Soviet Karabakh Newspaper Archive

Sovetakan Karabakh (Soviet Karabakh) was an Armenian newspaper of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, founded in 1923. Originally, the newspaper was known as Karabakhigekhchuk (The Karabakh Peasant), and later Khorurdain Karabakh. Its name was changed to Sovetakan Karabakh in 1940 with publications released six times weekly. In 1973, the newspaper received the Soviet Union’s Order of the Badge of Honor. Sovetakan Karabakh’s publications often addressed the “Karabakh Problem,” chronicling the persecution of the indigenous Karabakh / Artsakh Armenians and expressing their will for self-determination. In some cases, the editors of Sovetakan Karabakh were fired or persecuted when writing about their injustices caried out against the Armenians by the Azerbaijani SSR. In 1965, for instance, the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Pyotr Elistratov, removed Lazar Gasparyan, Sovetakan Karabakh’s editor, from his post, for his participation in a letter to Brezhnev detailing the Karabakh Problem and asking for reunification. The name Sovetakan Karabakh was later changed to Artsakh Hanrapetutyun (Artsakh Republic) and today it is known as Azat Artsakh (Free Artsakh). 

 The following are select translations of articles published spanning the years of the Armenian Artsakh struggle of 1988-1992, covering the Artsakh Liberation War and other notable Armenian issues of the time. The translated articles include first-hand accounts of the lives and tribulations of Artsakh-Armenians: their hopes, their dreams, their wit, their perseverance, and their struggle! Join us in reading the thoughts and stories of Artsakh-Armenians living through the precipice of change.

Gegham Baghdasaryan

August 24, 1988

Nagorno Karabakh. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the year 1988 began with these two words. These two words were used everywhere, in all different manners. It is no secret that many people heard these words for the first time (probably not only through their own fault - for many years the region remained aloof from the big events taking place in the world), but many have just begun to look for this small mountainous region on the geographical map. And before that, the appearance of, for example, such a phrase was still possible: “What is happening in the region, can’t the Armenians and Azerbaijanis pacify these recalcitrant Karabakhians (Karabakh-Armenians)?” After the Sumgait tragedy, dozens of angry letters came to us - what have you done? It was with such public awareness that the Karabakh movement gained momentum. Almost the entire country participated in the discussion (an unprecedented expansion of the geography of editorial mail is evidence of this), including the aforementioned “many,” who still had to explain that the Karabakh people are not some recently discovered people, but a particle of the same Armenian people. And that Sumgait is located 400 kilometers from the NKAO. Hence the diversity of our mail, hence the polarity of opinions, the obvious confrontation of views.

These letters, which make up the lion's share of editorial mail in recent months, can be characterized by one feature - social activity, a feeling of general pain. “I can’t write calmly because tears choke me, ” writes Angelina Savelyeva from Odessa. People are simply not able to indifferently pass by the issues of concern to the country, they are trying to be useful to some extent, to participate in the solution. And they do it as best they can, whatever one is good at.

Kharkiv resident A. Zhukov (member of the party since 1937) used the words “nationalist” and “extremist” so often that it was simply difficult to avoid the temptation to count the number of these words in his letter on eleven pages - he used them 75 times (not counting the words “provocateur,” “reactionary,” “blackmailer,” “lackey,” “enemy,” “sycophant,” and other “related” words).  Zhukov looked through black glasses at the events in Nagorno-Karabakh and "around" it, and as a result he saw only two groups of people - nationalists (extremists, blackmailers, etc.) and misguided ones. He ranked the last group ... the communists, "who in the current situation had to maneuver politically, that is, move away from the positions of the outfit and take a stronger position.” From this letter, which is flooded with such "discoveries," breathes the cold breath of the 37th year. In the year the author of the letter joined the party, many true Leninists were "isolated." Perhaps after such letters.

Labeling has probably always been easy. For this, special data is not needed. It is much more difficult to understand the essence of the phenomenon. That Zhukov is not alone is evidenced by a letter from Muscovite N. Selyutina: “Come to your senses, what are you doing? Let's say you seceded from Azerbaijan, but you will remain neighbors. Your children will hate you, no one will trust you. Where are the instigators taking you?” Is it possible to divide the body into two parts? Popov (Donetsk) is indignant, referring to the withdrawal of the autonomous region from the republic, not knowing that both the body and the heart have been divided into two parts for a long time. This and other authors in their categorical judgments and conclusions, like individual authors of publications in the press, without knowing the history, without delving into the essence of the issue, perceive everything in a simplified way. Teachers from the city of Miass, Chelyabinsk region Akimova, Koldina, Martynova, Podkorytova also show ingenuity: “No more than 30 percent of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh want to join Armenia.” It remains only to guess what referendum data, unknown to us, respected teachers had in order to draw such a conclusion. These are the first responses.

I don't know about others, but after reading these letters, I felt sympathy for their authors. To judge the phenomenon, first of all, it is necessary to delve into it, for which the above-mentioned persons (and not only them) simply did not have the opportunity. Those who, on duty, were obliged to create such an opportunity, today it is no longer a secret, turned out to be not up to par. It's about printing. After the historic April (1985) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, our press began to change before our eyes. Newspapers and magazines were read with interest, they increasingly found a place for criticism - an outcast of our society in the years of stagnation. Yes, it was impossible not to notice the revival of our press. But, unfortunately, the relapse of the "old disease" was repeated. In this regard, Alexander Gelman, perhaps, aptly wrote in "Soviet Culture" (April 9, 1988): "The unpreparedness of our media to humanely and honestly cover dramatic events was revealed."

In conditions of information hunger, and then half-truths, it is not surprising that the following lines also appeared in our mail: “Unfortunately, we receive much less information than we would like” (G. Khobotev, Moscow); “The bitter experience of the past made us doubt certain publications” (A. Kuchmenko, Krasnodar). And a resident of the city of Tartu, Russian poetess Lyudmila Loginova, wanting to navigate the complex labyrinth of conflicting messages, literally asks us: “Send us the numbers of your newspaper.” All these are facts, history, which cannot be brushed aside.

And it is quite natural that after the wide coverage on Central Television of the well-known meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which became, in fact, the most complete, most objective information about Nagorno-Karabakh, letters of a different content fell into the editorial mail, as if from a cornucopia, and more sentiment. People received information, as they say, first-hand. And for the majority, much was a revelation. These letters no longer had labels. All exceptions, having condemned the strike, tried to understand, to see the roots of the phenomenon itself.

