INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL "THE CAUCASUS AND THE WORLD"

             Jabi   Bahramov
                                              Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan(  Republic of Azerbaijan) 

The crime of armenian fascism against the Azerbaijan  people  based on historical facts

Keywords : South Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Armenian fascism.

One of the most important directions in the foreign policy of Peter I, who turned Tsarist Russia into an empire in the first half of the 18th century, was to seize the territories of Ottoman Turkey and the Caucasus. In fact, the policy of occupation of the modern state of the Russian Federation was founded in the 16th century by Ivan Grozny, the head of the Russian state of Moscow, and ended with the conquest of Kazan in 1552, Astrakhan in 1556 and Crimea in 1793. To solve these problems, the Russian Empire needed a military-political force-outpost in these territories, as the representatives of the ruling circles of the tsarist, Soviet and modern Russian Federation said. This role could be played by the Christian population of Ottoman Turkey and the South Caucasus. However, it should be noted that as early as in the first half of the 18th century, Armenians living in the territories of the Azerbaijani Safavi state and Ottoman Turks and not the indigenous population of the South Caucasus (autochthon – J.B.) had high hopes for the Christian states of Europe to get rid of their “oppressors”. For this purpose, a special meeting of the Armenian Gregorian Church and Armenian merchants was held in 1678 in Julfa, built for Armenians by Shah Abbas I near Isfahan, the third capital of the Safavi state of Azerbaijan, and a seven-member delegation led by the Catholicos was sent to Europe. The main goal of this delegation was to find a way to liberate the Armenians from the rule of the Safavi state of Azerbaijan with the help of Christian states in Europe. Unable to achieve any political results in Europe, the Armenians, on the advice of the Austro-Hungarian emperor, appealed to Russian Tsar Peter I and were met with great satisfaction. In a letter to Peter I, the Austro-Hungarian monarch Johann-Wilhelm I explained the main purpose of the Armenians as follow: “The Armenians sent to me a prince named Uri from the Beros dynasty and Vartapet Minas. Their main goal is to liberate Armenia (a small area in the territory of Ottoman Turkey around the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers – J.B.) from the oppression of Iran (Azerbaijani Safavi state – J.B.). If you show your imperial will and allow us to pass through the territory of your empire with our army to save Armenia, then we are ready to accept the proposal of the Armenian representatives”. In addition, the letter requested that the head of the Armenian delegation, Israel Uri, be received and heard by the tsar. On June 30, 1701, Peter I received the Armenian delegation and after getting acquainted with all the details of the proposed military project, sent one of his Armenian officials to study the South Caucasus. After listening to the information of his envoy, he rejected the proposal of the Austro-Hungarian emperor and assumes that a very favorable military-political situation has arisen for Tsarist Russia. Peter I, who had been waiting for such an opportunity for a long time, spent 21 years preparing military-strategic plans for the occupation of the Caucasus. The essence of these plans was to capture the whole Azerbaijan, covering most of the South Caucasus and the north of the modern Islamic Republic of Iran, to resettle Armenians from Ottoman Turkey and present-day Iran and to create a so-called Armenian outpost on the shores of the Caspian Sea, which would allow the Russian Empire to access to Central Asia, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. [23, 25-30]. It is known that the death of Peter I prevented the implementation of these plans at that time, but his decree in October 