Tragedy of Azerbaijanis in Armenia: deportation and genocide...

For many decades, it has been assumed by default that only Armenians have rights, while their neighbors bear only debts and obligations. Soviet, Russian, and Western propaganda worked hard to create such a stereotype. In the end, the fact that Armenia is merely a geopolitical project of powerful states was forgotten by the majority, and Armenian tears and claims turned, thanks to the money of the diaspora, into a tool for unscrupulous politicians. Armenia and the Armenians have become outside the jurisdiction, with their crimes considered taboo for international discussion or condemnation. For most, the truth about the large-scale genocide of Turks and Kurds committed by Armenians in 1915 remained overshadowed by the worldwide hysteria surrounding the "Armenian genocide." Behind the international conspiracy funded by Armenians against Azerbaijan, the truth was hidden about the fate of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who fell victim to ethnic cleansing, massacres, and deportations in Armenia, where their ancestors had lived for centuries.

Efforts were made to forget the people who lost their homeland in the late 1980s. In Armenia itself, archives were destroyed, cadastral documents were forged, and traces of Azerbaijanis were erased. Reassured by international support, Armenians were confident that the issue of ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population of Armenia would never be raised seriously. No one, not a single instance, wanted to hear about Azerbaijani refugees. They yawned and turned away.

But everything changed when Armenia and its supporters decided they could demand that Azerbaijan allow Armenians to return to Karabakh without preconditions. The issue of Western Azerbaijanis was suddenly brought to the forefront, in a way that was harsh for the opposing side. It was so hard that it could not simply be brushed aside. Armenia now faces a dilemma that is unsolvable for its mentality and ideological foundations—whether to agree to the return of Azerbaijanis or abandon any hope of Armenians returning to Karabakh. Given the mood in the country and the reluctance of foreign powers to put pressure on Armenia, it is likely Armenia will have to choose the latter. There will be no compromises on this issue. The condition for the mutual return of Azerbaijanis and Armenians will remain in force. This condition is fair and justified according to all international rules and regulations. That is why the Armenian side is scared. There is no way out for them, and their international backers have no way out either. Azerbaijan, as always, is armed with international law, and the only way to take this weapon away is to rewrite the pacts and resolutions upon which the world is built.

"Armenia is deliberately trying to present the activities of the Community of Western Azerbaijan as a threat to its territorial integrity. However, the goal of the Community is to ensure the dignified return of our compatriots expelled from Western Azerbaijan to their ancestral lands in peace and security. This is purely a human rights issue. Armenia's presentation of the Community's activities as a threat is an attempt to distort the true essence of the problem and deny the right to return based on international law," said President Ilham Aliyev in his address to the participants of the international conference "The Right to Return: Ensuring Justice for Azerbaijanis Forcibly Expelled from Armenia," held in Baku on December 5.

December 5 is commemorated as the day of remembrance for the deportation of Western Azerbaijanis. This date marks the last deportation of our compatriots from Armenia, but there have been multiple such deportations over the past century. Throughout the 20th century, the territory of present-day Armenia was systematically "cleansed" of the indigenous Turkic Azerbaijani population. Finally, in March 1989, Armenians could breathe a sigh of relief, and at the opening of a monument to Nzhdeh in Gafan, the first secretary of the district party committee, Mkrtchyan, joyfully announced: "You have worked hard, but you have not been able to purge the republic of Azerbaijanis. Your grandchildren have fulfilled your great dream."

The Armenians pursued this dream through bloody means.

The first stage of deportation occurred between 1918 and 1920, when, out of 80,000 Azerbaijanis living in the territory of the Ararat Republic at its formation in May 1918, only a little more than 10,000 remained by the end of 1920 after 30 months of Dashnak rule. The indigenous population of the territories where Armenia was established was subjected not only to deportation but also to genocide.

The second stage of Azerbaijani deportation from Armenia took place in the post-war period, when Soviet leadership, under Stalin, sacrificed the Azerbaijani population of the Armenian SSR to further the expansionist plans of the USSR against Turkey. As a result, 53,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from the Armenian SSR between 1948 and 1953, and their homes were inhabited by "repatriates" from the United States and the Middle East.

The last, most extensive stage of deportation occurred between 1988 and 1991, after which no more than 200,000 Azerbaijanis remained in Armenia.

On November 25, 1988, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Armenian SSR approved a plan to expel the Azerbaijani population from Armenia. According to open sources, the plan called for inhumane measures to "cleanse" the republic of "Turks" by December 5. However, the Armenians exceeded the plan and completed the "five-year plan" ahead of schedule. Before the designated date, total ethnic cleansing, murders, and robberies were carried out by Armenian armed gangs in all areas where Azerbaijanis lived in Armenia.

On the night of November 25-26, Armenians launched an armed attack on the village of Vartanli (renamed Shahumyan) near Vanadzor. Fourteen Azerbaijanis were brutally killed and burned. The survivors fled, trekking on foot through the mountains in snow and frost for two weeks to reach Azerbaijan, hiding by day from Armenian gangs and traveling by night.

Between November 27 and 29, 1988, a massacre of the Azerbaijani population took place in the cities of Gugark, Spitak, and Stepanavan. It was not a spontaneous outbreak, but a well-planned and organized action, with ordinary residents, local party leaders, and law enforcement agencies participating. In three days of pogroms, 33 Azerbaijanis were killed. In total, 70 Azerbaijanis died in the Gugark district between late November and early December, including 21 people (6 women, 3 children) in the village of Gezelder, and 17 people in the village of Vartana. The nationalists spared neither children nor the elderly. For example, a 9-year-old child and a 78-year-old woman were burned alive.