“Comrades, it is really impossible to violate the Constitution, ” writes Russian Vitaly Mitin from Novosibirsk. “t is impossible to change its borders without the consent of the Union Republic. There is no need to change the Constitution. But, on the other hand, justice requires that both parts of one people finally reunite. The way out, in my opinion, is as follows - it is necessary to achieve the consent of the Azerbaijan SSR, it is necessary to convince it. In fact, everything turned out the opposite - they convince the Armenians. They convince... to give up their just demand. Today it is no longer a secret that Azerbaijan is largely to blame for the people of Karabakh. The best way to redeem yourself is to let the autonomous region decide its own fate. Only after this kind gesture will it be possible to restore friendship between the two neighboring peoples.”

Brothers Anatoly and Aleksey Kuchmenko from Krasnodar write: “The Karabakh people are defending their vital rights, fighting for their national dignity, their holy rights – the right to a language and, let’s not be hypocrites, the right to their past, because they are under threat. The Karabakh problem gave a clinical picture of the cancer that struck the healthy organism of our society. A fair solution to the problem will be a true indicator of the policy of glasnost, of perestroika in general.”

The first offers of help began to come to us. Anatoly Alexandrovich Medvedev, a resident of the city of Vorkuta of the Komi ASSR, a Belarusian by nationality and a lawyer by profession, sent 100 rubles to the editors, sending the money transfer with the following words: “I ask you to accept personal savings to help the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Justice must prevail." We received the following letter from Yerevan: “Probably, Karabakh graduates in this difficult time do not have the opportunity to properly prepare for entrance exams and continue their studies at universities. I am a mathematician and I want to help Karabakh youth prepare for entrance exams for charitable purposes. Those who have the opportunity to stay with us during this period can contact me at the following address; 375019, Yerevan-19, st. Aygedzor, house number 62, Suren Tovmasyan.” But the most exciting, perhaps, was a letter from the city of Kamo in the Armenian SSR: “I was collecting money for a bicycle. Now I decided to send them to the Karabakh people. - Little Hovik.”

Under the heading "Dear Editors,” we publish letters from our readers, allowing everyone to freely express their opinion. Under this heading, we also printed a telegram from Doctor of Medical Sciences S. Manafov. The tone of the telegram addressed to the first secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional party committee, G. A. Poghosyan, and aroused the indignation of the newspaper's readers.

Letters and telegrams to the editorial office were sent by G. Avanesov (Stepanakert), N. Petrosyan (Mardakert), L. Hakobyan (Vank), residents of Yerevan N. Asatryan, S. Grigoryan, A. Onipchenko, S. Gabrielyan, S. Ghukasyan, Zh Hakobyan, L. Poghosyan, X. Asryan, G. Nazaryan, G. Antonin, as well as S. Dovlatyan (Tbilisi), R. Harutyunyan (Hadrut), V. Danielyan (Mets Shen), Y. Harutyunyan and Y. Avakyan (Samarkand), L. Kamalyan (Meghri), M. Soghomonyan (Karakend), residents of Stepanakert V. Balayan and S. Khachatryan, H. Sarkisyan and R. Musaelyan and many, many others - it is impossible to list them all.

In their letters, readers approve the course chosen by the regional newspaper, and write with satisfaction that its authority has immeasurably increased. I am pleased that I subscribed to your newspaper - this idea runs like a red thread through many letters. The bond “newspaper-reader” has been strengthened and given new content. But not only laudatory words are heard in our address. Readers make comments, make suggestions, respond to each article. Of course, the editors do not agree with all the comments, but one thing is clear - they are all taken into account. Some of our readers disagree with certain posts. It is worth noting here that we have based our activities on the resolution of the 19th Party Conference on Glasnost and the principles of socialist pluralism. Every citizen has the right to his own opinion on every socially significant issue.

Sevil Novruzova from Shushi writes: “I want to turn to the Soviet Karabakh newspaper and say that it publishes materials that contradict the spirit of internationalism. They write - my homeland is Nagorno-Karabakh. But after all, we have one homeland - the Soviet Union.” While advising S. Novruzova to listen to the famous song “Where Motherland Begins,” we would also like to draw her attention to the article “Who is Akhmedbek Agayev?” published in the regional newspaper Shusha on August 2nd of this year. Really, who is he? Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of the Musavat government of Azerbaijan, political adviser to the Turkish troops, member of the notorious Young Turks party. How not to ask: for what purpose, dear S. Novruzova, is your newspaper Shusha these days promoting this "hero,” exiled together with the leaders of the well-known organization "Committee of Union and Progress" to Malta?

The events of recent months laid the foundation for a powerful patriotic movement, which aroused a keen interest in the historical past of the Armenian people. Readers literally demand to periodically write about all the facts of the history of the region, the formation of the autonomous region, which were not known to the general reader until now, to sound the alarm in the name of saving our historical and architectural monuments that are on the verge of destruction, to restore Armenian toponyms, to raise issues of the native language, the history of the Armenian people, the establishment of Soviet power, socialist transformations in Nagorno-Karabakh, talks about the Great Patriotic War, and restructuring in the region. There is no point in hiding that, in the recent past, an innocent patriotic poem was qualified differently, and some classics of Armenian literature acquired the status of “unwanted personas.”

Reflecting on all these questions, our correspondents, of course, could not ignore the well-known resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on Nagorno-Karabakh, the program for the socio-economic development of the region. Opinions are ambiguous, but one of them prevails - everyone, to the best of their ability, should participate in the implementation of large-scale tasks provided for by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. But it opens up a wide scope for strengthening ties with Armenia, developing Armenian culture, and the national and spiritual life of the population of the region. This goal is not easy to achieve. “Let's not be naive,” writes K. Aharonyan, “this is not easy to implement. However, I think that a lot depends on us. Our perseverance matters. We should not forget: we are our mountains.”

Only selfless labor can achieve the highest goal to which we all aspire.

November 3, 1988

The Nagorno-Karabakh Regional Party Committee and the Regional Executive Committee received a letter from a resident of the city of Baku, Comrade N. N. Zeynalov. Published below is the letter of Comrade N. N. Zeynalov and the answer to his letter.

Letter From N. N. Zeynalov:

Dear comrades! I personally am very seriously concerned about the fact that, despite all the appeals, decisions, and resolutions adopted by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the situation in the NKAR has not only not stabilized, but has become even more dramatic and has already crippled the life and destinies of many thousands of innocent families, creating the problem of refugees in their own Fatherland.

