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HISTORICAL SCIENCES / <«g©LL©(MUM~J0U©MaL» #«137)), 2022
HISTORICAL SCIENCES
Huseynova Leyla PhD, senior researcher of the Institute of History named after A.A. Bakikhanov, Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences Baku, Azerbaijan DOI: 10.24412/2520-6990-2022-14137-14-16 THE iSSUE OF GENOCiDE AND DEPORTATiON OF AZERBAiJANiS iN THE FOCUS OF THE
STATE (1993-2003)
Abstract
The history of the genocidal policy of Armenian nationalists against the Azerbaijani people dates back to the beginning of the XVIII century, when the Russian Empire began to settle the Armenian population on Azerbaijani lands.
As a result of the systematic, step-by-step policy of genocide carried out by the Armenians, thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis were brutally murdered and their homes burned. The repressions of the 30s of the XX century led to the destruction of a significant part of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia, progressive-minded people of the Azerbaijani people were killed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the bitter consequences of the history of genocide and deportation of Azerbaijanis were in the focus of attention of the Azerbaijani government and political and legal assessment of the events causing disasters to the Azerbaijani people was given at the state level.
Keywords: Genocide of Azerbaijanis, Heydar Aliyev, deportation, Khojaly tragedy, Armenian atrocities
The end of the XX century is characterized by a new stage of awakening of national consciousness in the Republic of Azerbaijan. A new look at national history has also influenced the direction of research, a new wave of historical research has begun. In scientific and journalistic works, criticisms of the mistreatment of our history appeared, distortions and falsifications began to be analyzed on the basis of archival documents. The attitude to the issues of genocide and deportation of Azerbaijanis from their native land has also received a new content. The geopolitical situation of the Caucasus demanded objective historical studies and evidence of the existence of the Azerbaijani people as Aborigines in the region. Addressing the history of genocide and exile has become important not only from a scientific point of view, but also at the state level.
After the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan, it became possible to create an objective picture of the historical past of our people. With the return of Heydar Aliyev to power in 1993, the issues of the history of Azerbaijan entered a new stage. The grave consequences of the First Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia confirmed the importance of the ideological struggle. For this reason, Heydar Aliyev demanded a serious approach to the study of history and propaganda of the aggressive policy of Armenians against Azerbaijanis. The truths that have been kept secret for many years are revealed, distorted events received their true price.
In the severe tragedies faced by the Azerbaijani people in the XIX-XX centuries, the main role was played by the Armenians, who became the executors of the imperial policy pursued by the great powers. Armenian nationalists have repeatedly committed ethnic cleansing and genocide against Azerbaijanis, inflicted severe suffering on the Azerbaijani people. Hundreds of thousands of peaceful Azerbaijanis were
destroyed because of their nationality, expelled from their ancestral lands, the ancient settlements of Azerbaijan turned into ruins [12, p.222].
Heavy and protracted wars between the Russian and Iranian empires over Azerbaijan at the beginning of the XIX.century led to the Decoupling of Azerbaijan. After the partition between the empires of tsarist Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan split into several more parts. To create a foothold in the South Caucasus, tsarist Russia, in accordance with article 15 of the Treaty of Turkmanchay (1828), resettled Armenians from Iran and Turkey and placed them in Karabakh, Irevan and Nakhchivan. During the Soviet Empire, the historical territory of Azerbaijan, Zangezur, was annexed to artificially created Armenia [6, p.116; 5, p.41;12,209], and an autonomous region was formed in the mountainous part of Karabakh, where more Armenians migrated. The occupation of Azerbaijani people's lands began [13, p.44].
The artificial territorial division actually laid the foundations for the policy of expelling and exterminating Azerbaijanis from their lands, and the ideas of "Great Armenia" began to be propagandized. In order to "justify" the creation of this fictional state, large-scale programs aimed at falsifying the history of the Armenian people were implemented on Azerbaijani lands. Distortion of the history of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus was an important part of these programs. The Armenian invaders, inspired by the idea of creating a "Great Armenia", carried out large-scale bloody actions against the Azerbaijanis in 1905-1907.