1724 on the resettlement of Armenians in the future occupied territories of Azerbaijan played an important role. After that, these occupation plans of Azerbaijan territories were implemented in accordance with the agreements between Tsarist Russia and Gajar Iran signed on October 12, 1813 in Gulistan and on February 10, 1828 in Turkmenchay. According to Article 15 of the Turkmenchay Treaty, the mass resettlement of Armenians from the territories of Gajar Iran and Ottoman Turkey to the territories of Northern Azerbaijan occupied by the Russian Empire began. It should be noted that one of the main initiators of the inclusion of this article in the Turkmenchay Treaty was Ambassador A.Griboyedov. During the Second Tsarist Russia-Gajar Iran war of 1826-1828, the population of the Iravan khanate was led by Hussein Qulu khan Gajar, his brother Hassan khan Gajar and his grandson Fatali khan Gajar heroically repulsed the attacks of the Tsarist Russia’s army on the city of Iravan on April 27, 1827 – June 23 and September 24 – On October 1, 1827 and the attacks on the Sardarabad fortress on April 16-17 and September 14-20 of the same year, and successfully defended it four times. However, General Paskevich, who besieged the Iravan fortress using the command of the occupying army, was able to obtain the most accurate information about the fortress from the very small number of Armenians who once settled there. The betrayal of the Armenians resulted in the occupation of the Iravan fortress and, ultimately, the entire khanate territory by the Russian imperial army. For this “heroism”, by the decrees of Tsar Nicholas I, General I.F.Paskevich was awarded the title of count, the Order of St. George of the II degree and 1 million rubles. He was also awarded the title of “Erivanski” for the occupation of the city of Iravan by him. Tsarist Russia’s goal was to make Iravan the capital of the Armenian state to be established in the occupied territories of Northern Azerbaijan. A.Griboyedov, who preferred the state interests of the Russian Empire, wanted to help the “oppressed” Armenian people. During the second Tsarist Russia-Gajar Iran war in 1826-1828, 18.000 Armenian families were relocated to the territories of the Iravan, Nakhchivan and Karabakh khanates of Northern Azerbaijan. During 1828-1830, 40.000 Armenians were resettled to the South Caucasus from Iran and 85.000 from Turkey, and they were settled in the best lands of Elizavetpol (1868) (formerly lands of Ganja and Karabakh khanates until January 1804) and Iravan (1849) provinces. More than 200.000 dessiatina (measure of land = 10,900 sq. meters or 2.7 acres) of treasury lands were allocated for them. On March 21, 1828, by the decree of Nicholas I, the so-called “Armenian Province” was established for Armenians in the territories of the Iravan and Nakhchivan khanates [14, 398-405]. Beginning from the 1930s, the Russian Empire’s campaign for the resettlement of Christian peoples to the South Caucasus gradually became more consistent and purposeful. Towards the end of the century, the tsarist government had begun drafting legislation on resettlement. On April 15, 1899, Nicholas II issued a law on “permission to resettlement in the Caucasus”. A new law, promulgated on December 22, 1900, allowed the chief on civil affairs in the Caucasus to place the requests of “villages of Russian origin and of Orthodox faith” in the treasury lands only after initial consideration. Implementing this tsarist order, the local authorities began to determine the areas of resettlement in March 1901. In July 1904, the tsarist government issued a new law: “Temporary Rules for the Voluntary Resettlement of Villagers and Petty Bourgeois Peasants”, which at the discretion of the Ministry of the Interior Affairs, the Military Department, and the Chief of Civil Affairs in the Caucasus, only Russian-born, Orthodox locals or persons belonging to separatist religious sects were allowed to move to the Muslim outskirts of the empire, including the South Caucasus.