The solution of issues related to the normalization of the situation in the NKAR, to a large extent, depends on those who are entrusted with the party and state leadership of the region, and on who they are, what their position in life is in this extremely tense situation, and how and for what purposes they use the power given to them. 

Any decisions will remain only good intentions if there are no interested performers. Framing decides everything! Our affairs and life to a greater extent depend on what the leaders are in business, political, intellectual and moral terms, and on how objective and accessible information about these figures and their activities is. To this day, at best, only a small biographical note appears in the press about this or that leader, and even then only after his appointment, since we practice appointments from above. We are almost completely deprived of the opportunity to somehow influence such an appointment and therefore, unfortunately, we show complete indifference to the next personnel reshuffle and over the years have developed an instinct of confident “they know better,” amd developed the habit of applauding violently at the beginning of a career, admiring him while he is in power and furiously mistreating him after a forced departure of yet another leader.

The existing tradition must be outlived. This is guaranteed by our perestroika, glasnost, and the policy of creating a rule of law state, which allows me to address you, the representatives of the press and the leaders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, with questions that concern not only me, and ask you to provide the necessary information on them.

1. Do you think that you were able to “take power” into your own hands, control and manage the situation in Stepanakert and the region as a whole, and that the situation has improved with your “coming to power?”

2. What is planned and what has been concretely done by you in order to normalize interethnic relations and the situation in the region?

3. Do you consider your position on the issue of transferring the NKAO to Armenia as a party position and did it change after the meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on July 18th of this year?

4. In your appeal to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia dated September 24, 1988, you note that in order for "a fair solution to the Karabakh problem" you are ready to provide daily information reports on events in the region. Does it not follow from this that neither the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on accelerating the socio-economic development of the region, nor the resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 18, 1988 in connection with the events in the NKAR and around it, are aimed at a fair solution of the problem? And further, what is the connection between the subjectivity of the perception of your information and the need for an objective solution to the problems of the field?

5. What solution do you consider "a fair solution to the Karabakh problem"?

6. What have you been solving and are solving: the “Karabakh problem” or the problems that have accumulated in the NKAR?

7. What role do you assign to the press in accelerating the resolution of the problems of the region, and why is there not a single correspondent of the central newspaper in Stepanakert? (This question of Komsomolskaya Pravda dated September 30, 1988 remains unanswered).

8. What should be done to eliminate national tensions, national distrust, and create  rapprochement between Azerbaijanis and Armenians? Can the abolition of Article 78 of the Constitutions of the USSR become an incentive for strengthening interethnic relations?

9. Was there interaction between you and the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Council of Ministers and the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan in the matter of the speedy normalization of the situation and the solution of pressing issues in the region?

10. What, in your opinion, is the significance (besides purely moral) of Armenia's intervention in the course of events in the NKAR, was there a need for this and what are its real results?

11. What are the main political and civil lessons of the events in and around the NKAR for the peoples of our country?

12. What is your main task under the current conditions and what kind of help do you need to achieve it?

The answer will suit anyone: in person or through the press. Regardless of form. Thank you in advance.

N. N. ZEYNALOV Design engineer, member of the CPSU, labor veteran

  Answer to the Letter of N. N. Zeynalov:

    Dear Comrade Zeynalov N.N.!

Party and Soviet bodies of the region, whose leaders, by the way, were elected democratically, and did not "take power" into their own hands, in the current situation are doing everything to normalize the situation and could achieve a significant improvement in the situation if it were not for the constant provocations by certain forces in the republic and beyond its borders, aimed at destabilizing the situation. It was the actions of these forces that created the refugee problem and crippled the lives and destinies of thousands of people.

During the first seven months since the beginning of the events, not a single case of disrespectful attitude towards the Azerbaijani population of the region and the Azerbaijani people as a whole was allowed by the Armenian population of the autonomous region. Even after the tragic events of Sumgait, nothing was done that could become a pretext for aggravating interethnic relations between our two peoples.

We consider the position of the governing bodies of the region on the issue of the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with the Armenian SSR as a party one, because it reflects the position of the overwhelming majority of communists and the population of the autonomous region. Does the use of the right of self-determination of nations given by the Constitution of the USSR contradict the ongoing perestroika and expanding democracy in the country? What is wrong with the fact that a compactly living part of one nation wants to reunite with a nearby main part of the same nation? Why should such a natural desire of the Armenian people offend the honor and dignity of the Azerbaijani people, as the opponents of a just solution to the Karabakh problem want to present?

This position was further strengthened after the formation of the well-known Commission of the Council of Nationalities and M. S. Gorbachev's speech at a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on July 18, 1988, in which he said that not a single issue can be considered finally resolved.

Apparently, there is a need to clarify the concepts "Karabakh problem" and "problems of the region." The difference between them is significant. In the first case, we are talking about the political side, meaning the withdrawal of Nagorno-Karabakh from the subordination of the Azerbaijan SSR and its reunification with the Armenian SSR, and in the second case, about the socio-economic, spiritual, and cultural problems that have accumulated in the region as a result of a negative attitude towards it from outside republican bodies. It is appropriate to point out that such an attitude hindered the development of the entire region.

A fair solution to the "Karabakh problem," which means satisfaction of the will and aspirations of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, depends to a decisive extent on truthful information about the causes of its occurrence and the current state of affairs in the region. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of publications, the media misinformed the population of the country. Nevertheless, their representatives had and now have the opportunity to be in Nagorno-Karabakh and work without hindrance. As for the case with the Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondents, the regional authorities have nothing to do with it.

We believe that the peaceful expression of the will of the Armenian population of the region should not have led to forceful forms of objection, intimidation, and physical violence. As is known, the Armenians living in the Azerbaijan SSR outside the territory of the region were not involved in the solution of the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, but they suffered first of all.

Our attitude to Article 78 of the Constitution of the USSR is as follows. Firstly, the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be considered from the standpoint of this article, since in this case we are not talking about territorial disputes between the two republics, but about self-determination of the compactly living part of the Soviet people of the same nationality. Secondly, considering that as a result of self-determination of densely residing national minorities, it may be necessary to change the territory and borders of the union republics and in order to prevent the forced abandonment of national autonomous entities in them, there is indeed a need to amend the content of this article in the sense that it was not a hindrance in matters of self-determination of national minorities. This will stimulate the strengthening of interethnic relations, for all nations and national minorities will acquire a real and equal freedom of self-determination. On the other hand, the existence of the right to secede from the federal republic will induce it to show more concern for the needs and demands of the national minorities living on its territory.

Interaction between the governing bodies of the republic and the region took place during the events in Nagorno-Karabakh and around it, aimed at normalizing the situation and solving pressing issues in the region. However, after it became clear that the goal was to be limited to this and consider the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh removed from the agenda, such interaction practically ceased.

The Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh is part of the entire Armenian people, and therefore the intervention of Armenia in the course of events in the NKAR is quite natural, despite the fact that at the beginning of their movement, the Karabakh people did not turn to Armenia for assistance. The real and main result of Armenia's intervention in the course of events in the NKAR, in addition to moral support, is that, figuratively speaking, the wall that had been built for decades between the autonomous region and the Armenian SSR finally collapsed.

Today, every Soviet person understands that the policy of perestroika is aimed not only at revolutionary transformations in the economy and the social sphere, but also in interethnic relations that have developed in our multinational state. The events in Nagorno-Karabakh showed that the solution of problems in interethnic relations is urgent.

The political lesson from the events of recent months is that we must abandon the erroneous opinion that there are no problems in our country in the national question, react to them in a timely manner, and resolutely implement the Leninist national policy. The civic lesson will be that Soviet people should show more sympathy and support for each other, and show in practice truly proletarian internationalism. We did not understand the appearances on television and in the newspapers of individual workers more worried about their monthly bonus than striving to figure out what happened to their class brothers in Nagorno-Karabakh or trying to help them in any way.

The main task in the current conditions is to achieve a solution to the Karabakh problem without infringing on the interests of other nationalities. It is also very important to implement the planned measures for the socio-economic development of the region.. The main assistance in solving this problem could be expressed in the manifestation of good will, which consists in not putting obstacles in the way of the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with the Armenian SSR. Our future generations will remember with gratitude those who contributed to the solution of an issue that is a constant cause of tension between our two peoples.

V. Tovmasyan Member of the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the Party

S. Petrosyan  Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee

November 11, 1988

Alexander Vasilevky

It happened in the mid seventies. I returned to my office at Leningrad Radio, where I worked then. On Malaya Sadovaya Street, crowded and noisy because of the abundance of vegetable stalls, I noticed a young man, clearly a foreigner. He walked along a long line, it seems, for melons. Elegantly dressed, tanned, with a dazzling smile, he was so blatantly dissonant with the gloomy, preoccupied faces from the queue that I involuntarily admired him. Then I noticed: the foreigner is not alone. A few meters away from me stood his wayfarer with a film camera. He recorded. But he recorded - I saw it clearly - not his comrade, but the queue: people tired after work with bags, briefcases, even with baby carriages, doomed to a long and humiliating standing. I was suddenly overcome by the feeling that happens to a person who is about to be unceremoniously cheated in his own home. And then I made an act that was unexpected, first of all, for myself. Passing by the man with the camera, I lightly, but obviously deliberately, pushed him with my shoulder. The man who was filming turned around in annoyance and fear. We met eyes: he understood everything. The filming stopped. But people from the queue already paid attention to us, those closest to us huddled together, an indignant hubbub began. Someone even slapped the foreigner on the back with a newspaper ... And I, the instigator, hurriedly retreated, experiencing conflicting feelings. But very soon I forgot about this case ... 

And only now, many years later, I remember him again. I was embarrassed even then. I understood that I had committed tactlessness, even rudeness towards the guests of our country, who did not violate any of our laws. But only now I realized something else: I and the people from the queue were captured by emotions far from a true sense of national pride. And those two almost became victims of these emissions. It was not them who should be blamed, but the queue organizers and our own getting used to them.

I was returning from Transcaucasia in the spring of 1988 with anxiety and restlessness in my soul. Behind me was a month of business trips to Armenia and Azerbaijan, meetings with many people. In fact, they were a never-ending interview on one topic. I learned a dozen new details, touches that complement the "events in Nagorno-Karabakh and around it." But they were drowning in an ocean of conflicting opinions and polar opposite emotions.

Where to begin? How and what to write about? There was another concern as well. Do I have the right to write, discount events? The sad smile of the female guide of the Yerevan Aesthetic Center haunted me, her words: “There are things that are not customary to talk about. You will never fully understand everything that happened here. To do this, one must be born in the Caucasus and be an Armenian.” In fact, won’t I seem like the very foreigner about whom Pushkin wrote: “Of course, I despise my fatherland from head to toe - but I am annoyed if a foreigner shares this feeling with me.” But what a foreigner I am! Aren't the Transcaucasian republics part of my homeland? Do I not have a  few like-minded friends in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, acquired over a good ten years of journalistic work? Before journalism, there was sports. For many years in professional football, I have traveled our country far and wide. I visited Armenia and Azerbaijan more than once. And each visit brought many friends. Even brothers in a very difficult, sometimes cruel, but beloved business.

Sports are inherently international. We often had skirmishes in the game that went beyond the rules, but there was no smell of nationalism here. In connection with this, I cannot but recall the long-standing match in Kirovabad.  The referee blatantly favored the hosts, and it hardened us. I was especially annoyed by the captain of Kirovabad, the central defender. This short red-haired Azerbaijani scored a goal for us in the first half, unexpectedly joining, and in the second he went on the attack. I confess that I played rough against him, very rough. But he did not seem to notice my pushes and blows. Only at the very end, apparently tired of my "guardianship," he said: "Listen, friend, leave me alone. I'm not thinking of scoring more for you." 

"What are you doing in our penalty area?" He explained. It turned out that in the first half a golden bridge fell out from him and now he, poor fellow, like a magnet was drawn to the place where he fell. After the game, I stayed with him on the field and we searched for the ill-fated bridge for a long time. And then, embracing, we went to the locker room …

And now, sitting at the typewriter, I see this guy. I remember Sargis Ovinyan from Yerevan, Fuat Taghizade from Baku, friends of my youth, and I seem to hear their silent request, expressed to me many times during my last business trip to the Caucasus: “Write about everything you saw and heard. Only the whole truth."

I arrived in Stepanakert at the end of April. A small, clean, cozy city pleased with the fresh foliage of poplars. From the outlying orchards floated the delicate aroma of apricot, dogwood, and plum blossoms. But it was cool in autumn, freezing rain. Heavy clouds hung over the city. Only occasionally did the sun shine, illuminating the amazing beauty of the alpine meadows of the surrounding mountains.

It seemed that the city lived a normal, measured life. But people felt that severe unity that happens after difficult trials, when everything ordinary, worldly, not only fades into the background, but, as it were, ceases to exist at all. It was worth talking to any person and the unrelenting pain caused by the tragedy of last February, when the most terrible pages of the history of the Armenian people, which had sunk into oblivion, suddenly responded with a bloody echo. It seemed forever. But most importantly, fears that Sumgait could happen again have not subsided: after all, it was not unpredictable, like a natural disaster, like a volcanic eruption or a mudflow, although it was very reminiscent of the rampant elements.

