Author of the article: Tural Hamid.
Translated from Azerbaijani Turkish.
There are 2 views on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict:
1- Territorial conflict
2- Ethnic conflict
The 1st view is a thesis supported by the Armenian community and many Western scholars. According to this view, the reason for the start of this conflict is that the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Province wanted to unite with the Armenian SSR, and the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR did not allow it. According to the supporters of this thesis, the Armenian pogrom that started in Sumgait turned this conflict into an ethnic conflict along with the territory.
However, even at first glance, it is clear that the issue was shifted to the ethnic framework during the preparation for the referendum on February 12, 1988. Speaking about the people of Karabakh on the eve of the referendum, the head of the Nagorno-Karabakh Liberation Committee, Igor Muradyan, was asked about the fate of the Azerbaijani population of the region. His answer to this question was: "Do you want to know the truth?" I will tell you the truth. We are not interested in the fate of these people. For decades, even centuries, they have been a tool of power and an instrument of violence directed against us. We were not interested in their fate then, nor now." (De Waal, 2008:31).
The 2nd view is a more realistic and fairer view of the issue. Because the appeal of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR to join the Armenian SSR was made in February 1988, but ethnic cleansing had already begun before that. In November 1987, nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis were kicked out of their homes in Gafan, indicating that the conflict turned into an ethnic war. Soviet writer Alexander Prokhanov also saw these events with his own eyes.
The Soviet leader of the time, Mikhail Gorbachev, also saw that the Karabakh conflict had already shifted to ethnic grounds. When he met with Silva Kaputikyan and Zori Balayan, the leaders of the Karabakh movement in Moscow, he asked them the following question: "Have you thought about how what you have done will affect the fate of 207 thousand Armenians living in Baku?" Kaputikyan answers: "Why should there be a need to think about the fate of 207,000 Armenians living in Baku?" (Alekseyev, 2010:333).
In reality, Kaputikyan understood that this conflict was a movement that would endanger the lives of Armenians living in Azerbaijan. But for them, the fate of a community of 200,000 was more important than a community of 500,000. Similarly, in the early 20th century, Armenians living in Anatolia were sacrificed for the sake of establishing a state in Eastern Anatolia.
Thomas de Waal writes this about Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia in 1987-1988: "Refugees from Mehri and Gafan were settled in the villages of Fatmayi and Saray, which are on the outskirts of Sumgait. Fuad Musayev, chairman of the Baku party organization, aimed to prevent pogroms against the numerous Armenian population in Baku. As a precautionary measure, thousands of workers who come to work from Sumgait to Baku every day were banned from entering the city. Musayev unknowingly moved the disaster away from Baku and transferred it to Sumgait, which is thirty kilometers away." (De Waal, 2008:43)
Thus, a pogrom against Armenians began in Sumgait with the instigation of nationalist youth. We can show the impact of the events of Sumgayit both with Gafan refugees and the killing of 2 Azerbaijanis in the clashes that took place in Askaran. There is no point in talking about the Sumgait pogrom. As a result of this incident, 26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis were killed. The fact that 1 of the 84 accused in the events is an Armenian (Eduard Grigoryan) does not change the fact that this pogrom was committed by Azerbaijanis. It is one of the cheap propaganda of modern Azerbaijani historiography to say that 1 Armenian organized a massacre in Armenian neighborhoods by taking Azerbaijani youths with him. Although the fact that these events were committed by Armenians is propaganda, it can be said with ease that this event is in accordance with the wishes of Armenians of the Republic of Azerbaijan. After these events, violence against Azerbaijanis living in Armenia began to increase. In addition, this incident led to the ignoring of the advice of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to prevent the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Province from leaving the Azerbaijan SSR and deepening the inter-societal crisis. In this situation, the danger to the life of Azerbaijanis in Armenia and the majority of Armenians living in Baku began to increase.
When the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started, the sense of nationalism was clearly visible in the Armenian community and the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh, but the same cannot be seen in the Armenians of Azerbaijan (especially the Armenians of Baku).
Until today, many books and articles have been written about the difference between the Armenians of Baku and the Armenians of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. I will inform about some of them below. But first, let's hear it from the words of a woman who is a Baku Armenian: "I am a Baku Armenian. There is a big difference between Armenians of Baku and Armenians of Armenia. We lived in the city of Baku, where about 80 nationalities live, and the nationality of the peoples living here made no difference to us. Our view of the world was completely different. After the forced migration to Armenia, I saw that in this country they separate people based on their nationality. Even though I am Armenian, they registered my nationality as Russian there. The reason for this was that I did not know the Armenian language and customs. We had such problems there." (Popkov, 2003:147).
