Petition from the Armenians of Artsakh to Khrushchev

Petition from the Armenians of Artsakh to Khrushchev

Throughout the Soviet era the Tatars turned “Azeri” managed to ethnically “cleanse” Nakhijevan from its indigenous Armenian population. During the period spanning from 1988 to 1992, under the pretext of countering the peaceful protests of Armenians demanding the unification of Artsakh to motherland Armenia, they succeeded in evicting over 400,000 Armenians from their ancestral homeland all over fake “Azerbaijan” through genocidal acts, in front of the eyes of an indifferent world.

Turks knew very well the strategic importance of Artsakh for the Armenians and after the wily usurpation of the province through dealings with the Bolshevik agitators, illegally dividing the regions to the detriment of the Armenians, emptying field Artsakh of its Armenian population by fabricating a temporary Red Kurdistan in the districts to the east of the Mountainous Karabakh Oblast, thus, making Artsakh more vulnerable by turning it into an “island” artificially cut off from mainland Armenia, the usual Turkish fun began.

To better illustrate the reason for the Armenian protests in the Soviet paradise where peoples of diverse ethnicities were living like brothers without any distinction of race, creed and religion, let us take a look at the “Petition from the Armenians of Mountainous Karabagh to Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev” on 19 May 1964, written in an era of relative loosening of the iron grip after the passage of the “man of steel”, the mass-murdering Joseph Dzhugashvili a.k.a. Stalin to hell.

Any imaginable devilry was put in practice to force the Armenians to gradually leave Artsakh, the last bastion of the survival of this ancient indigenous nation. Below, parts of the English translation of the petition which also gives a brief history of Artsakh, from “Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Republic of Armenia Official Site”:

“To the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Comrade Khrushchev,

We, the Kolkhozniks, workers and toilers of the Autonomous Region of Mountainous Karabagh, and the Armenian population of the regions of Shamkhor, Khanlar, Dashkesan and Shaumian of Azerbaijan SSR, having reached a point of desperation as a result of the crushing burden of our living conditions, decided to address ourselves to you to enlist your help and protection.

From time immemorial, our territory, circumscribed by the rivers of Kur, Araks and Lake Sevan, which historically is known under the name of "Artzakh," has always been an inseparable part of Armenia. As a result of the Turko-Mongol incursions, the Armenians were forced out of the plains and hillsides, their villages and towns were destroyed or were reduced to pastures. The Armenians succeeded in fortifying themselves and enjoying protection only in the semi-mountainous and mountainous regions of Karabagh.

…During the first imperialist [World] war, as in the periods prior to and after the onset of the national republics, the Mussavat regime of Azerbaijan isolated the Armenian regions of Karabagh from the outside world and proceeded to annihilate the Armenians whenever and however it could. With an optimum tightening of stamina, the Armenians of Karabagh defied the Mussavat government by defending their independence and ethnic authenticity through heroic efforts. …We were not mistaken in our belief that the Leninist policy of nationalities would triumph, and that Armenian-populated Karabagh would be incorporated into Soviet Armenia. Indeed, after the advent of the Soviet regime in Armenia, in a declaration, the Soviet government of Azerbaijan expressed its readiness to cede Karabagh and Nakhichevan to Armenia. The declaration was signed and made public by N. Narimanov in the celebrated session of the Baku Soviet on December 1, 1920.

However, this judicious and entirely fraternal decision was not carried out. In March, 1921, as a result of a treaty signed with Turkey, Nakhichevan was incorporated into the territorial complex of Azerbaijan SSR. In 1923, within the territorial borders of Azerbaijan, Mountainous Karabagh was given autonomy, and the regions of Shamkhor, Khanlar, Dashkesan and Shaumian, where the Armenian population is predominant (approximately 90 per cent), were directly incorporated into the Azerbaijan SSR.

Thus, the Armenians of Karabagh were cut off from the Armenian SSR and Mountainous Karabagh Autonomous Republic failed to include all Armenian regions. The rights of the autonomous region were gradually curtailed and presently are almost entirely abrogated. The Armenian population of the Azerbaijani SSR has been subjected to chauvinistic policies creating extremely unfavorable conditions of life. At the inception of the autonomy, certain positive steps were undertaken for the development of industry and agriculture in the region. Subsequently, however, every enterprise has been thwarted, and established institutions have either been inhibited from functioning or have been transferred to regions inhabited by Azerbaijanis. On the other hand, demands were imposed upon our region which were exacting and beyond the limits of our capacity. They resulted in such desperate acts as our being forced to extricate wool from our beds, bedcovers and pillows in order to meet the quotas imposed upon us.

