SHUSHI: TWENTY-ONE YEAR AGO THAT DAY

06-1 0-2009

Exactly 21 years ago, in September, in Shushi events occurred that left
an indelible trace on the memory of each citizen of Shushi-that day
the entire population of the ancient Armenian town was deported. Today
the civilized world continues to manifest to this event criminal
indifference, thus not excepting the repetition of similar crimes. On
September 21 in the library of Shushi Research Center "Kachar" with
aim of rethinking the events of September historian Mher Harutyunyan,
convened a press, during which he presented to journalists prehistory
and consequences of ethnic cleansings of the Armenian population of
Shushi carried out by Azerbaijan. Talking about the events of more
than 20-year-old Mher Harutyunyan, who was an eyewitness and was
among the victims, the cause of the events of September 1988, he
called provocation that took place 18 in Khojalu, local population
of which once again threw stones at cars of the Armenians, causing
bodity injuries to the passengers. "From the daily provocation
and psychological pressure the nerves of the people being in the
extremely stressed state did not maintain: retaliatory action began
in Stepanakert, where the undertaken attack by Azerbaijan to the city
from Krkzhana was stopped. Because of the undertaken measures by the
internal troops of the USSR on September 19-21, the last Armenian
inhabitants of the town Shushi were escaped from the cruel crowd of
Azeris: they were brought to Stepanakert on armored cars and military
trucks. The absence of political estimation of the Sumgait genocide,
the atmosphere of impunity, the attempts to place on a criminal and
a victim on a board, reaching to the fanaticism of inherent desire
of Azeris to the glorification of criminal offender, all these and
other such factors made possible the use of brute force and forcible
deportation of the Armenian population of Shushi. History remembers
the bloody pogroms of Shushi of 1905-1906, 1918-1920, which became the
result of the religious fanaticism of criminal Turkish policy. The r!

uins of t ourishing city daily and hourly reminded of the crimes
of ungrateful neighbors against the Armenians of Shushi", said
M. Marutyan.

In the act of violence and pogroms, organized in May-September 1988,
the so-called Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia participated. The goal
was one-to change demographic situation in NK in any way. After the
expulsion from their homeland of the Armenian population of Shushi,
the town was converted into the powerful base, from where Stepanakert
and Armenian villages of the regions of Shoushi and Askeran were
undergone cruel bombardment. Orator noted with the disturbance that
after 21 years the world community continues to keep silent. Because
of the activity of the enemy’s propaganda machine today in the world
they speak about the ethnic Azeri refugees and almost nothing-about
500 thousands of Armenians deported from Soviet Azerbaijan.

Moreover, some politicians talk about the possibility of coexistence of
both parts, while the Azeri who committed aggression against Armenians,
deportation, massacres and ethnic cleansing have remained faithful
to its policy of state terror, thus leaving no possibility for the
normalization of relations. Once again focusing those attentions, who
are interested in the Azeri-Karabakh conflict on the facts mentioned
above, the organizers of the event emphasized that as anti-Armenian
policy, and all attempts to impose unacceptable solutions to our
nation were under condemnation, resorting to means of intimidation
and the threats of the renewal of war. These are serious calls
and to resist them we can only by the consolidated efforts of all
Armenians. Harutyunyan said that the international community and the
states, which were interested in the stability and security of the
region, should finally give a political assessment of Azerbaijan’s
aggression and, recognizing the independence of Nagorno Karabakh to
ensure the security of Artsakh Armenians. It is already the second
year, that the workers of the Research Center "Kachar, collect
evidence and documentation of refugees. According to M. Harutyunyan,
soon they will be published in a collection of documentary materials,
while in Russian, and in the future, when funds are available, and
in other languages. Answering journalists’ questions, he assured that
such meetings would be held regularly.