CAUCASIAN FINNS

I found myself in Azerbaijan by accident as part of a film group with Russian TV's Channel One. And it so happened that this country became my home, which meant that the problems of this home became my problems, too.

Azerbaijan's main problem is Karabakh. Before I came to Azerbaijan I had heard as much about Karabakh as the Russian media wanted me to know. I don't want to say anything bad about it, but because I am a journalist I know how the media works and I know all its hidden dangers. In order to shape public opinion which will, in fact, reflect the opinion of those "who need it", i.e. the politicians, all you need to do is arrange the facts in a slightly different way. Just a little bit, and then you have the truth - well, not the truth, but something like it…

After living in Azerbaijan for a few years I learnt from within, from eye witnesseses, about the essence of the conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh. I still have good Armenian friends, and I am a long way from saying that one set of people are good and the other bad. No, it is the politicians that make politics and not ordinary people. And politics, as we all now, is a dirty business.

I'll start by going back a bit. Before I lived in Baku and only came here from time to time my Moscow friends wanted to know: what are they like, these Azerbaijanis? I thought for a moment. One of my Baku friends calls his people the Caucasian Finns. At first I didn't get what he meant, but then I caught on: Finns, of course! They are the same good-natured and calm people, perhaps too calm. They should show a little more fire and passion! Clearly, this national trait resulted from another national trait - their hospitality and tolerance in matters of trust and the issue of inter-ethnic relations. In Azerbaijan nobody stops to think what nationality his neighbour is. He's a neighbour, and that's it. He's either a good person or a bad person. In a country where the ethnic composition is rich, as in the former USSR, this is a very important feature, perhaps an underlying one. Azerbaijan has always received guests affectionately, and it doesn't matter how long you've come for. If you like it here - great! Unfortunately, this quality has played a dirty trick on the people. Calm and good-natured, they have proved defenceless in the face of the excessive ambitions of the politicians in their neighbouring country. 

This found its expression in the problem of Karabakh when 20 per cent of the primordial lands of Azerbaijan became occupied by Armenia, whose authorities do not wish to acknowledge the fact which is obvious to historians the world over: the Armenians, as a result of the conditions of the Turkmenchay peace treaty of 1828 were resettled to these lands from Persia, where they were ostracized. After the resettlement A. Griboyedov in his "Note on the resettlement of the Armenians from Persia to our regions" wrote: "The Armenians have for the most part settled on the lands of Muslim landowners…The settlers…are squeezing out the Muslims who grumble all the time and rightly so…Turning again to the settlers I find that they are much more useful than our Georgian Armenians (bear in mind that there were no "Armenian" Armenians in those days at all, Armenia as a republic was in the hands of the Bolsheviks. - O.B.), petty tradesmen, bringing nothing useful to the purse". Nor have Armenian politicians any wish to recognize four whole resolutions of the UN which state that the occupation of Karabakh is illegal and must be terminated. So it happened that when the Persian Armenians were resettled they dug in…and then demanded these lands for themselves. As the Russian fairy tale says, the bunny rabbit had a wooden hut but the fox had one made of ice. The fox's hut melted in the spring, and the hospitable bunny rabbit asked her to come and live with him. The cunning fox was pleased and she chased out the kind bunny rabbit. Kicking him out was bad enough - she then called the hut her own.

In 1978 in the Karabakh town of Agder (in Soviet times it was called Mardakert in Armenian) a memorial was put up to mark the 150th anniversary of the resettlement of the Armenians in Karabakh. Great celebrations were organized. However, in the 1990s it was pulled down, and they tried to erase information about its existence from written sources. The uninitiated person may ask: who set up the memorial? It was the Karabakh Armenians themselves who erected it. And who tore it down? They did. So that no-one would be reminded that they were not the indigenous inhabitants here. I don't think this fact requires any comment. 

And the fact that Karabakh has belonged to Azerbaijan since ancient times is borne out by its very name. It is made up of the Turkic words "kara" ("black") and "bag" (garden). In Azeri the adjective "kara" has a variety of other meanings: "dense", "impenetrable", "large". But why garden? Because this region is unusually fertile - plant a stick and it will blossom. The gardens of Karabakh have since the earliest times built up its glory to become virtually a corner of paradise which supplied not just Azerbaijan but the USSR with agricultural produce. It is truly a tasty morsel for any hungry eyes. And if you add to this the incredible beauty of this region which wallows in greenery and flowers against a background of scenic mountains which literally beg for an artist's canvas, then the wish of the Armenians to live in this earthly paradise becomes understandable - after all, the nature of Armenia today is not so rich and abundant. Of course, it is not to blame for what God has ordained, but these are just details. The main thing is that throughout its history many people have tried to conquer Karabakh.

According to historians, the word "Karabakh" is mentioned in chronicles dating back to the 7th century BC. But the Armenians pay no heed to this and explain their right to this region through etymology. They call this region "Artsakh". But according to the competent testimony of western and Russian scholars, as well as the testimony of the ancient historians Ptolomey and Strabo, this word is in no way linked with the ancient Armenian language, but exclusively with the legacy of Caucasian Albania, where 26 ethnic groups lived with their unique customs which had nothing in common with the ancient Armenian language. The direct descendants of the Albanians - the Udins - still live in Azerbaijan. And Artsakh was one of the provinces of Caucasian Albania.

