Bernard Lewis and The Spectre of Comparisons

Then Armenians need to recognize Genocide, which they perputrated against Turks and Azeris. There were horrific human rights violations and incredible massacres of Turks and Azeris by Armenians as well. In 1905-1908 Azeri civilian population was massacred by Dashnaks in Nakhchivan, Karabakh and Zangezur. Later, in 1918 in a matter of 3 days 14,000 Azeris have been massacred in the city of Baku (capital of Azerbaijan) alone by Armenian Dashnak army who were backed by Russian Red Army. What about those human rights violations? Or Azeris and Turks are not considered to be humans? My grandparents were affected by those massacres and had to flee their village in Nakhchivan.

 And since we are talking about human rights violations, massacres and ethnic cleansing, then we should remember current illigal occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia. Then we should remember Khojaly, Kelbajar and Lachin massacres, where thousands of Azeri and Kurdish civilians were ruthlessly slaughtered by Armenian forces only 15 years ago! The whole Karabakh and all other 7 regions around it have been ethnically cleansed of all non-Armenians. Not a single non-Armenian lives in these areas today. Not Jews, not Kurds, not Talyshs, not Azeris. Everyone was forced out, massacred or taken hostage. This is the real Genocide! One million Azeri refugees! That means 1 out of 8 people in Azerbaijan is a refugee! Highest refugee and internal displaced persons rate per capita in the world!

Khojaly massacre, where civilians (and many of them little kids) were shot at point blank, cut in pieces, scalped, burned alive, raped, had their eyes poked out just because they were Azerbaijani (or as Armenian say "Muslim Turks") is a real Genocide! And it was not 100 years ago, it was in February of 1992. If you all for human rights and justice, then lets recognize these events as Genocide. Or once again, Azerbaijanis are not considered to be humans? Or all the massacres carried out by Armenians are actually good and carry no evil? You are bunch of blind hypocrats!

The real Genocide Denial is when Armenians use photos of massacred Azeri children and display them during their events and publish them in newspapers around the world and claim the photos to be "Armenian victims of genocide".

Anonymous,

Enough with your lies and fabrications poluting this site.

The one who is poluting this site is you. If you can prove my lies, then do it, otherwise don't waste anyone's time. You are the real genocide denier!

Yes, the Armenians killed so many Azeris in Nakichevan, that there are a total of 0 Armenians living there today, and the population is 100% Azeri Muslims.  And killing off the Armenian people of Nakichevan was not enough.  The Azeri Turks hate Armenians so much, that they have leveled not only every single Armenian church and monastary in that land, but even the ancient Armenian cemetary, the largest known in the world, was completely and finally destroyed in 2005.  Over 10,000 Khachkars, each one of them a unique piece of sculptured art, each worthy of protection, can be seen hammered, pulverized and thrown into the adjacent river in this video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZu2zqFE_gI

And when confronted by the press associated with this destruction, here is what Azeri "scientists" had to say about it:
Azer-Press Informsiya Agentliyi, an Azerbaijani source, quotes Dr. Vali Bakhshaliyev, a member of Azerbaijan’s National Academy of Sciences, as saying, “The claims of Armenian[s] are historically and ethnically groundless. There was not any Armenian graveyard in Julfa.” Dr. Bakhshaliyev referred to the publication of photographs and videos from mid-December (2005), which showed about 100 Azerbaijani soldiers destroying the last historic headstones (khachkars) of the Armenian cemetery of Old Julfa (Hin Jugha).

From Wikki:

After the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Nakhchivan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. With the onset of Russian rule, the Tsarist authorities encouraged resettlement of Armenians to Nakhchivan and other areas of the Caucasus from the Persian and Ottoman Empires. Special clauses of the Turkmenchay and Adrianople treaties allowed for this.[25] Alexandr Griboyedov, the Russian envoy to Persia, stated that by the time Nakhchivan came under Russian rule, only 17% of its residents were Armenians, while the remainder of the population (83%) were Muslims. After the resettlement initiative, the number of Armenians had increased to 45% while Muslims remained the majority at 55%.

From Wikki: 

Nakhchivan khanate (Naxçıvan xanlığı in Azerbaijani) was a feudal state that existed in the territory of the present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The khanate was ruled by local Azeri-Turkic Kangarli dynasty and the population of the khanate was mostly Muslim (Azeri-Turkic and Kurdish). It was founded in 1747 by Haydar Quli Khan, who declared himself the ruler of Nakhchivan after the death of Nadir Shah Afshar, the ruler of Persia. During the rule of Panah khan of Karabakh khanate Nakhchivan was the dependency of Karabakh.

During Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813, Russian forces under general Gudovich briefly occupied Nakhchivan in 1808, but as a result of Treaty of Gulistan it passed into Persian hands. After the second Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828 and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Nakhchivan khanate passed into Russian possession in 1828. The ruler of the khanate Ehsan khan supported Russia in the war against Persia and was conferred by the Russian authorities the rank of major-general of the Russian army and the title of campaign ataman of Kangarly militia.

With the onset of Russian rule, the tsarist authorities encouraged massive resettlement of Armenians from Persia and Turkey to Nakhchivan and other areas of the Caucasus. Special clauses of the Turkmenchay and Adrianople treaties allowed for this. According to Russian envoy to Persia Alexandr Griboyedov, the number of Armenian population resettled to Nakhchivan in 1828 exceeded all reasonable limits, and this resulted in tensions between the newcomers and local mainly Muslim population. Griboyedov requested Russian army commander count Ivan Paskevich to give orders on resettlement of some of the arriving people further to the region of Daralagoz to quiet the tensions.

Nakhchivan khanate was dissolved in 1828, its territory was merged with the territory of the Erivan khanate, which in 1840 was renamed the Erivan province of the Russian Empire. Nakhchivan became the Nakhchivan uyezd of the province.

After dissolution of the khanate the khans of Nakhchivan remained the most influential power and de-facto rulers of the region. Nakhchivan khans became known in the Russian empire by the surname of Khan Nakhchivanski and the men of the family traditionally chose military service. Six Khans Nakhchivanski became generals in Russian tsarist, Soviet and Iranian armies. Sons of Ehsan khan Ismail khan and Kalbali khan were both awarded orders of Saint-George of IV degree for the services in battle and were generals in Russian army. Son of Kalbali khan Huseyn Khan Nakhchivanski was a prominent Russian military commander and adjutant general of the Russian Emperor, and his nephews Jamshid and Kalbali were generals in Soviet and Iranian armies respectively.