This purposeful policy pursued by the tsarist government lasted throughout the 19th century and as a result the number of Armenians resettled in the territories of Northern Azerbaijan, as the tsarist official and publicist N.Shavrov wrote in 1911: 1 million out of 1.300.000 Armenians were not locals, they were relocated by us” [33, 63]. At the beginning of the 20th century, I.I.Vorontsov-Dashkov, their Caucasus patron in the South Caucasus, wrote a letter to Tsar Nicholas II on October 12, 1912: [20, 209]. “We have gained a reliable ally by always patronizing the Armenians who have rendered us great services” [20, 209]. Ismayil khan Ziyadkhanov, deputy of the I State Duma elected from Elisavetpol (Ganja – J.B.) province, at the 25th meeting of the first session of the first convocation held on June 12, 1906 during the discussion of the inquiry to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers on measures to ensure the security of the population appreciated the clashes between Tatars (Azerbaijanis – J.B.) and Armenians in Iravan on May 27, 1906 so: “They told us Muslims: You are economically enslaved by the Armenians, they are strongly armed to create their own tsardom, and one day you will see that you don’t exist anymore. Armenians were told that the idea of pan-Islamism was deeply rooted in all sections of Muslim society, and that one day Muslims would cut you to pieces. This was the way of provocation” [16, 145]. Despite the fact that 106 years have passed since I.Ziyadkhanov’s speech in the State Duma, analyzing the events from 1988 to the present, one can see how far-sighted and wise I.Ziyadkhanov was. By the way, it is very necessary to mention an important issue here. Thus, the policy of Tsarist Russia to incite national conflicts in the colonies, especially in the South Caucasus, was of great concern to prominent intellectuals of the Azerbaijani people. Therefore, at the Congress of Muslims of the South Caucasus, North Caucasus and Crimea in March 1907 in Ganja (formerly Elisavetpol – J.B.), they made a decision in response to the Armenian terrorist and political organizations in Karabakh provoked by the tsarism to national confrontation. The decision provided for the implementation of the following measures: – The activities of the organization “Difai” should be organized there; – With the help of Baku entrepreneurs H.Z.Tagiyev and A.Sh.Asadullayev, the property of Prince Uchmiyev near Aghdam should be purchased and only Muslims should be placed there; – Azerbaijanis must be assigned as a task to live in Shusha; – Let Karabakh become a Muslim province. By the decision of the congress, a branch of the “Difai” organization “Karabakh Union Assembly” was established in Karabakh. The main committee of the Assembly was located in Shusha. The chairman of the organization was Kerim bey Mehmandarov. His organization had a fighting force of 400 men. The program of 53 articles adopted by the “Karabakh Union Assembly” in 1907 identified the protection of the national interests of the Azerbaijani population as the main task [16, 121].
The Provisional Government, formed after the collapse of the Russian Empire in February 1917, decided on March 3 of that year to establish a special committee for the management of the South Caucasus – OZAKOM. On October 26, 1917, a military coup by the Bolsheviks in Russia took power in Petrograd. Although the state independence of Poland, Finland and the Baltic states was recognized according to the documents signed by the chairman of the Soviet of Peoples Commissars of the Russia SSR V.I.Lenin, the state independence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was not recognized among the countries of the South Caucasus. The main reason was not to lose Baku oil. Therefore, the Bolsheviks, who seized power by force, gave a tougher character to the tsarist policy against Northern Azerbaijan and preferred to use communist Armenians of Dashnak trait. On December 16, 1917, by order of V.I.Lenin, the chairman of the Soviet of Peoples Commissars of RSFSR, S.G.Shaumyan was appointed the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Commissioner of the Caucasus, and he was allocated 500.000 rubles in gold to organize his activities here. Arriving in the South Caucasus, S.G.Shaumyan joined forces with all anti-Azerbaijani political forces in Baku and seized power. On February 13, 1918, the RSFSR Central Committee adopted a new resolution to strengthen the Bolshevik-Dashnak government here. According to this decision, 31.8 mln. rubles of gold money, 5 thousand rifles, 2 mln. cartridges, 35 machine guns, 2 airplanes, 2 armored vehicles and combat detachments, including the 4th mobile revolutionary detachment of the Moscow Military District was sent to the disposition of S.G.Shaumyan [24, 199-200]. As a result, in 1918, the most serious crime of genocide against the Azerbaijani population living in and around Baku was committed, and at least 12.000 Azerbaijanis were killed. From March 1918 to August 1, 1921, more than 700.000 Azerbaijanis became victims of genocide in all the territories of South and North Azerbaijan. S.G.Shaumyan wrote the reason for these crimes in a letter to V.I.Lenin, the chairman of the Soviet of Peoples Commissars of RSFSR, on April 13, 1918: “If they won, Baku would be declared the capital of Azerbaijan and all non-Muslim elements would be disarmed and destroyed”. S.G.Shaumyan’s