Стр. 34 - Azərbaycan xalçaları

34
For 70 years, since 1918, when the Armenian government was established in western Azerbai-
jan, up to the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, Azerbaijanis had been subjected
to mass deportation from their historical lands three times: 1918-1920, 1948-1953, and the end
of 1980s - the beginning of 1990s.
1918-1920: This is the first period of the history of forceful deportation of Azerbaijanis from
their ancestral lands that were “turned into” Armenia. This deportation was implemented by
the newly emergedArmenian government. At this point, the deportation was executed through
other forms of ethnic cleansing, specifically by using genocide. According to the calculations
of Armenian sources, 565,000 of 575,000 Azerbaijanis living in Armenia at the end of the First
World War were either killed or deported. According to Armenian writer Z. Korkadyan, “In
1920, after the Dashnak’s ruling, there remained a few more than 10,000 Turks (Azerbaijanis).”
In 1922, there were 72,596 Azerbaijanis here after the return of 60,000 refugees. Another Arme-
nian author, A. Lalayan, wrote that Armenia’s Dashnak administration “exterminated 60% of
the Azerbaijani population during the 30 months of its power (May 1918 - November 1920).”
English military reporter Robert Scotland Liddell’s information confirms these figures. He
wrote, “When I was in Shusha in January, I told one English officer that I was getting ready to
go to Zangazur to see in which conditions are found 40,000 Muslims that suffered at the hands
of Armenians.”
First in Azerbaijan (April 28, 1920), then in Armenia (November 29, 1920), a certain part of the
deported Azerbaijanis were returned to their previous lands thanks to the Soviet government.
They then became the victims of the 1948-1953 deportations.
1948-1953: After Armenia became a Soviet republic in November 1920, the policy of Azer-
baijani deportation went in a more dangerous direction. In 1920-1930, the ideological declara-
tion of “proletarian internationalism” played the role of a mask in organizing the oppression
of Azerbaijanis in the Armenian SSR. On the contrary, special conditions were demanded for
Armenians living in Azerbaijan and other Soviet republics. The result of this was that in 1923,
Azerbaijan’s historical Mountainous Karabakh Region was artificially separated from the plain
regions and became the Daglig (Mountainous) Karabakh Autonomous Region. During that
period when national government building movements were prevalent in the USSR, the non-
Azerbaijani Head of Azerbaijan S.M. Kirov (1922-1926) and others did not demand relevant
status for the Azerbaijanis living in the Armenian SSR. Consequently, Azerbaijanis living in
the Armenian SSR remained outside the political structures.
Armenia obtained a favorable opportunity to further oppress Azerbaijani citizens who re-
mained without autonomy. Then Armenia began to incite the Armenians who had gained au-
tonomous status for the Autonomous Region of Mountainous Karabakh (ARMK) of Azerbaijan
to separatism. Soon after World War II in November-December 1945, the Armenian leadership
raised the question with the USSR leadership of handing Mountainous Karabakh over to Ar-
menia. This question was not resolved. A short time later, on December 23, 1947, Stalin signed
a resolution by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the resettlement of Azerbaijani kolkhoz
(collective farm) members and other Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR to the lowlands of
the Kur and Aras Rivers of the Azerbaijan SSR.
On March 10, 1948, another resolution was signed on resettlement. The period between the
dates of the resolutions exposes another problem. A resolution on the resettlement affecting the
destiny of more than 10,000 people was adopted hastily and related measures were identified
later. Therefore, it is obvious that there was a close connection between the Soviet leadership’s
consideration for Armenia’s claim to the ARMK of Azerbaijan and the resolutions regarding
the resettlement of Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR. In fact, the leadership of the USSR
worked out the sequence of these two issues: first, Azerbaijanis were resettled from Armenia
and then the claim concerning the ARMK was addressed.
Textual study of the resolutions by the Council of Ministers of the USSR shows that they did
not meet any demands for human or civil rights. It was clearly stated that the deported per-
sons would be settled only in the lowlands of the Kur and Aras Rivers. However, it was stated
Deportation of Azerbaijanis from Western Azerbaijan -
the Territory of Armenia