1747 - 1787 Haydar Quli Khan

1787 - 1823 Kalb` Ali Khan

1823 - 1828 Ehsan Khan

1828 - 1834 Karim Khan Kangarli

Keep On Dividing Into Ours And Outsiders.

Azerbaijanis were also exposed to genocide.

By: Grigory Volinski,

Candidate of Historical Sciences.

This thought is not as disputable as it is unusual. It is accustomed to consider other nations to be victims of genocide. And so much of absolute truth crushed down when it became possible to evoke facts that have been hid in the archives for a long time as x-files. The history of Azerbaijan is as tragic as the history of its neighbor: recently, regarding this, president Heydar Aliyev has signed a decree about the genocide of Azerbaijanis. But these papers were condemned by the Armenian official government, which had been under a strong impact of the radical party "Dashnaksutun" lately. And this is my opinion: it is immoral to divide nation according to whether they have suffered more or less, and it is immoral to try to usurp the right on grief and search for sympathy towards it.

The aristocracy of Azerbaijan looking forward to becoming a part of the ruling class of Russia, actively began getting accustomed to the European civilization. Beys, who received officer ranks in the Russian Army started speaking French, and even more, they wrote poems and plays in this language. The Russian service men and diplomats, who were the best Orientalists of that time, considered the new citizen of the country a constructive element for Russia. And they complained of the fact that the officials of the citizenship administration, who were replacing the service men, didn't know Islam and were discriminating Moslems in their rights.

Petersburg did not worry about the loyalty of Azerbaijanis until the moment, when Russia added Yerevan and Nakhchivan khanates, that bordered Turkey. These territories populated by Azerbaijanis and bordering the enemy nation-state seemed dangerous to strategists, who did not realize the essence of the Sunni-Shiite contradictions. The top level of the Russian ruling class worked out a plan of populating the strap of land between Azerbaijanis and Turks by representatives of other faith, that is Armenians. This idea was especially defended by a Russian diplomat of Armenian origin colonel Lazarev. He stated that Armenians needed "to be returned to Yerevan, Nakhchivan and Karabakh, from where their ancestors were forced to flee to Turkey and Persia". Alexander Griboyedov*, who knew the history of the region, named these statements absolutely groundless and appealed to explained Azerbaijanis that Armenians would be migrated to their lands temporarily. But soon Griboyedov perished in Persia...

General Paskevich was one of the supporters of the Russia's relying on the Moslem population of the region. To his mind, the Karabakh, Yerevan and Nakhchivan cavalries were included in Russian forces during the regular Russian-Turkish war. They were assigned to protect the boarders with Persia. The counter Paskevich highly appreciated the military valor of Azerbaijanis. Thanks to his petition, the emperor Nicholas I rewarded the service men of the Moslem provinces with his banners. But after the general's return to Petersburg, the hostile treatment towards Moslems (which is understandable for the country, which has been fighting with Turks and Tatars for a long time), lead to the fact that Nakhchivan and Yerevan khanates were announced an Armenian province, which seemed to Russian military men to be a springboard for wars against Turkey. Of course the point was obtaining Konstantinopol* and control of the straits. Thus, the first immigrants from Turkey - 8 thousand Armenian families started appearing in Nakhchivan.

In Turkey according to the Moslem rights, Armenians were a part of the "protected population" and were supposed to develop trade, crafts and industry. Considering themselves to be infringed upon their political rights, they were eager to immigrate to the Christian Russia.

According to the Russian historian N.Shavrova, just in the years of 1828-1830 more than 100 thousand Armenians were settled on the best fiscal lands of Karabakh and Yerevan (present Armenia) regions, where the number of Armenian population was insignificant. They were given 200 thousand dessiatina* of the private Moslem lands. For comparison: Russians were given about 70 thousand dessiatina of land. Out of 1.2 million of all the immigrants to Transcaucasus Armenians made up 1 million. Encouraged by the government, newcomers without land they turned into influential part of the Caucasian society.

In Tiflis and Baku these former Turkish Armenians formed a bourgeoisie strata, which controlled the trade and a big share of oil industry. Keeping in touch with relatives living in Turkey they formed local organizations of the revolutionary party "Dashnaktsutun" in these cities. This party is famous for its terrorist activity, aimed at establishing an independent Armenian nation-state within the Armenian boarders of the II-III centuries. (According to the Armenian version, it included the territory of the Middle East and the whole Transcaucasus). The First World War and the Russian Revolution considerably speeded up the activity of the Dashnaks*.

The next wave of Turkish Armenians' immigration on Russian territory (Yerevan and Nakhchivan) took place in 1915 after the unsuccessful attempt of establishing an Armenian state in Turkey. The Dashnak armed divisions blamed Azerbaijanis in their failure, saying that Azerbaijanis were out of this Armenian-Turkish conflict. Since the year of 1918 population started to be driven away from Yerevan and other places populated by Azerbaijanis.

Andranik, an Armenian officer who had been chased by Turks himself, ruined more than 40 Azeri villages in Nakhchivan and Zangazur. In Zangazur alone more than 10 thousand people were killed (the third of it were children). After that Andranik sent a telegram to the Chairman of the Baku Communa, Stepan Shaumian, in which he declared himself supporter of the Soviet government.

But Shaumian was already surrounded by distinctive supporters of the new government members of Baku Soviet. On March 18, the Dashnak armed divisions encouraged by Shaumian organized Azeri massacre in Baku, under pretense of fighting with the counterrevolution. 12 thousand people were killed, several Moslem blocks of the city were burnt down, the main Baku mosque was fired at. The massacres were stopped after the energetic interference of other Baku commissars - Petrov and Japaridze, who threatened to start shelling the Armenian blocks of the city. The Dashnak armed divisions withdrawn from Baku, ruined and plundered the ancient capital of Azerbaijan - Shamakhi, Guba and other cities. And Shaumian, explaining his alliance with Dashnaks, wrote, that while struggling with the enemies of the Soviet government he, purposely wanted it to look like a national massacre in order not to let announce Baku the capital of Azerbaijan striving for independence.

In 1918-1919 about 280 thousand Azerbaijanis were driven away from Yerevan, no less that 70 thousand were killed. What else can we name this, but genocide? And this crime seems even more pointless and cruel (if that is possible) when one realizes: people were killed even not for their nationality, but for its similarity with the other one, ethnically relative nationality, they were revenging for what Turks have done once. The history has not known anything like that before.

In Yerevan and partially in Tiflis the process of "deAzerbaijanization" of historically Azeri lands began. More that 400 Azeri place-names were replaced by Armenian ones, a lot of Azeri cultural monuments were destroyed, none was left out of 14 mosques in Yerevan. If in 1920 Azerbaijanis were making up 45% of the population of Armenia, then in 1988 they were only 6%.

