Armenian peacemaker on what Armenians understand by the "tragedy in Khojaly"

In Armenia, they are still lying about the tragedy in Khojaly, quoting the words of A.Mutallibov and E. Fatullayev, which they both abandoned long ago. Armenian politicians spread lies about Khojaly around the world, neutralizing the truth. How the history of the residents of this Karabakh city is being dissected and distorted in a neighboring country,  Ishkhan Verdyan, a peacemaker living in Istanbul, an Armenian citizen, told Turan about this.

- Is the event in Khojaly and Malybeyli discussed in the Armenian media, political circles, on the night of February 25-26, 1992?

- The atrocities in Khojaly are a taboo topic in Armenia. It is a priori forbidden to talk about this, and if someone suddenly questions that it was the Azerbaijanis who punished themselves in this way, and raises his head with the words “let's figure it out”, he will inevitably be branded a traitor and all kinds of repressions, up to the intervention of law enforcement agencies.

The main narrative, which covers such an attitude towards dissidents and the position of Armenians in general, can be formulated as follows - “It was we subjected to genocide, we did not do genocide. We are not capable of genocide. In this story, we are the victim.” It is easy to see that the narrative is very smoothly integrated into the self-understanding of Armenians, and no other evidence is needed for the final answer to the question to himself, an Armenian.

However, this approach hides a huge catch - a propaganda trick invented by the greatest masters in the field of manipulating public sentiment. I don't know if the Armenians themselves came up with this trick, or if they adopted it from others, but in Armenia it works just flawlessly. The trick is that the actions of individuals, because of their nationality, are covered up for the whole nation. That is, if the person who committed the crime is an Armenian, and if he is accused of this crime, then propaganda presents everything as if the whole nation is accused, not the individual, and sit is protected in the person of all Armenians. To achieve a greater effect, the details are hidden, and everything is presented in general phrases. For example, if they say that Armenians committed genocide of Azerbaijanis, then this causes denial of the entire Armenian people. If charges of a crime are made personally against an Armenian, then he will present it as an accusation against the whole nation and will receive a dense protection of society. To put it more simply, criminals are hiding behind their nation. They redirect the accusations to the nation, and sit quietly under its protection.

- Do the Azerbaijanis think correctly, spreading the crime of a group of Armenians and soldiers of the Soviet 366th regiment to the entire Armenian people?

- In general, the wording “some nation is capable of   committing some actions" is erroneous. A nation is not a single organism controlling all its limbs. A nation is a community of people who are completely diverse in character and in life values, and the presence or absence of one or the other can in no way serve as a characteristic for an entire nation. Murderers and philanthropists are present in all societies, but murderous peoples or philanthropic peoples have not yet been registered on planet Earth, unless, of course, they rely on propaganda. Propaganda, in turn, can easily turn millions of people into fascists, but in this case the people will only be a victim, and blaming the victim is not the right approach. Moreover, the same propaganda can easily reverse the situation and turn a fascist society into a modern, advanced one. There are plenty of examples of both in recent history.

Returning to the question - “are Armenians capable of committing genocide”, I would paraphrase it based on all of the above - “are specific people in Armenian society capable of killing an innocent Azerbaijani”. The answer to this question can be easily found if you look at who exactly the Azerbaijanis accuse of committing the monstrous massacre in Khojaly. The names of these people are known, and let's see if they are capable of killing innocent Azerbaijanis.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN

He shot the Armenian parliament, killing many innocent Armenians. He shot ten innocent Armenians during a rally against him. He killed any Armenian who somehow pronounced his name askance.

SERZH SARGSYAN

He shot the Armenian parliament, killing many innocent Armenians. He drowned the Armenian economy in corruption and theft. With the help of his brother Sashik, he robbed all prominent Armenian businessmen.

SEYRAN OHANYAN

He plundered the Armenian army, being responsible for it. Critically lowered the combat capability of the Armenian army. With the money looted from innocent Armenians, he built the Elysee palaces in Armenia.

SAMVEL BABAYAN

He raped, killed, and robbed the innocent Armenians of Karabakh - everyone he could reach.

MANVEL TUSHENKA GRIGORYAN

An unsurpassed head of lawlessness over innocent Armenians. No comments.

- Can we talk about the guilt of Armenian politicians?

- The question arises from your question - are the people who have done this to innocent Armenians capable of raising their hand against innocent Azerbaijanis? A negative answer will be acceptable only in one case - if it is proved that the above individuals have particularly warm feelings for the Turks - so special that killing Armenians is considered normal, and killing Azerbaijanis is a mortal sin. In fact, and this is easy to see, all anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani propaganda today comes from them (from the living) and from media structures affiliated with them. There are no more ardent Turkophobes than these people in nature. So, were they able to raise their hand against innocent Azerbaijanis? The answer is obvious.

It is very important to understand that in addition to belonging to the Armenian people, these people are united by other, special interests, but this modest interview is not enough to fully disclose their relationship. Perhaps later I will touch on this aspect of their activities too, but at the moment it is important to understand the key thing - all these people were active participants in the first Karabakh war. That is, at the time when the Khojaly events took place, these people were there and had weapons and support. Support for the structure whose role in the Karabakh conflict will be written about later.

And so, what do we end up with? The Azerbaijanis, conducting their investigation, accuse specific people of the Khojaly crimes - the murderers of the Armenian people, and present numerous proofs. But in Armenia, it is forbidden to talk about this topic and consider this evidence. Why is that?

Maybe because these bloodthirsty individuals led the whole country for a long time and designed the entire state apparatus for their own protection? Maybe, in order to save their skins, they specifically turn the arrows from themselves to the people, so that the people protect them with their body?

An honest discussion on the tragedy in Khojaly should be launched in the Armenian society. And I invite you to it!