Starting in March 1918, under the slogan of fighting counter-revolutionary elements, the Baku Commune began implementing the government's "cleansing" plan Baku is from the Azerbaijanis. 6 thousand armed detachments of the Baku Commune and 4 thousand of the Dashnaktsutyun party
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participated in the March 1918 events, Armenian detachments dealt with Azerbaijanis for 3 days with the help of the Bolsheviks, sparing neither children nor the elderly [12, p.190-193;11]. 8 thousand civilians were killed in the city of Shamakhi alone, and during April-May 167 villages were destroyed in Guba, in total about 700 thousand Azerbaijanis were killed [8, p; 10, p.116-118].
During the Soviet years, the anti-Azerbaijani policy continued in Armenia, the "Karabakh committee" openly operated. In the 50-60s of the XX century, with the assistance of Moscow, an Armenian lobby was created in Azerbaijan. Nationalism was becoming bitter in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenians oppressed Azerbaijanis. Despite the fact that several Azerbaijanis were killed in Khankendi in 1967, the leadership of the republic took an indifferent position, did not react seriously, founding the "friendship of peoples". The repressions of the 30s of the XX century led to the destruction of a significant part of the intellectual gene pool of Azerbaijan, and in 1948-1953 the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis served as a policy of reducing the number of local population on their historical lands. In those years, the leadership of the Soviet Union moved 150 000 Azerbaijanis from their historical lands (Armenia), and in 1988-1992, 250 000 Azerbaijanis were expelled [2;9].
In Soviet times, such intellectuals as Bakhtiyar Vahabzade, Mirza Ibrahimov and Shahriyar tried to reveal the truth about Azerbaijan and develop cultural relations between the people of South and North Azerbaijan. The head of the Azerbaijani state leadership, Heydar Aliyev, has also done some work in this direction. In 1981, on his initiative, the Department of History of South Azerbaijan was created in the system of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR - at the Institute of History, and the Department of Literature of South Azerbaijan was created at the Institute of Literature.
As a result of H.Aliyev's bold policy, a number of political actions called "border movement" were held in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in November 1989, as a result of which the border fences along the state border of the USSR were dismantled. An important event was the dismantling of fences dividing Azerbaijan between the USSR and the Islamic Republic of Iran. These events led to the announcement by Heydar Aliyev of the Day of Solidarity of Azerbaijanis of the World.The decision was made on December 16, 1991. This decision played an important role in strengthening the sense of solidarity among the Azerbaijanis of the world.
The emergence of a new conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in the 80s of the XX century led to the tragedy of January 20, 1990 and the Khojaly genocide in February 1992. The Soviet Armed Forces sent to Azerbaijan shot civilians in the capital and other cities. It was a response to the Azerbaijanis protesting against the policy of the Soviet leadership. As a result, 146 people were killed, more than 700 wounded, more than 800 Azerbaijanis were arrested. The armed measures of the totalitarian regime against civilians meant a violation of the provisions of a
number of international acts. Among them are the Geneva Convention of 1949, the International Declaration of Human Rights, the charter of the International Military Tribunal. During the occupation of the city of Khojaly, with the participation of Russian forces, more than 800 Azerbaijanis were killed with special cruelty, more than 1,000 people were taken prisoner [9, p.19-24, 7]. Before the very eyes of the entire world "Long-suffering" Armenians inflicted in late XX c. over peaceful residents atrocities having no historical analogue [12, p.224].
Aliyev's appeals to the UN Secretary-General and the Chairman of the Security Council about the military actions of the Armenian occupiers on the territory of Azerbaijan (July 26 and August 18, 1993) were important from the point of view of bringing the facts to the world community. The appeals stated that the Armenian armed forces, ignoring the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, continue to occupy Azerbaijani lands. Drawing attention to the shelling of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the cities of Fuzuli, Jabrail, Gubadli of Azerbaijan, the head of the country noted the need for an immediate meeting of the Security Council to stop the aggression [4 ]. In February 2001 , in an address to the Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the anniversary of the Khojaly genocide , H.Aliyev, honoring the memory of the victims of Khojaly, called on the Azerbaijani people to defend their independence, to expose the true face of the Armenian nationalists.