Josef Stalin considered it his duty to continue the czar's policy of conquering the Black Sea strait. With this aim, "to strengthen the rears" in 1948 he permitted repatriation of Armenians abroad. By 1953 about 150 thousand Azerbaijanis were moved out of Armenia in order to make room for the repatriates.

Since Turkey as a NATO member has lost its military independence, it seems that it is high time to reject the stereotypes, dividing nations into ours and outsiders. And though the Central Committee department on international relationships could have made an efficient report to the General Secretary, saying that during the Russian-Turkish war Azerbaijanis were fighting for Russia only, Mikhail Gorbachev closed his eyes on the proscription of the last 200 thousand Azerbaijanis from Armenia in 1988.

The Soviet troops watched passively the proscription of Azerbaijanis from Armenia. By that time the leaders of "Dashnaktsutun" have already moved from Athens to Yerevan.

The further we go, the more we see. At the beginning of 1992, just when Karabakh war was in full swing, Vice Prime Minister of Armenia Grant Bagratyan addressed to Yegor Gaydar, who was carrying out the duties of the Prime Minister of Russia. Bagratyan asked Moscow's permission to organize production of assembling-constructing, sport and hunting cartridges. Gaydar's resolution said: " To the Ministry of Industry of Russia (Mr. Titkin). Please discuss and make a decision. "As if it was not clear what these cartridges would be used for.

The Russian-Armenian cooperation that starting with the production of cartridges grew into the famous large scaled deliveries of armament to Armenia. And while talking about the vulnerability of this country, which is "doomed to alliance with Russia" it is ignored that none of the neighbor states claims its territory. Iran and Georgia are friends with Armenia. There is a large Armenian community in Istanbul, members of which are even in the parliament, in Istanbul only there are more that 10 newspapers and magazines published in Armenian language. Isn't this the base for strong future relationships between two neighbor states, which are interested economically in each other?

Now, when 1 million of Azerbaijanis had been driven off their lands we can hear: Russia just like the US needs a advanced post in Islamic world, and Armenia, "surrounded with enemies" is something like a Russian Israel, ready to defend Russia's interests in the region.

But the theorists are using 30 year old American intellectual working outs. Israel did oppose Arabs. But Azerbaijan is a member of CIS, it is Russia's ally. And the United States never supported Israel against the countries that they had oil interests in, they were never against the countries that were culturally and economically oriented on the USA. And finally, despite the long war with Arabs, in Israel 14% of citizen profess Islam, and the Arabic language is considered the second state language.

Having paraphrased the famous apothegm of Nietzsche, we can say: stereotypes are worse enemies of the truth than lies. Politics are history turned into the future. And it can not succeed, if untrue stereotypes of the past are in its base. Czar Nicholas I did not know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis; the General Secretary Stalin did not admit moral limits in expanding the empire; General Secretary Gorbachev kept on dividing nations into ours and enemies, which led to the collapse of the country.

The Azerbaijanis had paid completely with the blood of their sons and with their lands for getting accustomed to the European civilization.

And what about that video? There is absolutely nithing that could somehow prove that these are Azerbaijani soldiers or that it is a destruction of Armenian cemetery. It's just a video of bunch of people dressed in some military uniform, digging something. How can you prove that it is even in Nakhchivan? For all I could see, it can be Armenian soldiers destroying Azerbaijani cemeteries or monuments in Armenia or in Karbakh. What's next? You going to make a cartoon and present it as Armenian facts? Pathetic.

Yes, it must be another Armenian conspiracy.  What we did was we had Chris Angel, the Mindfreak, figure out a way to make it look like those Khachkars have disappeared.  But in reality they are still all there, except that they are now invisible.

Nakhchivan, same as Karabakh belonged to Caucasian Albania, not Armenia. Azerbaijanis are descendants of Caucasian Albanians. Armenians are Indo-European people who moved to Caucasus from Balkans. The Haig (Armenian) tribe was part of Thraco-Phrygia and Phrigians moved first to Anatolia and then to Caucasus from Balkans. Armenian language is not Caucasian and your race is not Caucasian. You are not the indegenous people of the region and there is nothing in Caucasus that belongs to you.

Nakhchivan, Karabakh and Yerevan before 1800s belonged to Qara Goyuns (Turkic tribe). After that, the region was under Safavid Empire and Ottoman Empire (Turkic empires). For centuries, this whole region was switching hands from Turks to Persians and Armenians there constituted a MINORITY. The majority of population was Turkic and only 20% Armenian. Way before that, the area was populated by Khazars.

The only time when Nakchivan became part of Armenian state is during Armenian occupation and expansion. But that Armenian state existed only for 50 years. It was not your "ancient" lands. If you want your ancient lands, go back to Balkans and demand it from Albania and Bulgaria.

Two of the most quoted versions are provided by Herodotus, the fifth century B.C.E. historian, and Strabo, the geographer and historian writing at the end of the first century B.C.E. According to Herodotus, the Armenians had originally lived in Thrace, from where they crossed into Phrygia, in Asia Minor. They first settled in Phrygia, and then gradually moved west of the Euphrates River to what became Armenia. Their language resembled that of the Phrygians, while their names and dress was close to the Medes.

According to Strabo, the Armenians came from two directions: one group from the west, or Phrygia; and the other from the south, or the Zagros region. In other words, according to the ancient Greeks, the Armenians were not the original inhabitants of the region. They appear to have arrived sometime between the Phrygian migration to Asia Minor that followed the collapse of the Hittite Empire in the thirteenth century B.C.E., and the Cimmerian invasion of the Kingdom of Urartu (existed ca. 900 - 590 B.C.E.) in the eighth century B.C.E. In 782 B.C.E., the Urartian king, Argishti I, built the fortress-city of Erebuni (present-day Erevan, capital of Armenia). The decline of Urartu enabled the Armenians to establish themselves as the primary occupants of the region. Xenophon, who passed through Armenia in 401 B.C.E., recorded that, by his time, the Armenians had absorbed most of the local inhabitants.

