Open letter to Vladimir Soloviev

Mr. Soloviev, I will say right away that I am not a classic fan of your programs and your journalistic research, but after the start of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, I closely follow them. The reason is simple: your programs are often an indicator of the thinking of some part of the Russian population. I will not appeal to your journalistic ethics and honor, because such attempts seem futile to me. With your permission, I will go straight to some of the statements you cited during the broadcasts.

1. "Kocharyan and Sargsyan are heroes of the Karabakh war."

Personally, I have never liked the definition of "hero", especially in relation to the participants in the wars. Any wars. This definition often hides "special" merit. In the case of Kocharyan and Sargsyan, who have never been field commanders in Karabakh, but were rather propagandists and rear managers, this "special" merit is their participation in the massacre of civilians in the city of Khojaly.

Sargsyan himself admitted his participation in them and confirmed with the words of the Sovietologist Thomas de Waal: "Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that they could joke with us, they thought that the Armenians were not capable of raising a hand against the civilian population. We managed to break this stereotype." Kocharian, being the president of Armenia, said, "Armenians and Azerbaijanis are genetically incompatible."

You often talk about the tragedy of the Jewish people - the Holocaust, so I hope I do not need to tell you about the essence of the nature of "genetic incompatibility". This was the favorite rhetoric of the Nazis in Germany. By the way, about the Nazis. The Nazi henchman Garegin Nzhdeh, who was raised in Armenia to the rank of a national shrine, liked to say, "The native land of one people cannot become the permanent homeland of another." I hope now you understand that the statements of Kocharyan and Sargsyan (the two presidents of Armenia and, in your opinion, the "heroes of Artsakh") are not accidental.

Pashinyan himself, the grandson of Nzhdeh's follower, was not far from his predecessors. Do you remember when he called the Nazi Nzhdeh a hero of Armenia?

2. You often talk about the genocide and the existential fear of Armenians towards the Turks. You will probably be surprised that this fear does not prevent the Armenians from leaving to work in Turkey, where more than one hundred thousand representatives of this people live and work today. I am not even talking about those Armenians who are citizens of Turkey. As full citizens of this country, they are represented in various branches of government and even in the Turkish parliament. I think you will be even more surprised by the fact that two newspapers in the Armenian language are published in Turkey, a TV channel is working and dozens of churches operate. There are 16 Armenian schools in Istanbul, 31 churches and three sports clubs.

Let me ask a question: are there any newspapers in Armenian in Russia? No, I am not asking about the Armenians working in the Russian media - God knows that there are many of them, but I am asking specifically about the newspapers in the Armenian language.

3. You often and categorically declare that Armenians have always lived in Karabakh. “Always” is another loose concept, just like “hero”. I will not get into the jungle of history and prove that there has not been a single Armenian state education on the territory of Karabakh over the past 1400 years, but I will say the following; contrary to the opinion of Garegin Nzhdeh, the native land of one people can be / become the homeland of another. In any case, in Azerbaijan, we firmly believe in this, and the numerous ethnic groups of our country living next to each other are an excellent proof of this.

4. By the way, about genetic memory. You, being an "imperial" (although I have no idea what it is), often say that peace in this region is possible only with the active participation of Russian troops. However, we, Azerbaijanis, remember very well the consequences of the presence of the Russian army on our land. I do not know where to start; and whether it is worth listing. Although ... Let's name the actions of the 366th motorized rifle regiment in Khojaly. I hope you will understand our skeptical attitude towards Russian troops on Azerbaijani soil.

Usually letters end with the phrase "with respect", but I think in this case you can do without it.

Azer Ziyadli