LARISA ALAVERDIAN: AZERBAIJAN HAS IMPLEMENTED POLICY OF ETHNIC CLEANSING SINCE 1918

Noyan Tapan
Jan 15, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. On the initiative of RA Ombudsman
Armen Harutyunian, a discussion was held on January 15 in connection
with the 20th anniversary of forced displacement of Armenians from
Azerbaijan. Among the discussion participants were deputies of the
RA National Assembly, experts, and representatives of various state
bodies and NGOs.

In the opinion of A. Harutyunian, arousing hostility and hatred in
people is not a correct way of building relations, but burying the
problem in oblivion is not correct either. "We take the following
approach: to remember, draw lessons and prevent a recurrence of these
events," he stated.

The first RA Ombudsperson, deputy of the National Assembly Larisa
Alaverdian said that since 1918 – the time of its appearance on
political maps of the world, Azerbaijan has implemented a policy
of ethnic cleansing, which she defined as genocide. In her words,
the cleansing continued on January 13-19, 1990 when Armenians were
displaced by force from Baku and other cities, with ethnic cleansing
being committed against both the living and the dead, and the Armenian
cemetery in Jugha and the Christian cemetery in Baku which have been
razed to the ground bear evidence of that. L. Alaverdian expressed
concern about the fact that "no one raises the issue of whether the
refugees displaced from Baku will receive one day the right to return
to their former places of residence".

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan pointed
out three stages of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan: in 1905-1906, 1918,
and in 1990 when no Armenians remained in Baku. He said that although
5 years have passed since the "shameful and barbaric" destruction of
Jugha’s Armenian cemetery, no assessment has been given to this act
so far. According to H. Demoyan, the state policy of Azerbaijan is
based on the rejection of others, as well as on the intimidation of
own people by means of constant threats to unleash a war.

Head of the Migration Agency of the RA Ministry of Territorial
Administration Gagik Yeganian said that more than 360 thousand diplaced
Armenians (92 thousand families) settled in Armenia, including 215
thousand Armenians from Baku: doctors, scientists, engineers, artists,
and workmen. The number of Azerbaijanis who were moved from Armenia,
Nagorno Karabakh and adjacent regions makes 503-508 thousand (102-103
thousand families), and the majority of them settled in Turkey and
Russia. Those who found themselves in Azerbaijan were "placed" in
tent towns. It was mentioned that the Armenians left real estate
with a high market value, mostly in Baku, which became a source of
personal enrichment of Azerbaijani officials.

Head of Legal Guide NGO Narine Gasparian informed those present
that with the help of their organization 510 applications from
Armenians displaced from Azerbaijan and residents of the village
of Artsvashen in Armenia were filed to the European Court of Human
Rights in 2006-2007. The applications contain eveidence of destruction
of Armenian monuments and cemeteries (in particular, the Christian
cemetery in Baku) and raise problems related to ethnic discrimination
and protection of property rights.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress