They seem to repeat the history again

It must be admitted that the Armenians who launched the separatist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh in the late 1980s had strong views on involving in this campaign not only the Soviet Union and foreign countries but broader political circles of these countries as well. Beyond any doubt, the letters and appeals addressed to Mikhail Gorbachev by US senators and congressmen in the reviewed period were not the fruit of their own "creativity" and "empathy".

It ought to be noted that these letters written simultaneously and duplicating each other proved to the result of efforts of the Armenian diaspora in the United States backed by signatures of members of the Senate and House of Representatives. I am confident that the American legislators who signed these documents were not familiar with any facts as indicated in their letters and appeals; as a matter of fact, they simply turned into "secretaries" of Armenian diaspora organizations in the United States.

It should be added that on December 7, 1988, Congressman William Ford sent a letter to Gorbachev, and a day later, on December 8, Barbara Boxer, a member of the House of Representatives, sent the similar letter. Both demanded the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh, "annexed" by Azerbaijan in 1923, to Armenia. In the meanwhile, Azerbaijanis living in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh at that time suffered from murder, terror and looting; however, these letters said no word about their fate. They demanded from Gorbachev to ensure the safety of Armenians living in Azerbaijan, and specifically Armenians. (?)

To this end, they focused on "4 principles" proclaimed by Andrei Sakharov in November 1988 that fully served interests of Armenians demanding from Mikhail Gorbachev to uphold Sakharov's principles. Note that even absurd statements, such as arming Armenians living in Azerbaijan for "self-defense", etc., are reflected in these principles and the letters addressed to them. I recollected these documents currently stored at the Russian state historical archive when I watched the Minsk Group co-chairs discussing issues of the former Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as a recent meeting of the Russian co-chair with leaders of the separatist regime in Khankendi. They seem to repeat the history again.