The Linguistic Evidence

Modem archeological finds in the Caucasus and Anatolia have presented sketchy and incomplete evidence of the possible origins of the Armenians. Until the 1980s, scholars unanimously agreed that the Armenians were an Indo-European group who either came into the area with the proto-Iranians from the Aral Sea region, or arrived from the Balkans with the Phrygians after the fall of the Hittites. Some scholars maintain that Hay or Hai (pronounced high), the Armenian word for "Armenian," is derived from Hai-yos (Hattian). Hence, it is argued, the Armenians adopted the name of that empire as their own during their migration over Hittite lands. Others maintain that the Armeno-Phrygians crossed into Asia Minor, took the name Muskhi, and concentrated in the Arme-Shupria region east of the Euphrates River, where non-Indo-European words became part of their vocabulary. They stayed in the region until the Cimmero-Scythian invasions altered the power structure. The Armenians then managed to consolidate their rule over Urartu and, in time, assimilated most of its original inhabitants to form the Armenian nation. According to this theory, the names designating Armenia and Armenians derive from the Perso-Greek: Arme-Shupria.

As of the early twenty-first century, Western historians maintain that Armenians arrived from Thrace and Phrygia, while academics from Armenia argue in favor of the more nationalistic explanation; that is, Armenians are the native inhabitants of historic Armenia.

Bibliography

Bournoutian, George A. (1992). The Khanate of Erevan under Qajar Rule, 1795 - 1828. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (1994). A History of Qarabagh. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (1998). Russia and the Armenians of Transcaucasia: 1797 - 1889. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (1999). The Chronicle of Abraham of Crete. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (1999). History of the Wars: 1721 - 1738. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (2001). Armenians and Russia: 1626 - 1796. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (2002). A Concise History of the Armenian People. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Bournoutian, George A. (2002). The Journal of Zak'aria of Agulis. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Press.

Hovannisian, Richard. G. (1967). Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hovannisian, Richard. G. (1971 - 1996). The Armenian Republic. 4 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Libaridian, Gerard. (1991). Armenia at the Crossroads. Watertown, MA: Blue Crane Publishing.

Libaridian, Gerard. (1999). The Challenge of Statehood. Watertown, MA: Blue Crane Publishing.

Matossian, Mary Allerton Kilbourne. (1962). The Impact of Soviet Policies in Armenia. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

Nalbandian, Louise. (1963). The Armenian Revolutionary Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Suny, Ronald Grigor. (1993). Looking toward Ararat. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

—GEORGE A. BOURNOUTIAN

Caucasian Albanians were one of the Ibero-Caucasian peoples, the ancient and indigenous population of modern southern Dagestan and Azerbaijan. Ancient chronicles provide the names of some tribes that populated Caucasian Albania, including the regions of Artsakh and Utik. These were Utians, Mycians, Caspians, Gargarians, Sakasenians, Gelians, Sodians, Lupenians, Balas[ak]anians, Parsians and Parrasians.[4] According to Robert H. Hewsen, these tribes were "certainly not of Armenian origin", and "although certain Iranian peoples must have settled here during the long period of Persian and Median rule, most of the natives were not even Indo-Europeans".[4] Strabo wrote about the Caucasian Albanians in the 1st century BC:

The Mannaeans had one of the earliest states recorded as being established in the area as far as the Kura from ca. 800 BC, and they were rivals of Urartu and Assyria, but later fell under the rule of Urartu until their destruction and eventual assimilation by the Medes under Cyaxares in 616 BC. In ancient times, they were mixed with the Persian people who settled in the area during the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid periods.

Guys, stay on topic please, we can't have this happening every single post on the Armenian genocide.  Back on topic, I agree that the argument of uniqueness is denial.  This isn't stating that the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, the Bosnian genocide are all the same.  Although some may be very similar there are still differences.

Robert Melson wrote a great book that does a comparative analysis of the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide.  The similarities provide insight into the conditions that seem to exist that make Genocide easier to commit.  One of them is a state of warfare.  Another is the ability to turn a majority population against a minority population by portraying the minority population as a parasite that wishes to destroy the majority.  One of the differences between the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide, of course, was the German propensity for organization and documentation.  Another difference is that Germans, although killing greater numbers, did not manage to eliminate the Jews completely from their ancestral homeland.  This is something that is unique in modern times to the Armenian Genocide.  Certainly, the Europeans did that to Native Americans, but it took several centuries for Europeans to accomplish what the Turks accomplished in 3 years.

The difference between Jewish Holocaust and what happened in 1915 in Ottoman Empire is the following:

1. Armenians had their own armies.

2. Armenian nationalists attacked and slaughtered thousands of Turkish and Kurdish civilians in Ottoman Empire.

3. Armenians allied themselves with an enemy of Ottoman Empire and tried to create their own state from the Ottoman Empire's territories

4. Armenians were deported only from areas where Ottoman Empire bordered Russia, thus eliminating the threat of further loss of Ottoman territories and human lives of Ottoman citizens. In other parts of the Empire Armenians continued on with their normal lives.

5. During the same period of time, Armenian forces and irregular formations continued massacres against another nations in Caucasus: Azerbaijanis and Georgians.

6. Armenian forces not only simply fought against Ottoman troops but also seized control and occupied cities, towns and villages with mostly Tuskish population and massacred most of the civilians in these regions.

7. Ottoman Empire had several fronts of battles against numerous allied forces and was under constant attack.

8. After the end of war, many Armenians came back and settled the same areas of Ottoman Empire.

9. There is no evidence, no proof what so ever that Ottoman government ordered a systematic killing of Armenians. No documents hold such information. In contrary, there are documents from the highest ranks of Ottoman government, instructing the military to guard Armenian civilian population while it is being deported.

Following your description of meaning of word Genocide, we should also recognize the Genocide committed by Armenians against Turks and against Azerbaijanis from 1905 through 1920. We should recognize Khojaly Genocide of 1992. We should recognize Genocide of all Turkic people, committed by Russian Empire and Soviet Russia: deportations and massacres of Adygei, Tatars, Cherkess and Circasians. We should recognize Genocide against Turks, committed by Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia during WWI. All of these countries were part of Ottoman Empire but during the WWI all of Turkish population was either massacred or deported from Balkans.

Why is it when innocent civilian Turks are getting massacred, it is OK? Why is it when Armenians massacre Azeris just because of their nationality, it is not considered to be a Genocide? Why nobody wants to even talk about what Armenian nationalists did to thousands of Turkish civilians in Ottoman Empire? How come no one is mentioning massacre of Azeris in the beginning and the end of 20th century by Armenians? Why nobody wants to talk about 20% of Azerbaijani territory that are currently being occupied by Armenia? Why no one mentions about 1 million Azerbaijani refugees, ethnic cleansing and Khojaly Genocide? It is all out there in documents, condemned by U.N., U.S. State Department, European Union, Human Rights Watch Group, etc... How come you are all silent about that? Is it inconvenient to talk about? Or is it that Turkish and Azerbaijani lives are not as important? Where is your so much talked about justice and democracy? Or is it simply a flat-out Hypocracy?

Khojaly Genocide, committed by Armenians:

http://www.khojaly.net/photo.html

http://www.khojaly.net/video.html

Now tell me that this is not a Genocide:

EYEWITNESSES

Daud Kheyriyan, “For the sake of Cross…”, page 24, published by “Ash-Sharg” (East) agency in Beirut:

“… Sometimes we happened to march on dead bodies. In order to cross a swamp near Dashbulag, we have paved a road composed of dead bodies. I refused to march on dead bodies. Then colonel Oganyan ordered me not to scare. It is one of military laws. I have pressed my one foot onto the breast of a wounded girl aged 9 or 10 years and marched…

My legs, my photo camera were in blood…”

Daud Kheyriyan, “For the sake of Cross…”, page 62 and 63:

“… the Armenian group “Gaflan” (dealing with burning of dead bodies) have collected 100 dead bodies of Turks (Azerbaijani) and burned them in a place located one kilometer from Khojaly to the West on March 2… I saw girl aged 10 and wounded in hands and in head lying in last truck. Her face was already of a blue color. But she was still alive despite of hunger, coldness and wounds. She had a little breath. I cannot forget her eyes striving with death… Suddenly a soldier called Tigranyan took that body and thrown it on other dead bodies… Then they have burned dead bodies. It seemed to me that someone was crying in fire between dead bodies… After all I could not go further. But I wanted to see Shusha… I returned. And they continued their battles for the sake of Cross….”

KHATIRA TELMAN ORUJOVA, 8 years old…

Scars remained forever on a soul of this little 8 years old girl will grind a rock… She recalls that awful night…

We were asleep. Suddenly we heard a strange boom… In that moment, we observed neighboring houses torched… We ran down to tunnels.

How many persons were you?

My dad, mom and four children. My aunt Sevil was with us. Two neighbors and their two children… We spent four hours in tunnel.

Where did you get that you have remained there for four hours?

Our neighbor said that we are here for four hours. Then, a man named Shaig came up and said that other side of neighborhood in fire, get away to forest and we ran into there. My little sister named Khayala was in ma’s hands and other sister was carrying by my pa.

The night has fallen in forest. Dad said put your watch on six. We were stopped in Nakhichevanik. Guides has gone ahead to ask a route, but they did not get an answer. We remained in deep forest. When sun was rising they shoot my mother. Then, the bullets reached my aunt. She was seventeen years old. Her name was Sevil. My mother Irada was twenty six years old. I don’t know the age of my father. His name is Telman Orujov…

When Armenians shoot me, my mother was close to me. Her wound didn’t let us to run away. I was lying next to my mother. We lost our dad in forest. Then, suddenly I felt carried by a militia man to Agdam.

Khatira’s mother is not with her now to correct her saying. She asked me about her mother… She sent me I replied. She is in hospital of Agdam. She was so thoughtful when asking the surname of her mother…

“Irada Orujova” - came the reply. (I found her surname after she told her story in forest.) She shaked her head…

No. My mother holds her maiden surname. Then, tell me her hair, are they soft or short? I did not know what to reply…

If I would reply I could convince her. At least, I could to see her quiet while medical treatment… I was so embarrassed… That was the most awful tragedy… Why I couldn’t tell her mother’s hair or surname…?

JEAN-IVE-YUNET, journalist (France)

...We happened to be the witnesses of Khojaly massacre, we saw the dead bodies of hundreds of civilians- women, children, old-age people and defenders of Khojaly. We managed to fly by helicopter, we were taking photographs of every­thing we saw around Khojaly at a height of a bird's flight. However Armenians started shooting our helicop­ter and we couldn't manage to finish our job. That was a terrible scene. I heard a lot about wars, about cruelty of German fascists, but Arme­nians went beyond them, killing 5 or 6 year-old child­ren, innocent people. We saw a lot of injured people in hospitals; carriages, even in kindergarten and school buildings.

V. Belykh “Izvestia” newspaper reporter

... The dead-bodies ex­changed for the alive host­ages are occasionally brought to Agdara. You won't see it even in a nightmare: pierced out eyes, cut off ears, scalped heads, cut off heads. A number of corpses were dragged by ropes after the armed personnel earners. There was no limit to hu­miliation…

SARIYA TALYBOVA, the resident of Khojaly.

...They brought us to the Arme­nian cemetery. It is hard for me to describe what happened here. Four young Turks-meskhets (they fled from Uzbekistan and took shelter in Azerbaijan- Editor's Commentary) were shot dead on the grave of an Armenian armed man to sacrifice for him. Then they cut off the dead men's heads. Later the soldiers and Armenian bandits started killing and torturing the children in front of their parents.

Then the truck arrived and it threw the corpses into the ravine. But they didn't satisfy their appetites yet, these predators with human appearance brought two Azerbaijanis wear­ing national army uniform and pierced their eyes with screwdrivers...

Mushfig ALIMAMEDOV, the resident of Khojaly. Escaping from the town he was injured and had been left to lie on the snow for 2 days:

.... We had guns: machine-guns, rifles, shotguns. We didn't have any ammunition or food. We were exhausted by a long-term blockade. On February 25 Arme­nians started shooting at mid­night, armed forces and vehicles launched the attack. First they captured the airport and burnt it down. They didn't spare anyone, either old-age people and women or children. Many people were burned alive in their homes, espe­cially near the airport. An awful smell of burned meet haunts me even now...

Most of town-defenders were killed in action. The survivors were trying to escape in the woods on the way to the village of Shelli to break through to Agdam. They were ambushed near the Armenian village of Nakhichevanik on the way to Agdam.

Many people were killed in the ambush near the village. The di­rector of the airport Alif Hadjiyev was killed here. He was there to rescue women. He was the one to have organized the efficient work of'the airport. Armenians had al­ready promised the award for his - life before.

MINESH ALIYEVA, 50, the resident of Khojaly, with a bullet wound in the arm.

...We wandered along the woods falling through the deep snow. When we were crossing the road a bullet lodged in my arm. I fell down and couldn't get up.

A very intensive shooting started from the wood and shel­ters. Alif grabbed me and started pulling to the rear of the road. Then he rushed towards the bushes to hide and-.started retaliat­ing shooting at Armenian armed men. Shooting from the woods ceased for some time. Alif started shouting at the women lying on the other side of the road and ordered them to cross the road them to cross the road as soon as possible. He used to shoot sporadi­cally and every time he did the Ar­menians stopped shooting. About 20 women managed to run across the road. When Alif started to change the-cartridge drum Armenians shot in retaliation. At this moment he was shot through the forehead. It was an awful sight...