During the meeting of Heydar Aliyev with the Chairman of the Milli Majlis of Armenia Babken Araktsyan On March 10, 1992 in Sadarak,, the agreement on the observance of stability and security at the border, as well as important decisions to ensure the safety of Baku-Nakhchivan passenger trains passing through the territory of Mehri and other security issues reduced tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. During the negotiations with Sargsyan, Heydar Aliyev also achieved the rejection of Armenia's territorial claims to Nakhchivan. Immediately after Heydar Aliyev returned to political power, he appealed to the Milli Majlis with a proposal to declare a Day of mourning for the victims of the Khojaly genocide, and the Milli Majlis adopted a resolution "on declaring February 26, 1994 a day of mourning for the victims of the Khojaly genocide [12].
The assessment of the events of January 20, the armed crimes of the Soviet leadership against the civilian population was also the result of Aliyev's initiative. Taking into account the recommendation of the President of Azerbaijan to give a full political and legal assessment of the events of January 20, the Milli Majlis adopted a resolution "on the tragedies that occurred in Baku in January 1990" (March 29, 1994) and for the first time a political and legal assessment of these crimes was given at the state level. By the Decree of the President of the Republic of March 31, 1998, the title "Martyr of January 20" was established for those who died in the tragedy.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan G. Aliyev tirelessly fought in the international arena against the aggressive policy of Armenia, the restoration of the
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territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, held 485 meetings with presidents and heads of state of 68 countries until February 1999. At these meetings, it was stressed that the Azerbaijani people were subjected to genocide and that their territory is under occupation. Speaking at three UN summits, Aliyev noted that it is necessary to take steps to liberate the territory of Azerbaijan and return refugees and migrants to their territory [3, p.366].
Heydar Aliyev tried to get a legal and political assessment of the tragedies at the beginning of the century, and also took measures to justify people who were unjustly convicted and killed during the Soviet period. In this regard, the Leader's decree of March 15, 1996 "on the justification of victims of political repression" is of particular importance. The decree states that since April 28, 1920, as a result of arbitrariness, violence committed by the totalitarian state regime on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been subjected to repression for their political beliefs, activities and for various reasons [1]. This decree was aimed at establishing legal grounds for justifying the victims of repressions committed on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, restoring their political, social and civil rights, and eliminating negative consequences. The decree applied to all persons subjected to political repression in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the period from April 28, 1920 to October 18, 1991 [5].
The next and most important action on the way to a political and legal assessment of the events of the past was the political assessment of the genocide in March 1918 in Azerbaijan. For the first time during the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, a political assessment of the March massacre was given, and a day of national mourning was declared on March 31. During the Bolshevik rule in Azerbaijan, the memory of this day contradicted Soviet ideology and politics. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis found a worthy assessment. On March 26, 1998, Heydar Aliyev issued a decree "On the commemoration of March 31 as the day of the genocide of Azerbaijanis". The decree noted that Armenians systematically carry out a policy of genocide against the Azerbaijani people, gradually occupying Azerbaijani lands. Since then, 50 million Azerbaijanis around the world have been remembering this day as a day of remembrance for the victims of the genocide.
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, in his "Address" to the Azerbaijani people, dedicated to the Day of the Azerbaijani Genocide on March 31, stressed that "our main task is"to form in the minds of present and future generations an eternal national memory of
the genocide committed against our people in the last century, to achieve a political and legal assessment of these tragedies around the world, try to eliminate their grave consequences and do everything possible to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies." Scientists of republic did much work at revelation of antiazerbaijani policy conducted by Armenia. The important contribution into this matter is publication of "Armenian cause in documentary materials of archives of Azerbaijan in 1918-1920" documents and materials collection in Ankara in 2001. It was published on the base of "Mutual archives cooperation protocol" signed by Turkey and Azerbaijan. It's compiled by Senior Archives Department of Turkey and staff of Senior Archives Department within Azerbaijan Republic Ministers Cabinet [12, p. 197].
The correct decisions of Heydar Aliyev on behalf of the people and the state played an important role in the political, economic, military and ideological strengthening of the Azerbaijani state today. The main goal of the foreign policy pursued by his successor Ilham Aliyev is to promote the realities of Azerbaijan in the international arena and to be punished for the crimes committed by Armenian terrorists against our people
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