use of Dashnaks, who fought against Ottoman Turkey during World War I and returned from the Caucasus Front under the Erzinjan Treaty on October 5, 1917, to commit genocide against Azerbaijanis and, most importantly, to seize power in Baku, was met with great satisfaction by V.I.Lenin. Saak Ter-Gabrielyan, appointed by S.G.Shaumyan as the chairman of the Baku Oil Committee, came to Astrakhan and then to Moscow with 7 oil-filled ships and met with V.I.Lenin. During this meeting, V.I.Lenin expressed his admiration for the scale of crimes committed by S.G.Shaumyan and said that he was ready to provide both moral and material assistance to the Baku proletariat. Beginning from March 1918, the leader of Soviet Russia, V.I.Lenin , paid special attention to the seizure of Baku oil in order to win the growing civil war in Russia and revive the economy of the country that collapsed in the course of World War I. Therefore, the decision of the RSFSR SSR from May 22, 1918 attracts attention in this regard. The resolution stated that “…The maximum amount of oil should be provided first and foremost and unconditionally” [8, 73]. In a telegram to Saak Ter-Gabrielyan on June 5, 1918, V.I.Lenin allocated an additional 50 million to S.G.Shaumyan’s disposition and instructed him to “put oil in the first place”. However, in early June 1918, the leader of Soviet Russia, V.I.Lenin, who saw the collapse of the Bolshevik-Dashnak government, wrote in a telegram to the Baku Soviet: “If there is an attack, if it possible, you should inform Ter (i.e., Ter-Gabrielyan – J.B.) to take measures to completely burn Baku and announce it in the Baku press” [28]. Later, in connection with this instruction of the head of the Bolsheviks, prof. E.Razin wrote: “One can imagine what misfortunes the burning of the city on the oilfields could have caused for the local population if this instruction of V.I.Lenin had been carried out. Only a criminal who has lost his sense of humanity could order to burn Baku oil fields”. On May 26, 1918, after Georgia decided to leave the South Caucasus Seim, on May 28, deputies elected from the North Azerbaijan provinces adopted the Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan. It is interesting that the Armenians were waiting for the areas where the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic would be declared. They appealed to the National Council of Azerbaijan, noting that Alexandropol (Gyumri – J.B.) was occupied by the Ottoman Turkish army and offered to discuss the issue of territories that could be compromised to the Armenians as a political center. After the discussions, the members of the National Council acknowledged that the concession of Iravan to the Armenians was an inevitable necessity and an inevitable tragedy for the people of Azerbaijan. From this viewpoint, the letter sent by Fatali khan Khoyski, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Azerbaijan on May 29, 1918 in connection with his response to the letter of the Prime Minister of Armenia is very interesting. Fatali khan Khoyski wrote in his letter: “We have finished all the disputes with the Armenians and they will accept our ultimatum and the war will end. We made concession of Iravan to the Armenians” [17, 130]. However, the extremely careful study and scientific analysis of archival documents on this issue confirms the fact that the fateful decision was accompanied by a violation of all principles of international law and was made without consulting the Azerbaijani people. During his visit to the Aghdam region in early 2008, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev noted that this decision taken by the National Council of Azerbaijan in 1918 was a very wrong step. With this opinion, the President of the country confirmed a very difficult and historical truth for all the people of Azerbaijan. However, in order to find an answer to the question of how much this historical truth is reflected in the archival documents, how many of these events took place, there is a great need to refer to the archival documents and research works based on them. It should be noted that the issue of concession of the city of Iravan and surrounding areas to the Armenians” has recently been reflected in scientific publications published in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Turkey, the United States, the Russian Federation and other countries. One of the published works is the monograph “Azerbaijan in Turkish-Russian relations (1917-1920)” by V.V.Gafarov, published by “Azerneshr” publishing house in 2011. One of the most difficult questions of the Azerbaijani people – the transfer of the city of Iravan to the Armenians – was clarified as much as possible. In the chapter entitled “The Batumi Conference and Azerbaijan”, which begins on page 157 of the work, the author writes that at the first meeting of the conference held on May 11, 1918, the head of the Ottoman delegation Halil  bey Menteshe in return for Turkey’s losses in the war with the Transcaucasian Federation, “accepts the transfer of Gyumri and Surmali districts of the Iravan province of North Azerbaijan, the Kemerli (Garnibasar), Ulukhanli (Zangibasar) and Vedibasar regions of the Echmiadzin district, and the Sharur part of the Sharur-Dereleyez uyezd, the Nakhchivan uyezd except for Ordubad, as well as the Kars-Alexandropol-Julfa railway and grants the right of use it to Turkey”.