ELMAN MAMEDOV, head of the executive power:

...The storming of the town started with artillery shelling that had been going on for 2 hours. Arme­nian armed men fired from tanks, armed personnel carriers, using shells of Alazan type. We were blocked from three sides. The only break out line was Askeran gap. When Arme­nian infantry soldiers launched the attack everything in Khojaly had been destroyed. Most of its residents had been shot dead. We defended the town down in trenches till 2 a.m. We failed to resist any more, the defen­ders and civilians started retreating. Having crossed the ice-cold river we were moving towards Keteen Mountain. A lot of people died on the way in the woods where they were frozen to death. We were walking until 7 a.m. when we came out of the woods near Armenian village of Nakhichevanik. We were trapped in a gorge, where Armenians armed with ma­chine-guns and submachine guns were waiting for us in armed person­nel carriers. That's when the real slaughter began. Armenians just shot and shot innocent defenceless people. Many children and women were shot dead here. Some people were fleeing towards the village of Gulably where about 200 people were taken hostage. We helped the survivors and some of the residents of the town managed to get to Agdam. Seven of my friends with me failed to get out of the am­bush, it was too late, but we got lucky; we found the cover from fire. We were hiding there from 9 a.m. till 8 p.m. And only in the evening when -it started snowing we managed to get out of.it and reach Agdam early in the morning of February 27.

CHINGHIZ MUSTAPHAYEV, Azerbaijan Television reporter:

… Dozens and dozens of shot dead people, children aged from 2 to 15, women, old age people. The location of- the corpses proves thaf it was a cold-blooded slaughter, there were no signs of re­sistance or attempts to escape.

Some civilians were-shot separ­ately, the others were killed in groups, or families. Some corpses have several wounds but every corpse has at least one wound in the head. It means that the wounded were fin­ished off afterwards.

The camera witnessed several children with their ears cut off. The skin from the left part of the old woman's face was missing. Men were scalped. There were corpses with the signs of pillage.

First time we arrived at the scene of massacre by two war helicopters on February 28. Up from the helicopter we saw the mountainside of about 500 metres long filled with corpses. The pilots were scared of landing be­cause the area was controlled by Ar­menian bandits. However when we managed to land and stepped onto the land the shooting started. The Internal Ministry men were to load the corpses and take them to the relatives of the dead. They managed to load only 4 corpses. We were all shocked. Two men after seeing so many dead and mutilated corpses fainted. Many people got sick..

The same thing- happened on March 2, when we flew there with foreign journalists. Many dead-bodies were even more mutilated than be­fore. They had been scoffed at for several days...

SANUBAR ALEKPEROVA, the resident of Khojaly

... Hasanabad, Mehdikend, Boz-dagy - these are the places they were shooting from. The land shud­dered at the sound of armoured in­fantry vehicles smashing into Khojaly. At first women and children were told to hide in the basements.

Then Elman Mamedov, head of the executive power came and said that we had to escape, otherwise we would be exterminated. Alif Hadjiyev, director of the airport organized a breakthrough through Armenian lines to lead the civilians to Agdam. We were trapped in an ambush near the village of Nakhichevanik. I_will never forget, what I saw here: there were -mountainsides tilled with corpses. My mother was shot dead. My daughters Hidjran and Sevindj were injured. At the same moment the bullet lodged on me. Young women and children perished from the wounds on the snow.

We had radio station with us. We cried, we tried to report what was happening, we begged for help, but nobody helped us.

DJAMIL MAMEDOV, the resident of Khojaly.

Tanks and armed personnel carriers destroyed the houses, smashed f down the'people.

Russian soldiers were followed by Armenian bandits. I took my 5-year-old grandson and 14.000 rou­bles and ran towards the woods. I took off my clothes and wrapped the child up in them so that he wouldn't die of cold. But it wouldn't help. We had to hide inside the snow with the child.

In the morning I realized that the child wouldn't stand the cold any more and I started walking towards the nearest Armenian village of Nakhichevanik where we were trapped by Armenian armed men. I begged them to take my money for the sake of the child and let us pass to Agdam. They cursed and beat me in response and brought me to their commander. He ordered to keep us locked up in the cattle-shed. There had already been Azerbaijani women and children. They kept us in the cattle-shed for 4 days without any food or water. But for one kind family that used to stealthily bring us some bread and water at night we could have died, we wouldn’t have been able to stand all these tortures. But there is no limit to anger. When four days later I was brought to Askeran with my grandson the events I saw lure were so awful that cattle-shed in Nakhichevanik seemed paradise to me.

Foreign mercenaries (I know Ar­menian and I can tell local Armenian people from foreign ones) pulled out my toenails. Negroes who were among Armenians were jumping high kicking me into the face. After these tortures I was exchanged for some Armenian. However they took away my grandson. I know nothing about the fate of my wife and my daughter.

YURI YAKHOVITCH, the private of infantry regiment no 366.

...They persuaded that we were Christians and we had to fight against Moslems. They kept us in awful subhuman conditions, we couldn't bear being there and we had desert the regiment and escape to Khojaly…

Leonid Kravets, officer, major.

On February 26 I was taking the wounded out of Stepanakert by helicopter and returning through Askeran gap. Some bright spots downwards took my eye. We started to descend and my co-pilot cried: Look! There are women and children over there. I saw about two hundred corpses scattered down- the hillside. Armed men were walking among them. Then we flew there trying to pick up corpses. Militia captain, I can't remember his name, was with us. He found his 4-year-old son with crashed skull and he went out of his mind. The other child that we had managed to pick up before they started shooting had his head cut off. I saw muttlated bodies of women, children, old -age people every­where…

Thomas Goltz (independent journalist) - Khojaly

THE BOSTON GLOBE
March 3, 1992
By Paul Quinn-Judge
(Front page headline)

BAKU, Azerbaijan-Azerbaijan charged yesterday that Armenian militants massacred men, women and children after forcing them from a town in Nagorno-Karabagh last week.

Azerbaijani officials said 1000 Azeris had been killed in town of Khojaly and that Armenian fighters then slaughtered men, women and children fleeing across snow-covered mountain passes.

Armenian officials disputed the death toll and denied the massacre report.

Journalists on the scene said it was difficult to say exactly how many people had been killed in surrounding areas. But a Reuters photographer said he saw two trucks filled with Azeri corpses, and a Russian journalist reported massacre sites elsewhere in the area.

Azeri officials and journalists who flew briefly to the region by helicopter recovered the bodies of three dead children who had been shot in the head, Reuters said, but Armenians prevented them from retrieving more bodies.