Ten days before the earthquake, a massacre occurred in the Spitak district. Armed Armenians attacked buses carrying Azerbaijani refugees who had been forcibly expelled from their homes and were heading to Azerbaijan. The convoy was fired upon by an Armenian gang led by a police officer. Those who survived the gunfire endured even more horrific fates: 35 were killed after being tortured, 41 died from beatings, 11 were burned alive, 2 had their heads cut off, 3 were drowned, and 11 died from electric shocks, among other tortures.

There are many such horrific examples that refute the Armenian side's attempts to claim that Azerbaijanis left Armenia voluntarily, comfortably selling their homes and withdrawing their savings.

The immediate cause of the exodus was mass riots in Gugark, Goris, Stepanavan, Kalinin, Vardenis, and other regions of Armenia, where pogroms, arson, violence, and bloodshed led to dozens of deaths. Many Armenian officials took an active part in the expulsion of Azerbaijanis. For instance, on November 27, 1988, one of the KGB leaders, the head of the Internal Affairs Department, and a local party leader visited the villages of Saral and Gurasli in the Spitak area and ordered the Azerbaijani population to "leave within two weeks." When the Azerbaijanis refused, armed gangs attacked the villages. The officials returned and repeated their threats. The villagers were forced to leave by bus, taking only what they could carry. On the way, gunfire was opened on the convoy, resulting in three deaths.

According to the State Statistics Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, by February 1990, 186,000 Azerbaijanis, as well as 11,000 Kurds and 3,500 Russians, had fled from Armenia to Azerbaijan. By mid-1990, the number of refugees had risen to 233,000, including Meskhetian Turks.

If the third deportation of Azerbaijanis in the 20th century was seen as a "people’s deportation" and the Armenian authorities attempted to conceal their involvement, the second wave of "cleansing" took place under a decree of the USSR Council of Ministers.

"On March 10, 1948, the Council of Ministers issued Resolution No. 754 'On measures for the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani populations from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araks lowland of the Azerbaijani SSR.' This document was adopted in addition to the decree of December 23, 1947, 'On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani populations from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araks lowland of the Azerbaijani SSR.'"

"The December decree specified 'to relocate 100 thousand collective farmers and other Azerbaijani populations from the Armenian SSR on a voluntary basis to the Kura-Araks lowland of the Azerbaijani SSR in 1948-1950, of which: 10 thousand people in 1948, 40 thousand people in 1949, and 50 thousand people in 1950.' Since there were no volunteers among the indigenous inhabitants of the newly formed Armenia, another document was needed to demonstrate Moscow's firm intentions to assist the Armenians in 'cleansing' the republic of Azerbaijanis. It was a conspiracy involving Moscow, the Dashnaks, and the Armenian Church against the Azerbaijani people. It was conceived and implemented, depriving Azerbaijanis of their ancestral lands and disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The process of legalizing the illegal entity called Armenia in the South Caucasus, which began at the start of the century, continued successfully after the Second World War and ended with a complete 'victory.' The resettlement indicated in the resolutions of the Council of Ministers was nothing more than deportation. Anastas Mikoyan oversaw the execution of the party and government decisions, while the Dashnaks played the role of 'bouncers.' 24,631 Azerbaijanis were deported from Armenia in 1948, 54,373 in 1949, and 65,650 in 1950. The resettlement was carried out with the use of violence and, as we see, the Armenians attempted to overfulfill the plan and deport many more Azerbaijanis than was indicated in the resolution of the Council of Ministers. Well, not to go twice. They 'mistakenly' deported 45 thousand more people.

From open sources, we can learn about the bitter fate of the residents of the Azerbaijani village of Lembeli. In December 1949, one hundred cars with Armenian militia arrived in the village. Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from their homes. There were casualties, both dead and wounded. According to eyewitnesses, the seriously injured were allegedly taken to the hospital, but no further information was given. People had to leave under threat of reprisals. They were helpless against an organized gang sanctioned by Moscow itself. To legitimize the deportation, Azerbaijanis were forced to sign papers stating their allegedly voluntary desire to move to Azerbaijan.

If, over the past hundred years, the number of newcomers to the territory of Azerbaijan has steadily grown, then the number of indigenous Azerbaijanis in Armenia has steadily decreased. Today, Baku has every right to raise the issue of the return of Azerbaijanis deported not only at the end but also in the middle of the twentieth century. Most of the approximately 145,000 people expelled in the 40-50s, of course, are no longer alive. But there are their descendants. One can understand the fears of the Armenian side with its declining demographics. The return of the deported Azerbaijanis with all their descendants would create a demographic crisis in Armenia.

But these are Armenia's problems and fears, not ours. Baku is only concerned with whether the Armenian authorities will be able to ensure the unhindered and dignified return of the indigenous population and guarantee their safety. Of course, until these conditions are met, Azerbaijan will not allow anyone to move to Armenia, which is gripped by revanchism and nationalism. And this means that the return of Armenians to Karabakh will not begin either. The second is impossible without the first. The Armenians are well protected by Western patronage, but even they are not able to force Baku to reconsider its stance. This is not speculation or manipulation. It is a demand for justice. Western officials will eventually have to admit that the return of Armenians to Karabakh and the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia are not 'completely different issues that should not be confused.'"