It is also known that at that time Baku was in the hands of Soviet Russia. Along with all this, looting and bandit attacks by Armenian gangs against the local Azerbaijani population continued in the Iravan, Nakhchivan and Zangazur regions of North Azerbaijan. The desperate people of Azerbaijan saw their way of salvation in appealing to the Ottoman state, and taking this into account, the Azerbaijani deputies represented in the Transcaucasian Seim also supported this idea. It is also true that in the first half of 1918, no state other than the Ottoman state intended to provide any assistance to the Azerbaijani people. Along with Soviet Russia, Great Britain, France, the United States and Germany were fighting for control of Baku oil. L.George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom then, wrote: “Despite the Entente’s dominance at the end of the war, if the German bloc used Baku oil, the military operations would be much longer and it would be impossible to predict the consequences”. The commander of the British Special Corps in Iran, General Dunsterville, confirming this idea wrote: “Baku was of great impor­tance. Our plan was to gain an advantage in the Caspian Sea, which could only be achieved by capturing Baku”. The British newspaper “The Times” later wrote: “We went there to seize oil resources of Baku”. In support of this view, Winston Churchill wrote in an article published in the British magazine “Nur IST” in 1918: “Baku has no equal in the oil issue. Baku is the largest oil center in the world. If oil is the queen, then Baku is its crown” [24, 198]. Along with the events in the region, new secret and open political deals were being made on Baku oil outside its borders. Thus, on August 27, 1918, a secret agreement from Ottoman Turkey was signed between Soviet Russia and Kaiser Germany. According to the agreement, oil production in Baku was to be under the participation and control of Soviet Russia and a quarter of it were to be given to Germany. It should be noted that during this period, the Armenian factor in the policy of the South Caucasus of the countries struggling to seize Baku oil, their use was manifested at every step. Therefore, against the background of all the military-political processes taking place during this period, the people of Azerbaijan hoped for the help that the Ottoman state of Turkey could provide. For this reason, the members of the delegation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which held talks with the representatives of the Ottoman state of Turkey in Batumi from May 11 to June 4, 1918, were in a desperate situation in the face of the territorial and other demands of Ottoman Turkey. The city of Alexandropol, which the Armenians hoped for as the capital, was captured by the Turks, so during the negotiations with the Armenians, the issue of their concession to the city of Iravan was put on the agenda. In this situation, the Turks either had to return Alexandropol to the Armenians, or face the dilemma of taking Iravan from the Azerbaijanis and giving it to them. On May 24, 1918, Talat Pasha sent a telegram to Halil Bey Menteshe, the head of the Ottoman Turkish delegation at the Batumi Conference: “I do not agree at all with the formation of a government by the Armenians. A small Armenian autonomy in five years will become an Armenian state with a population of five million and become the Bulgaria of the East, the ruler of the entire Caucasus. All the Armenians in Iran and America will gather there, receive all kinds of help from the British and the French, and together with the Christian Georgians in the future will easily act against us” [18, 160-161]. These words, which were uttered very wisely 94 years ago, have become a reality today with their terrible horrors. However, it should be noted that the attitude of the delegation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to the position of Talat Pasha and Enver Pasha not to allow the establishment of the Armenian state in the South Caucasus was very different. They rejected the proposal of Ottoman Turkey to establish a federal state in the South Caucasus consisting of two cantons (provinces or states – J.B.) – Azerbaijani and Georgian cantons, in accordance with the Swiss state structure, and instead they offered to establish a federation consisting of Azerbaijani, Georgian and Armenian cantons. The delegation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic justified its position by saying that if the territories mentioned in the ultimatum issued by the Ottoman Turkish delegation on May 11, 1918 passed to Ottoman Turkey, all Armenians living in these territories would flow to North Azerbaijan and commit large-scale massacres. They considered that the best way to avoid possible catastrophes could be to give the Armenians a small territory so that they could establish a national state in a certain area. For this purpose, the Azerbaijani delegation signed a written appeal to Enver Pasha on May 23, 1918. This appeal was