In the Azerbaijani capital of Baku,government officials said that communications with Shusha,the last Azeri foothold in Nagorno-Karabagh,were cut yesterday morning. The militant Azerbaijani Popular Front reported that Armenian troops backed by armor and artillery were moving closer to town.

Shusha was shelled again overnight,according to accounts reaching Baku yesterday.

Fighting over the enclave, administered by Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians, has flared into a full scale war over the last month.

In the four years up to this January, some 1000 people are believed to have been killed in the con- flict. Although figures are extremely unreliable, at least several hundreeds people have probably died in the past four weeks.

The Azerbaijani Popular Front has been predicting an attack on Shusha for the last two days. But information on the fighting inside the enclave cannot be confirmed independently.

Officials of both the Azerbaijani government and the Popular Front claim that the final attack on Shusha could be triggered by the withdrawal of the last units of the former Soviet army stationed in Nagorno-Karabagh, the 366th Regiment.

The withdrawal began yesterday, said General Nikolai Popov, commander of the Baku-based 4th Army, in a brief phone interview yesterday.

The Azerbaijan presidential press service, quoting the republic's Ministry of National Security, claimed that commonwealth troops were going to move out through Shusha, destroying the town's defences as they did so.

Popov said he did not know if the regiment would leave through Shusha. Asked who might know this, he answered, "No one's going to tell you." Commonwealth airborne units reportedly have been moved into Nagorno- Karabagh to cover regiment's withdrawal.

Officials in Moscow and Armenia said that the 366th Regiment, based in the regional center of Stepanakert [Hankendi -- Ed.], has been strictly neutral in the fighting.

Azeri sources, however, claim that the 366th has swung actively on the side of Armenians,notably in the capture of last week of the small town of Khojaly, on the road between Stepanakert [Hankendi -- Ed.] and Agdam.

There were growing signs that many civilians were killed during the capture of Khojaly.

Footage shot by Azerbaijan Television Sunday showed about 10 dead bodies, including several women and children, in an improvised morgue in Agdam. An editor at the main television station in Baku said 180 bodies had been recovered so far. A helicopter flying over the vicinity is reported to have seen other corpses, while the BBC quoted a French photographer who said that he had counted 31 dead, including women and children, some who appeared as though they were shot in the head at close range.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Khojaly, Elmar Mamedov, said at a news conference in Baku that 1000 people had died in the attack, 200 more were missing, 300 had been taken hostage, and 200 were injured. Armored personel carriers of the 366th [Regiment -- Ed.] spearheaded the attack, Mamedov charged, and cleared the way for Armenian irregulars.

If Shusha does indeed fall, its loss could send shock waves through Azerbaijani society.

"If we lose this war there will be another one, very quickly," an Azeri businessman predicted yesterday.

The New York Times, Tuesday, March 3, 1992

Agdam, Azerbaijan, March 2 (Reuters) - Fresh evidence emerged today of a massacre of civilians by Armenian militants in Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan.

Scalping Reported

Azerbaijani officials and journalists who flew briefly to the region by helicopter brought back three dead children with the back of their heads blown off. They said shooting by Armenians has prevented them from retrieving more bodies.

"Women and children have been scalped," said Assad Faradshev, an aide to Nagorno-Karabakh's Azerbaijani Governor. "When we began to pick up bodies, they began firing at us."

The Azerbaijani militia chief in Agdam, Rashid Mamedov, said: "The bodies are lying there like flocks of sheep. Even the fascists did nothing like this."

Truckloads of Bodies

Near Agdam on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh, a Reuters photographer, Frederique Lengaigne, said she had seen two trucks filled with Azerbaijani bodies.

"In the first one I counted 35, and it looked as though there were as many in the second," she said. "Some had their head cut off, and many had been burned. They were all men, and a few had been wearing khaki uniforms."

The Sunday Times 1 March 1992
By Thomas Goltz, Agdam, Azerbaijan

Survivors reported that Armenian soldiers shot and bayoneted more than 450 Azeris, many of them women and children. Hundreds, possibly thousands, were missing and feared dead.

The attackers killed most of the soldiers and volunteers defending the women and children. They then turned their guns on the terrified refugees. The few survivors later described what happened: 'That's when the real slaughter began,' said Azer Hajiev, one of three soldiers to survive. 'The Armenians just shot and shot. And then they came in and started carving up people with their bayonets and knives.'

'They were shooting, shooting, shooting,' echoed Rasia Aslanova, who arrived in Agdam with other women and children who made their way through Armenian lines. She said her husband, Kayun, and a son-in-law were massacred in front of her. Her daughter was still missing.

One boy who arrived in Agdam had an ear sliced off.

The survivors said 2000 others, some of whom had fled separately, were still missing in the gruelling terrain; many could perish from their wounds or the cold.

By late yesterday, 479 deaths had been registered at the morgue in Agdam's morgue, and 29 bodies had been buried in the cemetery. Of the seven corpses I saw awaiting burial, two were children and three were women, one shot through the chest at point blank range.

Agdam hospital was a scene of carnage and terror. Doctors said they had 140 patients who escaped slaughter, most with bullet injuries or deep stab wounds.

Nor were they safe in Agdam. On friday night rockets fell on the city which has a population of 150,000, destroying several buildings and killing one person.

The SUNDAY TIMES, 8 March 1992

Khojaly used to be a barren Azeri town, with empty shops and treeless dirt roads. Yet it was still home to thousands of Azeri people who, in happier times, tended fields and flocks of geese. Last week it was wiped off the map.

As sickening reports trickled in to the Azerbaijani border town of Agdam, and the bodies piled up in the morgues, there was little doubt that Khojaly and the stark foothills and gullies around it had been the site of the most terrible massacre since the Soviet Union broke apart.

I was the last Westerner to visit Khojaly. That was in january and people were predicting their fate with grim resignation. Zumrut Ezoya, a mother of four on board the helicopter that ferried us into the town, called her community "sitting ducks, ready to get shot". She and her family were among the victims of the massacre by the Armenians on February 26.

"The Armenians have taken all the outlying villages, one by one, and the government does nothing." Balakisi Sakikov, 55, a father of five, said. "Next they will drive us out or kill us all," said Dilbar, his wife. The couple, their three sons and three daughters were killed in the massacre, as were many other people I had spoken to.

"It was close to the Armenian lines we knew we would have to cross. There was a road, and the first units of the column ran across then all hell broke loose. Bullets were raining down from all sides. we had just entered their trap."

The Azeri defenders picked off one by one. Survivors say that Armenian forces then began a pitiless slaughter, firing at anything moved in the gullies. A video taken by an Azeri cameraman, wailing and crying as he filmed body after body, showed a grizzly trail of death leading towards higher, forested ground where the villagers had sought refuge from the Armenians.