Caucasian Albania was situated in what is now Azerbaijan from the 4th century BC to the 8th century AD, i.e. about 1,200 years - quite a considerable period of time. Christianity was adopted here earlier than in all the other regions of the Caucasus. True, the Armenians claim the opposite. However, you can claim all you like but you can't ignore historical facts.

Yes, you don't even have to be an etymologist or a historian, you simply have to use logic, although people have all sorts of names for places. In Russian, for example, the capital of France, Paris, is called Parizh, and the country Misr Egypt. So what? If in some language or other such and such a region is called in a different way to what the people of that region call it in their own language, does a stranger have to "privatize" it on this basis?

The "heart" of Karabakh is the city of  Susa [Shusha]. It can rightly be called the cradle of Azerbaijani culture. This region has produced a liberal supply of artists, poets, singers and musicians. Hundreds of ancient, rare examples of folklore and musical masterpieces of the Azeri people were created in this place. There is nothing strange about this - it is impossible not to be drawn to what is beautiful, seeing such beauty all around. It is reckoned that the best European voices and the best composers were born in Italy. Shusha can boldly be described as the Azerbaijani Italy - so many fine musicians have come from this region and brought glory to their country!

The sharp rocks which surround the city were the reason this area was first called "Shisha", which meant "peak". Later the word was transformed and began to sound like "Shusha". In the Azeri language there is a similar word "shoshe", which means "glass". As is known, glass surfaces have mirror-like properties. I shall be bold and compare Shusha to a mirror, a mirror that is sacred to the Azerbaijanis. Gazing at glorious Shusha as it rises high into the mountains, the Azeris saw in it the light of a great culture, which has served as a source of inspiration for creativity in all spheres of life.

Shusha now is also a mirror, a mirror of all Azerbaijan's problems, a mirror which reflects the open wound of the people. Karabakh and the adjacent occupied regions are barbarously devastated territories where architectural monuments have been destroyed and ecology has been violated: orchards cut down, lands dried up. The American writer Thomas de Waal wrote in his book "Black Garden" (2005): "Having seized the city the Armenians in retribution dismantled and sold off the bronze busts of three Azerbaijani musicians and poets, natives of Shusha, but these relics were by a miracle salvaged, this time thanks to a scrap-metal buyer in Tbilisi… These three bronze busts are in a wretched condition, with bullet traces, languishing in the compound of the Red Cross headquarters in Baku."

So one would like to ask the fox: If you believe the hut is yours, why defile and destroy it? But we usually take care only of what is our own. Why keep what doesn't belong to you?Everything in our apartments is clean but there is rubbish and crap on the stairways. Because they're not ours.

All this is not just sad, it is disastrous. And instead of trying to solve urgent problems the Azerbaijanis are forced to prove their right to their own lands. Yes, the UN has recognized this right, but so far this organization is unable to solve the question of justice. It's a shame that for the world community Azerbaijani oil and gas is of more importance than the question of the restoration of justice and the return to Azerbaijan of its occupied territories.

The occupation of Karabakh has had an indelible effect on the lives of the Azerbaijanis. The Great Patriotic War ended 67 years ago and we are all living in peace now, but some people don't much care for a peaceful life. And a new war invaded the lives of thousands of families like an unwanted visitor, depriving them of fathers, sons, brothers and husbands…and their Home. Refugees banished not only from Karabakh but also from Armenia where the Azerbaijanis have also lived since ancient times appeared on the streets of towns and villages. Suffice to say that right up to the 19th century there existed the Irevan khanate with its centre in Irevan (today's Yerevan) which was later "gifted" to Armenia by Russia (and subsequently this act was supported by the Bolsheviks, too). And this is also an historical fact, it is not secret information. But we, unfortunately, believe more what they say "on the box" or write in "yellow" newspapers. I would like to quote from Wikipedia (which, incidentally, is very pro-Armenian): "Prior to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict Azerbaijani residential areas existed in many parts of Armenia, including Yerevan, where before the October Revolution, Azerbaijanis comprised the largest ethnic group, greater than the Armenians in numbers. At the end of the 19th century 77,000 people from the Irevan district were speaking Azeri as their native language." Armed with this information, one is tempted to ask: why did the Azerbaijanis in Armenia constitute the vast majority? Was it not because these were their primordial territories? After all, it is hard to imagine, say, a Britain where the vast majority are made up of Australians. Clearly, in such a case this would no longer be Britain…

One would like to believe that sooner or later justice will prevail, that the day will come when Azerbaijan's occupied lands are liberated and the refugees can return to their native homes and never leave them again. And the sacred mirror of Azerbaijan will again reflect lush gardens and peaceful mountains which will reverberate to the happy laughter of children, rightfully living in their primordial land.