… In spite of the fact that large expanses of irrigated soil were at hand in some regions of the Azerbaijani SSR, people's enemy Bagirov was repopulating the Armenian villages of Martuni and Mars with Azerbaijanis. As a consequence, clashes between the two nationalities in these villages became imminent. …Their objective was not only the termination of the autonomy of the region, but also the expulsion of the Armenian population of Karabagh. To this end, they relentlessly and systematically trampled upon the interests of the Armenian population, derided the workers and subjected the people in general to inexcusably hostile treatment.”

The petition goes on to cite many examples of this discriminatory behavior in the very days of Soviet Utopia:

“…the management of the production of bread for Stepanakert [was to] be controlled in distant Aghdam, [as well as]… the health department of Mars” to sabotage the “medical supplies and other material needs of the hospitals.

…The management of construction works is under the jurisdiction of Minkechaour, which is located 120 km away from Stepanakert

…The combine of Mars which produces silk and employs 3,000 workers …has been placed under the administrative jurisdiction of a comparable but much smaller enterprise in Nuchi, which is 120 km away from Stepanakert

…The silk spinning factories of Khntzorestan, Seyidshen, Gheshlach and other villages have been closed

…The cement factory in Stepanakert has been placed under the jurisdiction of the region of Barda (60 km distance)

…In forty years, not one kilometer of new road has been constructed between villages and the regional center; nor have existing roads been repaired

…No possibilities have been explored for developing the agriculture of the region …Cattle breeding is in decline

...Reservoirs have been erected on the banks of a number of rivers of mountainous Karabagh, but only Azerbaijani villages are benefiting from these waters. The kolkhozniks of Karabagh have not been given the right to utilize the waters of their own rivers

…Since ancient times Mountainous Karabagh has been famous for its mulberry farms which often were cultivated...to produce spirits and doshab and were also used for construction material and fuel. Disregarding the protests of the population, with a stroke of the pen they forbade the extracting of spirit and ordered the cultivation of mulberries for the sole purpose of feeding the silkworms. As a result, large numbers of mulberry trees were destroyed, and the rocky slopes became barren and useless for agriculture

…Culture and education are in decline.”

The petition ends with the following paragraphs that leave no place for doubt in the destructive pan-Turkic plan of nine centuries long anti-Armenian genocidal policy. This is astonishingly similar to the situation in time of the Artsakh movement in 1988 when enough was enough:

“These unilaterally harmful measures have deprived the Armenian population of the region of its livelihood and wellbeing and forced it to abandon its own ancestral homeland.

This is the reason why in the last twenty-five years there is a total lack of increase in the growth rate of the Armenian population of Mountainous Karabagh. It should be noted that the above-mentioned decline has made it possible to populate Karabagh with Azerbaijanis.

It can definitely be stated that a chauvinistic, pan-Turk policy is being pursued which is at once inconceivable and inimical to the principles of Soviet rule, but which evidently is acceptable to the authorities of the Azerbaijani Republic.

The policy of discrimination and oppression is engendering justifiable hatred against the source of that policy, namely, the Azerbaijani Republic and the leadership of the Autonomous Region. The regrettable fact is that undesirable relationships between the nationalities are developing in consequence.

We request a prompt decision so as to reincorporate Mountainous Karabagh and all adjacent Armenian regions into the Armenian SSR, or to make them part of RSFSR.

We request the treatment of the Armenians in Karabagh to be attuned only to Lenin's policy of nationalities.

[The Armenian Review, autumn, 1968]”

Needless to say, not only was no attention given to the plight of the Armenians, the bloodthirsty Tatars answered the civilized protests with physical persecution and repression as it is the case today where after the miserable defeat of the genocidal “Azeris” in the war they perpetrated against people they claim the citizens of fake “Azerbaijan”, the whole issue has been twisted to show that the Armenians are in fact aggressors who have occupied poor “Azerbaijani” territory, a “country” that was faked on historic Armenian land.