"The Armenians just shot and shot and shot," said Omar Veyselov, lying in hospital in Agdam with sharapnel wounds. "I saw my wife and daughter fall right by me."

People wandered through the hospital corridors looking for news of the loved ones. Some vented their fury on foreigners: " Where is my daughter, where is my son ?" wailed a mother. "Raped. Butchered. Lost."

(ANATOL LIEVEN COMES UNDER FIRE WHILE FLYING TO INVESTIGATE THE MASS KILLINGS OF REFUGEES BY ARMENIAN TROOPS)

The Times, 2 March 1992

As we swooped low over the snow-covered hills of Nagorno-Karabagh we saw the scattered corpses. Apparently, the refugees had been shot down as they ran. An Azerbaijani film of the places we flew over, shown to journalists afterwards, showed DOZENS OF CORPSES lying in various parts of the hills.

The Azerbaijanis claim that AS MANY AS 1000 have died in a MASS KILLING of AZERBAIJANIS fleeing from the town of Khodjaly, seized by Armenians last week. A further 4,000 are believed to be wounded, frozen to death or missing.

The civilian helicopter's job was to land in the mountains and pick up bodies at sites of the mass killings.

The civilian helicopter picked up four corpses, and it was during this and a previous mission that an Azerbaijani cameraman filmed the several dozen bodies on the hillsides.

Back at the airfield in Agdam, we took a look at the bodies the civilian helicopter had picked up. Two old men a small girl were covered with blood, their limbs contorted by the cold and rigor mortis. They had been shot.

TIME, March 16, 1992
By Jill SMOLOWE
-Reported by Yuri ZARAKHOVICH/Moscow

While the details are argued, this much is plain: something grim and unconscionable happened in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly two weeks ago. So far, some 200 dead Azerbaijanis, many of them mutilated, have been transported out of the town tucked inside the Armenian-dominated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh for burial in neighboring Azerbaijan. The total number of deaths - the Azerbaijanis claim 1,324 civilians have been slaughtered, most of them women and children - is unknown.

Videotapes circulated by the Azerbaijanis include images of defaced civilians, some of them scalped, others shot in the head.

BBC1 Morning News at 07.37, Tuesday 3 March 1992

"BBC reporter was live on line and he claimed that he saw more than 100 bodies of Azeri men, women and children as well as a baby who are shot dead from their heads from a very short distance."

BBC1 Morning News at 08:12, Tuesday 3 March 1992

"Very disturbing picture has shown that many civilian corpses who were picked up from mountain. Reporter said he, cameraman and Western Journalists have seen more than 100 corpses, who are men, women, children, massacred by Armenians. They have been shot dead from their heads as close as 1 meter. Picture also has shown nearly ten bodies (mainly women and children) are shot dead from their heads. Azerbaijan claimed that more than 1000 civilians massacred by Armenian forces."

Channel 4 News at 19.00, Monday 2 March 1992

"2 French journalists have seen 32 corpses of men, women and children in civilian clothes. Many of them shot dead from their heads as close as less than 1 meter."

Newsweek 16 March 1992

By Pascal Privat with Steve Le Vine in Moscow

"Azerbaijan was a charnel house again last week: a place of mourning refugees and dozens of mangled corpses dragged to a makeshift morgue behind the mosque. They were ordinary Azerbaijani men, women and children of Khojaly, a small village in war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh overrun by Armenian forces on Feb. 25-26. Many were killed at close range while trying to flee; some had their faces mutilated, others were scalped. While the victims' families mourned,"

Photo: `We will never forgive the Armenians': Azeri woman mourn a victim.

Report from Karabakpress

A merciless massacre of the civilian population of the small Azeri town of Khojali (Population 6000) in Karabagh, Azerbaijan, is reported to have taken place on the night of February 28 by the Soviet Armenian Army. Close to 1000 people are reported to have been massacred. Elderly and children were not spared. Many were badly beaten and shot at close range. A sense of rage and helplessness has overwhelmed the Azeri population in face of the well armed and equipped Armenian Army. The neighboring Azeri city of Aghdam outside of the Karabagh region has come under heavy Armenian artillery shelling. City hospital was hit and two pregnant women as well as a new born infant were killed. Azerbaijan is appealing to the international community to condemn such barbaric and ruthless attacks on its population and its sovereignty.

The Turks have absolutely perfected the childhood game that I knew as "tit for tat."  Someone brings up the Armenian Genocide and they start looking to change the topic.  When the French stand up for the truth with respect to the Genocide, the Turks start hollering about Algeria.  When the US Congress considers a non-binding resolution that simply REAFFIRMS the US RECORD on the events of 1915-1923, the Turks start screaming about slavery and the US Native Americans.   The Turks figure that they can keep us off topic if they start hollering about something else but yet they still refuse to stand up and acknowledge the horrific crimes against humanity perpetrated by their own ancestors.

 BTW, the Germans have actually acknowledged and APOLOGIZED for their part in the Armenian Genocide.  As many of you know, the Germans were right there in Turkey, helping, watching and learning as the Turks rid their lands of their Armenian subject population.  So, if the Germans could apologize not only for the Holocaust, but also for their role in the Armenian Genocide, the Turks should be able to to also.  Turkey stands alone on this one.  Stop changing the subject Turks and admit the truth.

Back to the post about the Azeris destroying Armenian graves and the poster who took the ridiculous position that these could have been Azeri graves, I ask that poster if he noticed the crosses on the stones.  Armenian artisans have been carving Khatchkars (Cross stones) for centuries to mark graves.  When I was last in Turkey, I saw with horror these ancient Armenian Khatchkars used as building stones in the homes of village Turks and Kurds.  The Armenian writing and designs are still present.  These ancient Armenian grave markers are used as steps to the entrance of dwellings and literally have been cut up and used to build homes.

The Turkish Governement does nothing to protect these artifacts and the people plunder them.  Across Anatolia, Armenian homes and churches lay in states of horrible disrepair.  Centuries old Armenian stone buildings which have withstood earthquakes, war and all else and for the last 90 years have been purposefully left to decompose. 

No, Anoosh, it's seems to me that it's not Turks who are trying to change the subject but Armenians who are trying to cover up their present-day attrocities by bringing up 100 year-old events and making it a priority of discussion in international community.

I believe it is more relevant to condemn and take actions against current massacres, ethnic cleansings and deportations (and as we see Armenians are guilty of them all) rather than throw around useless resolutions and having empty discussions about 100 year-old events.

So, lets not try change the subject and cover up your own wrong doings..