signed by M.A.Rasulzadeh, M.H.Hajin­ski, F.kh.Khoyski, M.U.Jafarov Ahmad bey (Can Baba), A.Safi­kurdski, A.C.Pepinov, N.Yusifbeyli, Kh.Khasmammadov. The day before this appeal – on May 22, 1918, A.Huseynzadeh and A.bey Agaoglu addressed the same appeal to Talat Pasha and Enver Pasha. Faced with these two choices, the Turks were more inclined to make concessions to the city of Iravan. While Enver Pasha and Talat Pasha, the leaders of Ottoman Turkey, were generally strongly opposed to the establishment of an Armenian state in the South Caucasus, Halil Bey Menteshe and Vehib Pasha stressed the importance of creating a state and making concessions to Armenians in the international arena. Despite the divergence of opinions between the representatives of Ottoman Turkey on this issue, it should be noted with great regret that the members of the delegation of the Peoples Republic of Azerbaijan agreed with the positions of Halil bey Menteshe and Vehib Pasha [18, 164]. On May 29, 1918, at the fourth meeting of the National Council of the Peoples Republic of Azerbaijan, the issue of twice concession of the city of Iravan to the Armenians was discussed. During the first discussion of the issue, 20 members of the National Council take part in the meeting, and during the voting, an illegitimate decision was made with 16 in favor, 1 voted against and 3 were neutral. At the second meeting on the same day, despite the fact that members of the National Council from Iravan M.H.Seyidov, M.B.Rzayev and N.Nari­man­beyov twice appealed in written form to the National Council against Iravan’s concession to the Armenians, the 20 members of the National Council participating there bearing no relation to the matter agreed to accept the decision [18, 170]. Although a written letter of protest submitted by the deputies from Iravan was filed, this document is no longer in the relevant fund of the National Archives of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Such a position of the members of the National Council on this issue raises a number of questions. Were the opinions of the city residents and their representatives asked when the city of Iravan was made concession to the Armenians? The documents confirm that no opinion polls or steps have been taken in this direction. All this once again confirms how wrong and unforgivable this decision is, both politically and legally. On the other hand, the issue of giving this city to the Armenians was discussed after the appeal of the Armenian National Council to the National Council of Azerbaijan. A just question arises here: taking into account the situation in the course of the discussions could the members of the National Council retract from this trouble, and was it possible, or had a similar event taken place in the history of other European nations? An important event in the history of France in the first half of the 19th century suggests that, of course, many of the founders of the People’s Republic of Azerbaijan knew this history very well. On the other hand, even if the political situation in the South Caucasus in May and September 1918 was in favor of the People’s Republic of Azerbaijan, they could use it not make concession of the city of Iravan. However, as mentioned above, along with the members of the National Council, Ottoman Turkey also played an exceptional role in the concession of Iravan to the Armenians in 1918. This is a historical fact and it is very regretful that the territory of the People’s Republic of Azerbaijan, which declared its independence on May 28, 1918 after the concession of the Iravan city and the province, was 99.908.86 square/kilometers. 13.983.10 squa­re/kilometers area was considered a “disputed area” and was to be resolved in future negotiations. The territory of the Iravan province, which was given to the Armenians, was 9.000 square/kilometers. After the concession, the Armenians claimed the annexation of the territories of North Azerbaijan – Nakhchivan, Zangazur and Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, although the Armenians undertook not to claim these territories during the Batumi talks in May 1918. However, the Armenians, who were unable to occupy territories other than the Iravan province in 1918-1920, managed to gain new territories under the auspices of the Bolsheviks after the occupation of North Azerbaijan by Soviet Russia on April 28, 1920. The government of Soviet Russia conducted territorial issues with missions of Georgia and Dashnak Armenia, secretly from the government of the Azerbaijan SSR. The most horrible thing was that when the delegation of the Azerbaijan SSR was involved in such talks, they were represented either by Armenians or Georgians. Azerbaijanis were not included in the Armenian or Georgian delegations. When the agreement was signed between Soviet Russia and Dashnak Armenia in Iravan on August 10, 1920, a number of diplomatic documents proved that Zangazur and Nakhchivan were planned to be handed over to Dashnak Armenia, with serious