administration of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. The regions of Zangezur, Nakhichevan, and Javakh (located in Southern Georgia), were also territorially divided from Armenia proper where Nakhichevan was eventually depopulated of its entire Armenian population in a pogrom of redrawing its ethnic demographics so as to prevent future Armenian claims to the disputed territory. However, toward the late 1980’s the Armenians of Karabakh began to voice their opposition to Azerbaijani rule due to intentional economic, political, and social neglect and isolation by the Azerbaijani government, and began to advocate for their right to self-determination. After several unsuccessful pleas to the Soviet government in Moscow, local referendums that were sent to the governments in Moscow and Baku, and demonstrations held by Armenians throughout the world in support of the Armenians in Karabakh, this region declared independence from Azerbaijan and was immediately confronted by an armed invasion of Azerbaijani military forces in 1991 as a response. At the time (1989), as stated in Thomas de Waal’s book Black Garden, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) "boasted a population of 145,593 Armenians (76.4%), 42,871 Azerbaijanis (22.4%), and several thousand Kurds, Russians, Greeks, and Assyrians."
During the armed conflict, which followed, is where the state of Azerbaijan and the members of the discussed panel claim that the ‘Tragedy of Khojaly’ took place. Throughout the panel’s discussion, the presenters stated that 613 civilians from the city of Khojaly were massacred by Armenian Armed Forces; 106 women, 63 children, 70 elderly, and 10 families were "completely destroyed," while around a "100 or more civilians still remain missing" which may possibly be "hostages in Armenia or Karabakh, or may have been burned that night." The panel claims that Armenian forces mercilessly stabbed and bayoneted the civilian population as they advanced on the city simply because of the "population’s Azeri ethnicity" and as retaliation against Azeri attacks.Overall, the panel discussion seemed more of a propaganda ploy on behalf of the government in Baku than anything else, although I should point out that the panel was more concerned about spreading awareness about the issue than actually presenting evidence on the matter. The speakers vaguely described what they believed took place in Khojaly and outlined the importance of pursuing those responsible so as to place them under trial for war crimes. Respectfully, each individual presentation was for the most part unorganized and contradicting to the other members’ presentations, some describing the event as a genocide while others disagreeing and calling it a tragedy or massacre, even though all members of the panel were in support of the Azerbaijani-interpretation of the issue.

More interesting, however, were the issues discussed during the Question & Answer session. When a member of the audience mentioned the massacres against Armenians that had taken place in the late 1980s and early -90s in the Azeri cities of Baku and Sumgait, Parliamentarian Mollazade responded with a chuckle and a ‘thank you’.

Mollazade claimed that the said massacres against Armenians were actually instigated by the KGB (Soviet Secret Police) and that although Azeris had taken part, specific Armenians were the ones who instigated the murders against other Armenians. Mollazade also argued that those who had committed the crimes were arrested, tried, and executed, while those who committed the crimes in Khojaly remain free without any attempt of a trial since. In other words, Armenians instigated violence against their own population and in response, the Azerbaijani government simply committed additional violence against the other accused elements of the Armenian population. The old "eye for an eye," although the government’s accounts of the incidents are historically inaccurate and fictitious. Actual accounts of the Baku and Sumgait massacres are reported in Samvel Shahmuratian’s Sumgait Tragedy and de Waal’s Black Garden, where they state that large-scale Azeri mobs attacked, killed, raped, and abused Armenians in the streets, in their apartments, and in hospital buildings, among other locations. Many allege that at least some 200 fell victim to the massacre pogroms, although the official report by the Procurator General lists about 32 fatal victims (26 Armenians and 6 Azeris).

Another follow-up question asked was about the legitimacy of the "concerns" that the Azeri officials and panel members expressed about solving the current conflict in Karabakh, bringing about peace in the region, and developing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. When asked about the importance of including representatives of Karabakh to the ongoing negotiations between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, France, and the United States, so that the Armenians in Karabakh, who currently consist of their own national government and leaders, will take part in the settlement of their own fate, Mollazade discredited the suggestion stating that the government in Armenia is made up of former Karabakh officials. He, who claims to have been present at all negotiations since the early 1990s and who claims to know all the other members involved in those negotiations since, believes that the officials in Yerevan are in one form or another the leaders of Karabakh as well. This is counter to the fact that Karabakh today has its own active Parliament, government body, and leading President, Bako Sahakyan, who have publicly stated concerns toward being isolated from the currently ongoing negotiations.

Regardless of what the governments in Baku and Yerevan decujide on the issue of Karabakh, it is the people of Karabakh and their leaders who in the end will be left to either reject or accept the outcome. If peace is the ultimate solution, how is this not a concern for either side?
In terms of the panel discussion itself, it will be interesting to see what future steps may be taken, either by the state of Azerbaijan or Azeri NGOs, to pursue those whom the concerned bodies believe are guilty of war crimes, and what developments are made by both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides to come to a conclusion on what really happened the night of February 25-26, 1992. To clarify, please take note that I do not intend to deny or confirm through this article whether a massacre actually did or did not take place by Armenian Forces against the Azerbaijani civilian population of Khojaly. Instead, I mean to suggest that this panel discussion did not present any credible information or evidence to support its argument and that in order to come to an accurate and factual resolution on the issue at hand, appropriate research and investigation must be taken and supported by solid evidence. Claims are claims and facts are facts, we must understand this first and foremost.