LET THE `VIRUS’ OF KARABAKH SPREAD
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
25 July 05
The Karabakh war is unimaginable without the support of our friends.
Their number is great, the geography extended. If one ever decides to
make a listof those persons, the people of Karabakh will mention the
name of the vice speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox
among the first. She was beside the people of Karabakh since the times
when Stepanakert was bombed. Among our foreign friends Caroline Cox is
perhaps in the first place by the number of her visits to Karabakh.
Recently she again visited Karabakh; it was her 59th visit. The 60th
visit will be in September. During the meeting with the president of
NKR Arkady Ghukassian he said that unfortunately the hotel being built
in the square will not be ready to host the Lady on a high level, and
she said she would agree to live in a tent, and the confession of the
Lady is frank.This February C. Cox delivered lectures at the School of
Theology of London, and as a result a large group of students decided
to visit Artsakh and see everything themselves. In her 59th visit to
Karabakh Lady Cox was accompanied by a group of young people, mainly
students of theology, political science and international relations
from Australia, France, the US, Turkey, Burma, and other countries,
studying in the United Kingdom. During the meeting with the students
the president of NKR said hopefully they will also catch the `virus’
of Karabakh like Lady Cox and spread it all over the world. Lady Cox
said her aim is to involve more and more people in this work, and
especially young people, in order for them to discover Karabakh as a
country where every year great changes take place in the economy and
building of democracy. For an unrecognized country that we are it is a
necessity to have friends abroad who become in a way our ambassadors.
It is nice to feel that we are not alone; the visits of young people
are especially encouraging. If each one of them tells their friends
what they saw in Karabakh, it will be a step towards the recognition
of our country; without being recognized we have no access to the
international tribunals; we have therefore to look for alternative
ways of spreading our truth. And the visits of foreigners favour
this. Each of the students had their individual interest. For
instance, there was a Turkish student of the School of Theology of
London who is Christian (he did not want to have his name published).
He had wished to see Mount Ararat from the other side of the border,
learn the truth and present it in his country. In answer to our
question if he was not afraid of persecutions in his country, he said
he is not alone for there are other Turks who have a different
attitude towards the Armenians. Another studentsfrom Burma named Baun
Thai San studying at Yerevan State Medical University told that there
is a state in Burma called Shan (and the people there are Chinese)
which fights for independence. They are Christians, who are only 3 per
centof the main Buddhist population of the country, and are repressed
by their rulers who destroy their culture. The Chinese student of
Burma had come to Karabakh to see how it managed to preserve its
identity, as he said, to learn from the people of Karabakh. They
formed an opinion about Karabakh not only through official meetings.
The students lived in host families where there were young people of
their age. This was a great advantage to come in touch with the people
directly. All the members of the group were delighted with the
hospitality of the Karabakh people. Caroline Cox had brought along
with her the two issues raised by her at the House of Lords. Several
days ago she spoke about Turkey’s membership to the European
Union. The question was if Turkey could enter the European Union
having closed its borders with Armenia and prompted that it is the
only closed border in Europe. It was mentioned that the border should
be opened in a way to sustain peace and economic growth in both
countries. Besides, Caroline Cox raised the issue of recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by the United Kingdom. However, she said, she
did not expect that they would reconsider their position; but she
pointed out that there are members of the House of Lords who speak
about the Armenian issue, and a reassuring answer was givenby the
British government.
SVETLANA KHACHATRIAN.
25-07-2005