Armenians are now primarily concerned about the truth about Sumgait. Azerbaijanis - the events that preceded this, that is, the events in Stepanakert. Now we know what caused these events. All the newspapers have already written about this: the neglect of socio-economic problems, the neglect of the Azerbaijani leadership to the ancient Armenian culture of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. The overwhelming majority of its inhabitants, the Armenians, sought to defend their human and national dignity. In order to present the style and methods of managing the industrial and socio-political life of the Autonomous Region, we will introduce readers to the now former first secretary of the regional party committee, Kevorkov. Here is how the Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Rafik Huseynov, who knew him personally, characterizes Kevorkov: “Haughty, cold look from under glasses, lordly manners. He liked to make them wait in the reception, he decided where to accommodate the guests who came on a business trip to Stepanakert. You can go to a guest house with well-trained servants, you can go to a suite in a city hotel, or you can go to a guest room in a shabby regional hotel.”

Kevorkov, an unscrupulous leader who cared about nothing but his own career, was comfortable. For the authorities, he knew how to be unquestioning, poured oil on time, “supported” and “approved,” and when they gave the command, he “denounced”.

Only two strokes, eloquently demonstrating the nature of the "fraternal" national policy in the NKAR, carried out by this leader-noble. He began his activities in the party organization of the region in 1973 with a plenum of the regional committee on the national question, after which posters, names, signs in Armenian began to disappear in Shushi, the ancient capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the same place, a few years ago, with the blessing of the former leaders of the Azerbaijan SSR, with the help of the police, a monument to the Armenian soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War was destroyed.

It all started with demonstrations by the Armenian population in Stepanakert, then in Yerevan. It ended with Sumgait. And this has its own pattern. The most cursory analysis of the decisions and actions of the leadership of the NKAR and Azerbaijan in February makes one think that the people responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants were either unknown or deeply indifferent to the oldest and bitterest of truths - with any aggravation of social ailments, the feeling of injustice, legitimate discontent easily acquire a form of national strife, that it is also implicated in a deceitful or stupid word, deed, can instantly result in a bloody feud.

On the night of February 14, when the first demonstration took place in Stepanakert, at a meeting of the Bureau of the Regional Party Committee, head Asadov of the Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, stated that "One hundred thousand Azerbaijanis are ready to break into Karabakh at any time and arrange a massacre." At one in the morning on February 15, at the city Party Committee, the First Secretary of the City Committee, Movsesyan, informed the heads of all large enterprises about this, but categorically refused to send a telegram to the Central Committee of the CPSU informing about the situation. The telegram was sent only four days later.

On February 20, on the day of the regional session, which was to decide the issue of "reunification of the NKAR with Armenia", traffic police officers, police, special services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and volunteers from the Azerbaijani population, blocked all roads connecting Stepanakert with the regions in order to prevent Armenian delegates from attending the session.

On February 21, the republican radio and television reported that the ongoing unrest in the NKAR was the work of individual extremist groups.

February 22. A crowd of thousands of residents of the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam, crowding police posts, destroying everything that came in their way, moved towards the nearby Nagorno-Karabakh village of Askeran. In the middle of the day, the crowd was stopped and dispersed on the outskirts of the village with the help of twenty police detachments (about 1000 people). During the riots, under unclear circumstances, two young Aghdam residents were killed, about fifty residents of the NKAR were wounded and taken to the hospital.

In the following days, the Azerbaijani Telegraph Agency, followed by TASS, the All-Union Radio and Central Television, reported the murder of two Azerbaijanis "as a result of a clash between the inhabitants of Aghdam and Askeran." This murder took place under circumstances that have not been clarified to this day. Undoubtedly, at least, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh had nothing to do with the murder of one of them, twenty-two-year-old Ali Hajiyev, a milling machine operator at the Aghdam machine-tool plant. Here is what his brother, twenty-nine-year-old civil engineer Arif Hajiyev, told me about the circumstances of Ali's death:

“Azerbaijani policeman shot at Ali. My brother died instantly: the shot was at point-blank range, the bullet went right through and hit the heart. There was an argument between him and the officer. Then Ali grabbed Ulvi Vakhramov, his friend, and said: ‘Hold me, they shot at me.’ And fell. Ulvi saw a policeman who fired. He does not know him, but he knows well another officer, one from Aghdam, who immediately put the shooter in the car and drove off. Recently, a lieutenant colonel from Moscow, Nikolaev, said that a new investigation had now begun. An announcement was made in the newspaper asking the witnesses of the murder to come to the police ... "

The representative of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, Valery Vladimirovich Vasilenko, the acting prosecutor of the NKAR, agreed with me that the information in the press about the murder of two Azerbaijanis in the clashes between the inhabitants of Aghdam and Askeran, without additional explanations, was inappropriate in that explosive situation.

Many believe that it was this message that served as the match brought to the powder keg that exploded in Sumgait.

Now doubts are being expressed: is it worth talking about the terrible tragedy of Sumgait? “It is not in the tradition of the Soviet press to stir up passions with emotional, chilling stories about the details of murders, rapes, bullying, pogroms. In a heated environment, this kind of information would bring nothing but harm.” ('Arguments and Facts, 1988, No. 16). What a touching concern for our reader! Live in peace, dear compatriot. Don't worry and don't worry. Because there will still not be enough tears for all those who were burned, drowned, shot and strangled behind the cordon. In our country, if such a thing happens, it is nothing but an emergency. But here, do not rush to worry: the guards of law and order are always on the alert and "not a single guilty person will escape responsibility." A function gives birth to a muscle, doctors say. What the “absence” of problems and a meager ration of information for emotional experiences leads to, we already know - to “stagnation,” hard drinking, degradation of the personality to new Chernobyls and Sumgaits. No matter how terrible the truth is, it always heals, because it awakens conscience. Makes you look for the roots of what happened.

“It was scary in Sumgait. Of course, local authorities are to blame - Soviet, party. The police were inactive…”

“On the eve of the pogrom, they called, gave three phone numbers where to call in case of trouble, and two hours later there was no connection. And it was gone for five days. Who did it? Why did the ambulance and the police not come to the aid of the victims? Why were the troops called in only two days later?”