The ethnocultural diversity of the Armenian diaspora is manifested by certain differences between Armenians from Armenia and other republics of the former USSR. Azerbaijani Armenians, especially Baku Armenians, see the Armenian leadership as the culprit for the worsening of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. According to them, they faced unprecedented discrimination in Azerbaijan as a result of the thoughtless political steps of the Armenian leadership (Poloskova, 2002:131). Another difference of Baku Armenians from other Armenian communities is that they do not participate in diaspora activities (Zdorovets, 2003:14).
Azerbaijani (Soviet) orientalist Saleh Aliyev explains the difference between Baku Armenians and Karabakh Armenians in 1988-1990 as follows: "Baku Armenians, most of whom are part of the Russian-speaking part of the city, almost did not support nationalist and anti-Azerbaijani protests and slogans. Karabakh Armenians envied Baku Armenians because of their intellectual characteristics (Aliyev, 2009:29). Baku Armenians, on the other hand, treated Karabakh Armenians from above and below. This was a clear example of the cultural clash between the two societies. Such differences are recognized not only by Russian scientists, but also by Armenian historians. In his book, Sergey Chobanyan writes about Baku Armenians who moved from Azerbaijan: "Baku Armenians could not get used to the new environment where their new neighbors called them "fake Armenians" and sometimes even refused to see themselves as Armenians. In addition, Baku Armenians, being mainly intellectuals, did not want to go to villages that would provide them with completely different living conditions and deprive them of maintaining their social status. Many of them in Armenia had qualifications that were not required under the new conditions. (eg oilmen). Due to these factors and the severe socio-economic situation in Armenia, the absolute majority of Baku refugees were forced to emigrate from Armenia. Most of them went to Russia, Ukraine, and some to the USA. Another characteristic of the Baku Armenians was that they became Russified and became a part of the ethnic Baku community due to their stay in the Baku environment. For this reason, they were not at all interested in the Karabakh issue and did not support the steps taken there." (Chobanyan, 1993:94).
Such a difference of Baku Armenians was that they were a part of the "Bakinets" nation, which was jointly formed by Azerbaijanis, Jews, Russians and other peoples living in the city. As Azerbaijanis with this psychology differed from Azerbaijanis living in other parts of the country, Baku Armenians also differed from Karabakh and Armenian Armenians. Currently, the vast majority of Baku Armenians live in Russia (mainly in Krasnodar and Stavropol). Baku Armenians were the only Armenian community that wrote a letter to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinan and called on Armenia to end the occupation of Azerbaijani lands in the Karabakh war, which started on September 27 and ended with the victory of Azerbaijan.
Of course, there are Baku Armenians among them, who took the pogroms in Baku at the end of the 1980s personally and used them as part of the propaganda of the Armenian diaspora. (Like Harry Kasparov and Emil Sanamyan). In any case, such individuals are exceptions and do not represent the opinion of the absolute majority of the community. The fact that they are representatives of an intellectual community does not allow them to have a revanchist nationalist psychology like the Armenians of DK and Armenia. At present, the cultural heritage of Baku Armenians remains in our capital. Gavriil Ter-Mikelov, the architect of the Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic building, Vartan Sarkisov, the architect of Lev Landau's house, Nikolay Bayev, the architect of the Opera and Ballet Theater and the Baku Former Railway Station building, were Baku Armenians. In addition, Vartan Sarkisov was involved in the restoration of the Ismailiyya building, which was burned in 1918. Along with architects, buildings built by Baku Armenian millionaires (Malekli building built by Armenian millionaire Sergey Tumayev, current "Azneft" building owned by Mikael Aramyan, house of David Yuzbashiyan, current Iranian embassy building, etc.) are one of the most prominent places of the capital. According to official statistics of 1999, 104 Armenians lived in Baku. According to the results of the official and unofficial propaganda carried out in Azerbaijan after the Karabakh war, the majority of Azerbaijanis do not believe in coexistence with Armenians. However, this number actually shows that in the future, it is possible to live in peace with Armenians. For this, it is necessary to carry out propaganda work on both sides, to prevent actions that will serve revanchism. Baku Armenians are a typical example of this.
Literature used:
1)De Waal, Thomas (2008) Karabakh: Armenia and Azerbaijan. On the paths of peace and war.
2)Чобанян, Сергей (1993) Государственная и национальная политика Азербайджана: фальсификация и агрессия
3)Алиев, Салех (2009) “Кризис в Азербайджано-армянских отношениях в 90-е годы. Причины и результаты (Проблема Карабаха)”, Иран. История, экономика, культура. Памяти С. М. Алиева
4)Здоровец, Яна (2003) Диаспоры: представительства национальностей в Москве и их деятельность
5)Полоскова, Татьяна (2002) Современные диаспоры: внутриполитические и международные аспекты
6)Попков, Вячеслав (2003) Феномен этнических диаспор
7)Алексеев, Георгий (2010) От Майендорфа до Астаны: принципиальные аспекты армяно-азербайджанского нагорно-карабахского конфликта
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