Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2008

Hutchinson Encyclopedia introduces Nagorno Karabakh conflict as a
religious one

[ 06 Jun 2008 13:09 ]

Baku. Zaur Nurmammadov-APA. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict has been
introduced in the Hutchinson Encyclopedia as a religious conflict.

According to APA, it is said in the article about Nagorno Karabakh
() that `the Christian Armenians forming
an enclave within the predominantly Shiite Muslim Azerbaijan’. There
is a number of untrue points in the article: `The region formed part
of Armenia until the 7th century, but was subsequently taken by the
Arabs, and ruled by them for 300 years. In the 11th century, the
region came under the rule of the Bagratid kings of Georgia, who held
the area until the Mongol invasion. After a century of Mongol rule,
Karabakh fell into Turkish hands. In the early 1600s, Persia gained
control of the region, and AbbÄ?s I allowed the local khan to
rule in Karabakh. This line of khans was overthrown in 1805 by the
Russians, who created a province of the region in 1822′, said in the
article and added that `Nagorno-Karabakh was annexed to Azerbaijan in
1923 against the wishes of the largely’. The article’s authors think
that `the conflict was rooted in many centuries of Christian Armenian
and Shiite Muslim Azeri enmity’. They used forged facts in the
Encyclopedia to argue their claims: `In 1920, inter-ethnic clashes in
the Karabakh town of Shusha resulted in the deaths of 30,000 Armenians
and 15,000 Azeris. By February 1994, 18,000 Armenians and 5,000 Azeri
were reported to have been killed in the conflict and 1 million
peoples made refugees. In May 1994 a ceasefire was agreed between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. Border fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia
continued through 1997 and, in November 1998, the Government of
Azerbaijan announced the rejection of the OSCE peace plan for the
Nagorno Karabakh dispute’.