“Even the ones who didn’t suffer from the bandits, but who saw all this, are now mentally ill. My brother, fleeing on February 29, ran forty-five kilometers in four hours in the rain at night. There was no place for him in the car: there were eight people there. Imagine the fear he had!”

“They walked past our house with a flag. On the flag is the inscription: ‘Death to the Armenians!’ They met up with students at the 22nd school. Some of the students, however, remained. Within half an hour, a group of 40-50 people turned into a crowd - 5-6 thousand. And so they walked throughout the region, shouting: ‘Death to the Armenians!’ Every car was checked, in trams, in buses they searched, pulled out ... "

“In a Yerevan sanatorium, I lived with a man who jumped from the third floor to escape. Broke his leg, but survived ... "

“On the evening of the 28th we drove into the city. We were at the dacha for two days, and did not know anything. My Azerbaijani neighbor was with me. I took him home, to the 41st block, and drove back to my place. Suddenly, stones flew around the corner. We did not have time to turn around - they surrounded us. Pulled out of the car. One of them put a stone to my temple: ‘Give me the document. Let’s see who you are.’ ‘Don’t you see, I’m Azerbaijani,’ I say without an accent, but I myself am afraid that they will pull the documents out of my jacket. ‘There is no document,’ I say. He shouts, ‘Give me the document!’

 I say, ‘The car is someone else's. No driver's license, no technical certificate.’ Then it dawned on him: ‘Say “фынды.’ With this word, they check for Armenians. I say it. He yells, ‘One more time!’ I scream, he screams. Someone says, ’Can’t you see, that’s one of ours. Let him go’. Then they explained to me, ‘You will see ours, do not be afraid - give three beeps and quietly drive up. But take the document anyway.’ The one who interrogated me is 40-45 years old. I will remember his face for the rest of my life ... "

“Mnatsakan, invalid of the Great Patriotic War. His daughter and he were both wounded, and the car was smashed. He worked as a turner. He told me that a few days before that he received an order: to make blanks from rebar. Cut and sharpen. He then saw his reinforcements with the pogromists.”

“My relatives - brother Armen, Armo and his family - have lived in Sumgait since the day it was founded. They broke into theirs at night. The brother's wife was abused, raped - in front of her husband and son. They were physically assaulting us. She lost consciousness. Then they killed the son and husband, my brother. Seven more people were killed from their entrance. The corpses were left in piles and lit on fire. Thanks to the Azerbaijani neighbor: he dragged the bodies of the brother and son to the side and then they were able to properly bury them.”

The continuation of this last story, told by Larisa Nikolaevna Sukhaelyan, a teacher in the 10th school in Stepanakert, I unexpectedly learned from a Baku police officer with whom I flew from Baku to Leningrad on May 3. Yuri, a broad-faced, strong Russian guy, at first walked away from the conversation, kept it a secret. But when I let him listen to the stories of the Sumgait residents, recorded on tape, he opened up. It turned out that Yura had been in Sumgait all those terrible days.

“I remember father and son Armo. I buried them myself. They were buried early in the morning, secretly, under the protection of machine gunners: they were afraid of attacks on relatives (one from each killed). They were taken to the cemetery in some kind of van.

We worked in the crowd in civilian clothes and without guns - they didn't give them to us, for fear that the weapons might get to the bandits. We walked in the crowd. To avoid being recognized, we carried a stone or a stick in our hand. The worst bandits were taken by cunning. You would call them aside: ‘There is a suitable apartment,’ and they would take them to a quiet place and shove them into a car. But we didn't take the biggest fish. The main ringleaders and instigators of everything, I think, had time to leave.”

I heard from Yuri another version of the behavior of the former first secretary of the Sumgait city party committee, Muslimzade, at the beginning of the events in Sumgait. According to Muslimzade himself, to a Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent, he led the procession from the city committee to lead the crowd to the embankment. He told the investigation that he was "walking under the knives." And here is another opinion - Yuri: "I hoped that the demonstration would be peaceful: they would pass, scare the Armenians, and disperse."

The most difficult test for me in Stepanakert was visiting the tenth secondary school, where several children from Sumgait are now studying. The head teacher of the school, Irina Vladimirovna Grigoryan, before bringing them in, warned: “The boys, especially the kids of the first and third grades, are still mentally traumatized: they are afraid to be alone, in the classroom they try to sit by the window in order to see both the door and, of course, the street. Don't bore them with questions."

Edgar Gevorkyan, 8 years old:

“The first time, we were saved by our Azerbaijani neighbor Mammad. He said that we were Azerbaijanis and they left. But Mammad soon left for work, and they came again. They began to break down the door. We ran through the window and hid with another Azerbaijani.”

Vadik Balayan, 9 years old:

“At that moment, my mother and I were at home. Grandmother went to save her eldest son, dad was at work. They came at three o'clock. Mom opened the door and slammed it shut. They began to break down the door. Broke. Came in. ‘Are you Balayans?’ they asked. I said that we are Russians, lodgers. Plus my mother is blonde, only dyed. Grandma's room was locked and they believed that we were renting two rooms from Balayan. But it didn’t matter, they broke into the house, took many things, threw the rest out the window.”

Vitalik Danielyan, 15 years old. He entered like a shadow, no blood in his face. He spoke softly, slowly. He still does not know that his mother saved him from imminent death: when they began to beat him, she laid down atop him and covered him with her body. The mom and dad died. Here is what Vitalik had to say:

“On February 27, we went to Baku to visit my uncle for his birthday, and returned to Sumgait the next day. On the way, our bus was stopped and the Armenians were demanded. The driver and passengers shouted that there were no Armenians. They didn't believe it. They made everyone leave. Checked in appearance and we somehow slipped through. We came home. A few minutes later the neighbors came running. They told us to come down to theirs. When the crowd came, we sat with them. They asked: ‘Are there any Armenians?’ They were told, ‘No.’ They went to look at the lists of tenants. As we had only recently moved here there was no sign of us on the list. The crowd left and we went home. After a while, a friend from my father's work called. He said that he would arrive at two in the morning, get a car or a taxi which would take us to Baku. We began to slowly prepare. But after 15-20 minutes they came to us ... Then they began to lead us out ... The rest is all in a fog ... Sorry.”