attacks on the national interests of the Azerbaijan SSR. At that time, the government of Soviet Russia made a claim of S.Orjonikidze that “…we may need Armenia in certain political conditions” [6]. The talks in Iravan ended with the signing of a protocol forcing the parties to recognize a future peace agreement, under which Armenia would have to give up Karabakh, but take Zangazur and Nakhchivan. In fact, the plan to transfer the historical lands of Azerbaijan to Dashnak Armenia was prepared by I.Stalin with the consent of V.Lenin. For in the following years, the partial occupation of these lands and the deportation of the population living in these areas was carried out by I.Stalin. At a meeting held on November 4, 1920 with the participation of I.Stalin, S.Orjonikidze, T.Gabrielyan, Legran, A.Ga­rayev and others, such a decision was made on the basis of I.Stalin’s opinion on the terms of the agreement between Soviet Russia and Dashnak Armenia: “The proposed article on the transfer of Nakhchivan and Zangazur to Armenia is neither politically nor strategically beneficial, and can only happen at the final case” [1]. The meeting also instructed Narimanov to prepare a justification of the Politburo’s opinion on Nakhchivan and Zangazur, as well as an agreement not to make a final decision on the agreement submitted to Armenia until I.Stalin negotiates with the Central Committee of the RK/b/P on this issue. This decision shows once again that the North Azerbaijan lands were put up for auction by Soviet Russia. Paragraph B of the decision stated: “There are no borders between Soviet Azerbaijan and Soviet Armenia”. Item “Q” of the decision stated that Zangazur and Nakhchivan were given to Armenia, and item “D” stated that the mountainous part of Karabakh had the right to determine its own destiny. On December 1, 1920, another serious step was taken to hand over Zangazur to the Armenians, only to “present” it under the pressure of Soviet Russia. On the same day, Narimanov made a statement at a solemn “historic” meeting of the Baku Soviet on the occasion of the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia. However, it should be noted that Narimanov’s statement was falsified in the issue of the Armenian-language Communist newspaper in Iravan from December 7, 1920, in order to raise the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia in the near and distant future. Later, Narimanov himself protested against the falsification of the facts announced in the statement. As mentioned above, I.V.Stalin, who carried out the donation of Azerbaijani lands to Armenia, commented on the decision of the Baku Soviet: “On December 1, the Soviet Azerbaijan voluntarily renounced the disputed territories and announced the transfer of Zangazur, Nakhchivan and Nagorno-Karabakh to Soviet Armenia” [2]. On December 2, 1920, S.Orjonikidze, whom I.Stalin called “the conqueror of Azerbaijan”, conveyed to V.I.Lenin and him the content of the decision passed by the Baku Soviet. As mentioned above, although the transfer of the western part of Zangazur to the Armenian SSR was officially announced, the transfer of the uyezd to its control did not happen immediately. Thus, on January 12, 1921, at a meeting of the Political and Organizational Bureaus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, it was decided to administratively organize the Muslim part of Zangazur. The Armenians, who continued to oppress the Azerbaijani population of Zangazur, were not satisfied with this and later managed to seize a number of territories. Thus, at the meeting of the Presidium of the Transcaucasian Central Election Commission on January 1, 1927, the issues classifying 24 villages in Mehri-Jabrail district related to this or other uyezds were discussed, and 1.065 dessiatina in Zangazur-Kurdistan district were discussed on June 20, 1927. Again, at a meeting of this legislative body chaired by M.Shakhakaya on February 18, 1929, with the participation of Azerbaijani representatives D.Bunyatzadeh, M.Bagirov and S.Yagubov, under the pretext of creating an Armenian region in Mehri three villages of Zangilan region: Nuvedi, Ernazir and Tugut were given to the Armenian SSR [7, 927]. Thus, the “presentation” of the lands in the south-western part of Zangazur to the Armenians and the establishment of the Mehri region here separated the Azerbaijan SSR from the Nakhchivan region, which was part of it, and communication with this region became difficult. As for the borders of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic defined by the Kars Treaty of 1921, by the decision of the Presidium of the Transcaucasian Soviet Central Executive Committee dated February 18, 1929, without the consent of the Turkish state acting as the guarantor of the Nakhchivan territories, 657 square/kilometers was given to Armenia SSR. According to the decision of the meeting of this body dated March 5, 1938, certain territories around Sadarak and Karki villages of Sharur passed to the Armenian SSR [10, 73-75].
