CANADIAN HISTORIAN REFUTED AZERBAIJAN’S ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ARMENIAN PARTY

DeFacto Agency
June 10 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 10.06.08. DE FACTO. "There is no evidence that the Armenians
of Nagorno-Karabagh committed "genocide against Meskhetian Turks
of Khojaly," said Canadian military historian Patrick Wilson Gore,
during the launch of his latest book "Tis Some Poor Fellow’s Skull –
Post-Soviet Warfare in the Southern Caucasus" at the embassy of the
Republic of Armenia in Ottawa, an independent French journalist Jean
Eckian told DE FACTO.

The Canadian expert stated that for 70 years Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabagh had been treated as second-class citizens under
Azeri rule. The treatment of Armenians by Azeris was a classic case of
ethnic cleansing. After the Soumgait and Baku massacres of Armenians
in the early 1990s, the Armenians were forced to fight to defend
their families and their lives.

In regard to the Khojaly incident, Gore said "Azeri troops ran
faster than the Meskhetian Turk civilians they had been using as
human shields". Upon their retreat to Agdam, civilians of Khojaly
were fired upon by the Azeri OMON garrison of Agdam, mistaking them
for Armenian forces. He said that a day before the start of Khojaly
battle, the Azeri forces had executed 32 Armenian prisoners of war.

Regarding the ongoing Azeri government threats of resumption of war
to take Nagorno-Karabagh, Gore said that "peace is for the benefit
of both sides". It is true that the Azeri government is getting
emboldened with its new-found oil wealth, but the Aliyev government
has to "consider that their oil and gas pipelines run 30 km north
of Nagorno-Karabagh, and Azeris have invested heavily in their Baku
facilities." Gore questioned whether Azeris wanted to jeopardize
their vital pipelines and "risk their money sources."

To note, the author of the 139-page book is a Canadian specialist in
military history and theory. He studied at Oxford, and subsequently
graduated from the National Defense College at Kingston, one of NATO’s
senior command colleges. Much of his career has focused on strategic
intelligence. This is his eleventh book. He used to be paratrooper
and marine commando.

The gathering was co-sponsored by the Armenian Embassy and the Armenian
National Committee of Canada (ANCC).