Vitalik got up and went to the door. Scars were visible through short hair. While Vitalik was resting, Irina Vladimirovna spoke about the difficulties of working in today's Stepanakert school: “I teach in two ninth grades, and in the storm of these events I had to calm down, extinguish the emotions of the children, direct their feelings in the right direction. But I didn’t succeed, because every time after the next article, where there was no truth about what was happening with us, I went to the lesson with fear, afraid of questions. Today's schoolboy is not the child to whom the teacher can say: ‘I said so, considering that it is so in reality.’ They are very erudite, read a lot, and can argue. It is very difficult to look Sumgait boy Vitalik in the eye and talk about internationalism. One student told me: ‘Irina Vladimirovna, we will have time - and we will reach Tolstoy. And Chekhov. What troubles we have now, what a tragedy! And you come and say: ‘The path of searching for Pierre Bezukhov.’ Let's figure out our ways, and then we'll get to Pierre …’”

Vitalik returned and continued his story:

“They burst into the apartment, started shouting that they had come to drink the blood of Armenians. They shouted that they had come to liberate Azerbaijan from the Armenians, that the next turn would be Kirovabad [Ganja]. On the street where they took us, they shouted the same thing. There were many people: a hundred, maybe two hundred. And everyone came up and hit. They beat with clubs, rebar, stones, sharpened metal stakes from fences.”

“Can you tell me the age of the killers? How did they look?”

“Age - from 16 to 35. All strangers. Dressed differently. Some even wear ties. One even in a white shirt and tie. When we were taken out, he played the piano…

They started with me. I immediately lost consciousness. Twice I came to my senses and lost again. I don't remember how much time passed, I woke up. Somehow got up. I tried to lift my mother, then my father, they were still alive, but I could not: my arm was broken.”

“What about the neighbors? After all, it was only nine in the evening. They could see it all.”

“Many watched from balconies, from windows. I noticed this when we were taken out. I tried to go up to the neighbors. Fell down a few times and didn't see anything. Started knocking. They didn't open anywhere. On the third floor, they gave me a rag to wipe the blood off my face and promised to call an ambulance. Then they took me to their place. The apartment was ransacked, the floor was covered in glass. I didn't know what to do. I washed my head with hot water - this was impossible to do. There were open wounds, in six or seven places. Then I forgot... Some people came in the morning. They began to draw up a protocol, asked what and how. I remember everyone was asking if we had a tape recorder. Then they put me in the ambulance. It was twelve in the afternoon - I remember it well, there was a clock in the ambulance.

Then I found out about my father and mother. They stayed until eight in the morning. They were taken dead. Apparently, they bled out or froze. If they had been helped immediately, maybe they would have survived …”

“Now, Vitalik, tell me, could you have guessed the day before that this could happen? Did you feel it at school?”

“In our school, there has never been friendship between the Azerbaijani sector and the Russian sector — this includes the Armenians. They pestered us all the time: they took something away, then they beat us. I had to fight, to defend myself and my comrades, who were weak. On February 25-26, they behaved especially defiantly, brazenly simply. They came and took what they wanted. Even portfolios were taken away.”

“And what was usually taken away?”

“Books, rags, fountain pens, watches…”

“How did the teachers feel about it?”

“Usually they didn't notice. Well, if we went to them and complained, they said that they would figure it out. Sometimes they figured it out, sometimes they didn’t. Everything remained the same. It happened that one of us did something bad, the teachers immediately said: ‘Armenian antics.’ Or they shouted: ‘Sit down, Armenian!’ Or: ‘Shut up, Armenian!’ Or something like that…”

Of course, there could have been more victims if hundreds of Azerbaijanis, risking their lives and loved ones, did not save their Armenian neighbors from violent death. Let's pay tribute to these courageous people. Let's say thank you from all of us. And let's not condemn those who were afraid to come to the rescue. Who among us knows in advance how he will behave in a moment of mortal danger? Each had their own circumstances. And let everyone be their own judge.

I am troubled and disturbed by a different prudently calm attitude towards the events in Sumgait of some individual people. The attitude is like an inevitable retribution for the actions that were started by the Armenians in Stepanakert. Even cases of sophisticated fanaticism did not irritate their souls. They don't want to see or know about it. Such a gloomy thought was suggested by a round table at the Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute with the participation of students and teachers of both nationalities.

It was here that I fully felt how tense the situation in Stepanakert was at the end of April, how heated the passions between the Armenian and Azerbaijani population of the NKAR were, and how many problems still await solution here. I was literally dragged here by students of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sectors - future historians, asking me to become a kind of arbiter in their dialogue at the "round table." The conversation turned out to be difficult, even heavy. There were moments when I regretted that I agreed to participate in it. To be honest, it ended in a general uproar, when its participants, breaking into groups, even pairs, thrashed each other with words-blows, like boxers in close combat. But, as one of its participants noted, it was the first conversation in the last two months in which both sides expressed their point of view.

“... On April 28 there was a solemn meeting dedicated to the birthday of the republic. May Day is ahead, then - the Day of the establishment of Soviet power. Our esteemed dean made a report. What was he supposed to talk about on a day like this? About friendship, of course, about the normalization of the educational process. What was in the report? First of all, about Sumgait. Tendentiously, in a nationalist spirit. That is why Azerbaijani students started making noise and we, experienced teachers, objected.”

“We must criticize negative phenomena wherever they are. Some people wanted to hide the truth for the holiday, to show that everything is great with us. If the soul hurts for our society, friendship, we must tell the truth. Previously, we only shouted toasts in honor of friendship. What did it lead to? Truth cleanses. It is necessary to evaluate the history of the people from a class position. Samed Vurgun, Isahakyan, Kuluzade, Tumanyan are wonderful people. Writers - both Armenian and Azerbaijani ... But there were also bad people. In the 1920s they showed themselves. I always say: there are no bad nations, there are bad people.”

“Jeyhun, tell me, was at least one Azerbaijani offended in Stepanakert? Why didn't you come to class for a month?”

“Why did you go to demonstrations? Personally, I was insulted by one Armenian woman on February 22.”

“Did anyone say bad things to you at the institute?

“No. But in the city…”

“Jeyhun, do you condemn the events in Sumgait?”

“We need to figure out why it happened.”

“‘Why it happened’? .. They killed people who were not guilty of anything. How do you feel about it?”

“This is hooliganism on the basis of socio-economic problems. But look where the economic situation is better: in Stepanakert or in Sumgait? The newspaper Позиция clearly reported the answer to this.”

“But still, tell me, do you condemn the murderers in Sumgait? Are the Armenians to blame that the Azerbaijanis live poorly in Sumgait?”

“I am always against murder.”

“No, be specific.”

“I was not there. The Azerbaijani government asked you to stop the demonstrations and go to work…”

“You, an Azerbaijani, are not interested in why we, Armenians, cannot study the history of our people?”

