DEPORTATION : THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

    We are face to face with the 20th anniversary of absolute deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia. During the last deportation the Armenian government has withdrawn Azeri inhabitants living on the territory surrounding 8 thousand sq.km (172 places of residence), left them face to face with deep deprivation. Telling the truth, for Azeri inhabitants who lived in Armenia last deportation started with April 24, 1987 attack on the Azeris alley in the Masis region near Yerevan. In many regions of Armenia government began to humiliate and put under pressure Azeri nation after that incident.
    The Last Deportation
    Thus,182,000 Azeris,18,000 Kurds ,1,000 Russians, who lived on the territory of Armenia were moved out from their places of residence by force during first ten days of cold December. According to the incomplete interrogation materials of former USSR Ministry of International Affairs, during the deportation committed by the Armenian government 216 Azeris were killed , also 2 alive persons heads were cut out ,11 persons were burnt alive, 2 persons were burnt after they were killed,1 person was hung, 3 persons were cut off, 29 persons were killed under a car, 41 persons were killed by beating, 49 got stiff with cold,1 was killed by being connected to the electric,1 attempted suicide,10 died from infarction, 8 were lost. 57 of killed were women, 23 were children.
    Refugees history
    Generally, Azerbaijani inhabitants history on the territory of present-day Armenia covers the period between 1820-1988s. The deportation of Azerbaijani refugees from their historical lands on the present-day territory of Armenia was described in the publications not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Armenia and in other foreign countries.
    In his book named Soviet Armenian Population Between 1831-1931 Armenian author Zaren Karkadyan wrote: Azerbaijanis resettled to 2000 places of residence from the total of 2300 places of residence . After the signing of the Turkmancay Treaty in 1828, Azerbaijani territory has been divided and Azerbaijanis, who lived on the present territory of Armenia, were periodically exposed to mass deportation. As it is written in the book named Toponims Dictionary of Armenia and Regions Around It published in Yerevan in 1986, 70% inhabitants of present Armenia are migrants from Turkey and Iran, who were resettled between 1828-1930. Or in the book named The Challenges to Russian Issue in Tran Caucasus by Y.Shavrov published in Petersburg in 1911 we read: Between 1928-1930 40,000 Armenians from Iran and 84,000 ones from Turkey were deported and resettled on the best lands of Yerevan province, where few Armenians lived. Also US Professor Justine McCarty made remarks in his book named Was There Genocide?: Between 1820-1920 600,000 Armenians were removed from Russia, 2 million Muslim left these lands.
    Deportation of XX century
    The mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenian territory is divided into 4 parts - 1905, 1918-1920, 1948-1956, 1987-1988s. As it is confirmed by the statistical and archive materials, as a result of these operations 1,500,000 Azerbaijani inhabitants of present-day Armenia were removed from their historical lands.
    After formation of Soviet Armenian Republic, names of 698 of 940 Azerbaijani places of residence were changed and replaced by Armenian names. But it was not enough for Armenians. The names replacement continued even after Azerbaijanis absolute deportation. Ex-President of Armenian Republic Levon-Ter Petrosyan issued a decree on April 9 ,1991 to replace the names of 91 Azerbaijani settlements by Armenian names.
    Genocide
    During XX century Armenians committed a series of large-scale bloody atrocities against Azerbaijanis, as it was in XIX century. Azerbaijani historian Sabir Asadov wrote in his book named Historical Geography of Armenian Azerbaijanis: Only in XX century more than 500,000 Azeris were killed during Armenian atrocity. This fact was affirmed by other publications. Thus, the magazine Revolutionary East published in Georgia wrote in its 1923 Aprils issue: Dashnak government killed 60 % of Azeris in Armenia in the years they were in power . The same magazine wrote in 1936 : Only between 1914-1918 88 villages were destroyed, 1920 houses were scalded, 131,970 men were killed. Or in November 1918 issue of the newspaper Georgia we read:
    625 persons were killed by Armenians in 15 Azerbaijani villages of Sisyan region and 51,390,000 manat damage was caused to the villages. There also alive witnesses of these tragedies. Inhabitant of former village of Garagoyunlu of Basarkecer region Asig Cahad now lives in the village of Chenlibel of Shamkir region. He says : Armenians killed Ashig Najaf, the pupil of Ashig Alasger, hanging boiling samovar on his shoulder-blade .
    Scream of Garabag and Consequences
    Armenians inhuman treatment of Azeris continues nowadays. Thus, Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 other regions, which are under Azerbaijan Republic sovereignty. Although Azerbaijanis migrated from their historical lands, legal protection is not ensured in the framework of UN Charter and International Human Rights Declaration. The end of 16 years lasting negotiations in the framework of OSCE Minsk Group is not seen. Nobody thinks about the peoples political, economic and social rights on their historical lands, from which they were deported.

By Tapdig Farhadoglu