“I didn't think about it. I want to know what caused the strikes here and in Yerevan? Because of socio-economic backwardness?”

“It is not important. Moscow students don't wear clothes like you and me. Now economic problems are not the main thing. We will be given half a billion rubles. Where will they be taken from? Is the wealth of our country boundless? The Searchlight for Perestroika said that in some cities of the RSFSR people have not seen meat for years. But we take money from them …”

“And such a question. Why was our hostel given to Sumgait Armenians? Let them live as tenants. The Ministry of Higher Education built this hostel for us.”

“That's right: when Sumgait residents arrived, by decision of the Regional Executive Committee, part of the new hostel was given to them. But we have an old hostel. It was released to students. Why don't you want to live there? Temporarily.”

“It's not fair.”

“I have a question. Are you Azerbaijanis accepting the Позиция newspaper’s narrative?”

“Yes.”

“So, you agree with the historical background: Nagorno-Karabakh became an integral part of Azerbaijan in 1923 because of the difficulties in the international position of our country?”

“Until the twentieth year, Shusha was the center of Karabakh. For almost two centuries, the Karabakh Khanate was here…”

“Shushi was not only an Azerbaijani but also an Armenian center. My ancestors are from Shushi. They died in 1918 as a result of the massacre. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Nelson Stepanyan was born here. How do you honor his memory? What did you turn the monuments in the park named after 26 Baku commissars into? Why do your collective farmers keep sheep in the Christian church in the village of Vank? This is a historical monument, a miracle of antiquity!”

“We also have a mosque that is falling apart. The leadership of the republic is to blame for this, not the people.”

“When there was a pogrom in Sumgait, on the 28th, in the evening a concert was shown on Azerbaijani television: Azerbaijani songs were performed by Armenian artists. The tragedy is that my colleague from the Armenian sector did not come up to me and say: ‘Hold on, Oleg! Please accept my condolences.’ The Azerbaijani people have nothing to do with this shame. The tragedy is that the Azerbaijani government did not express condolences to the victims, did not properly condemn the massacre.”

The tragedy is not the number of people killed. The main thing is that in one republic, one nation, has raised its hand against another. The British reached the Falkland Islands in three days. It took almost the same amount of time for our troops to reach Sumgait. Sumgait was preceded by events in Askeran. This, too, should have been a signal to the leadership. And the last. Republican media engaged in an ideological war against their own people. And the mainstream press was not up to the mark. Ovcharenko wrote in Pravda: ‘They broke into the apartments of the Armenians with the aim of robbery.’ How could a self-respecting journalist allow such a thing? If we are thinking of solving the problem of the existence of our peoples, then we must first of all analyze all the forfeits thoroughly and publicly.

From the first days they began to say that there was an interethnic conflict going on here, and the Central Television and the press began to call us to order over and over again. Is it really more appropriate for our country to interpret everything as an interethnic conflict than as it was: people raised the issue of reuniting the autonomous region with their republic?

Time and wisdom heal spiritual wounds. Time helps to forget, wisdom heals. The decisions that will be made are the business of legislators and politicians, sages and poets - the best representatives of the people. What would you like to invite me to? Twice, with varying degrees of loudness, the word "repentance" sounded. In a film by Tengiz Abuladze and in a brief address by Academician Dmitry Likhachev. Conscience is not a national category. And so I appeal to everyone who by deed, word, and thoughts, can be involved in this tragedy, with a plea for repentance.

Originally published in AURORA No. 10. 1988, LENINGRAD

November 29, 1988

Editorial Team

Each new day gives birth to a new question - wiser than the previous one. Each new day puts forward tasks, the solution of which seems impossible.

The rallies taking place in Baku and the anti-Armenian campaign unfolded on Azerbaijani television and in the republican press has reached its climax.

Today we will not respond to insults against the Armenian people, to the falsification and manipulation of obvious facts, because, as the ancestors said, clear things do not need proof.

We believe that, if not today, then tomorrow, later, other Azerbaijanis will ask for an apology for the insults inflicted on the neighboring people, for Sumgait, for the fact that people, blinded by hatred, demand leniency and mercy for the murderers.

Violence is not an argument or a means of asserting justice. Let us repeat this truth known to the entire civilized world. We do not believe the writer who calls for hatred and violence, just as we do not believe the literature he created. These days, as if competing with each other, many Azerbaijani writers from the stands willingly provided to them, as if from a cornucopia, vomit poison on the Armenian people that they have been accumulating in their souls for years.

Dear people of Artsakh! Today we are not addressing you in order to evaluate all these actions. This, we hope, we are convinced, will be done in the highest instances of the country; all this will be given a political assessment.

Today, people of Artsakh, we are concerned about how each of us individually, each collective will behave in this tense, in this confusing situation. Don't give in to fear - that's what the so-called demonstrators and their leaders want.

One thing we need to remember is that after a dark night there is always a sunny day. Hatred, alienation, enmity, can lead a person, entire nations, to spiritual impoverishment, moral degradation.

In this difficult time, when a deep wound bleeds in the hearts of each of us, and pain can cause retaliation, we must show the greatest self-control and sanity. People of Artsakh, we appeal to you with a convincing request to observe not only social, but also labor discipline. This will be our response to all kinds of incitement and threats. Let us respond with labor unity to any violence.

The most real, most effective weapon for achieving victory is labor, creative labor that gives rise to material and spiritual benefits. The loom must produce silk; on these fine days, you should take care of the vine; Dozens of enterprises in the country are waiting for capacitors, in this situation, Stepanakert Airport should operate at full capacity, for which it is necessary to install radar equipment as soon as possible so as not to be dependent on the weather. Today we expect a lot from builders. The number of refugees arriving in Stepanakert is constantly growing. It is high time to move from slogans and calls to action. Not only construction organizations, but also every enterprise capable of building should get down to business.

An end to the strike is the demand of the day. Ultimately, this is required by the solution of our main task - the withdrawal of Nagorno-Karabakh from the Azerbaijan SSR.

People of Artsakh, for more than ten months you have strongly insisted on respect for your right to national self-determination. The regional committee of the party, the regional Council of People's Deputies, being the spokesmen for the national aspirations of the Armenians of Artsakh, at the same time demand the restoration of a normal labor rhythm in the region. This is the way we must go towards the realization of the goals for which we have been fighting for ten months.

Today, more than ever, wisdom is needed in order to take the only correct steps, in order to have the ideas of perestroika, revolutionary transformations in the country as a guide in our actions. It is the fundamental principles of restructuring that must form the basis for the real realization of our national aspirations.