115 days before the end of World War II – on April 19, 1945, the sixth Catholicos of All Armenians – Deputy Patriarch, Archbishop Gevorg Cheorekchiyan addressed the head of the USSR J.V.Stalin with an 11-item application and met with him. During the meeting, Stalin told the Catholicos that Armenians living abroad would move to the Armenian SSR and that the so-called “Western Armenia” would be taken back from the Turkish Republic. He appended instructions on the application of the Catholicos: “I agree. Chairman of the Soviet of Peoples Commissars Joseph Stalin. 19.04.45 ” [9, 434]. On November 21, 1945, the Soviet of Peoples Commissars of the USSR adopted Resolution No. 2947 on “Measures for the Returning of Armenians from Foreign Countries to Soviet Armenia” [10, 73-75]. Having achieved this decision, the head of the Armenia SSR G.Arutinov addressed a letter to J.V.Stalin regarding the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region to the Armenia SSR. J.V.Stalin addressed a letter to G.M.Malenkov and instructed him to discuss the issue with the head of the Azerbaijan SSR M.J.Bagirov. On November 28, 1945, G.M.Malenkov, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist (b) Party, sent a telegram to M.J.Bagirov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist (b) Party of Azerbaijan [21, 6]. M.J.Bagirov, who received a scientific certificate from 6 historians regarding the fact that Karabakh was the land of Azerbaijan, wrote a scientifically substantiated reply letter to G.M.Malenkov, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist (b) Party on December 10, 1945, stamped “top secret”, where for the first time he raises the problem of Azerbaijani lands lost, (the total area of the lands given to Armenia SSR in 1921-1929 was 20.8 thousand square/kilo­meters – J.B.) and thus achieves the frustration of the plans of the Armenian nationalist circles (5). However, despite the rejection, on October 19, 1946, they succeeded in passing a resolution by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on “The rules for obtaining USSR citizenship by persons of Armenian descent returning to Soviet Armenia from foreign countries” in connection with the resettlement of Armenians living abroad in the territory of the Armenia SSR [11, 136].
The next stage of the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from their historical and ethnic lands in the territory of the Armenia SSR began. On December 23, 1947, the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR issued Resolution No. 4083 “On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijanis from the Armenia SSR to the Kur-Araz lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR”. Another decision of the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR from March 10, 1948 “On measures of the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijanis from the Armenia SSR to the Kur-Araz lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR” set out a concrete action plan for this work. According to this decision, “on voluntary basis” 100.000 Azerbaijanis were relocated to the territories of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1948-1950: 10.000 in 1948, 40.000 in 1949, and 50.000 in 1950. It should be noted that at that time more than 400.000 Azerbaijanis lived in the Armenia SSR. By the decision of the USSR government, the number of deportees from the Armenia SSR in 1948 was 10.504, in 1949 – 15.713, in 1950 – 12.332, in 1952-1953 – 13.760, and in 1954-1956 – 5.876. In general, at this stage of deportation and ethnic cleansing from the territory of the Armenia SSR, more than 100.000 Azerbaijanis were forcibly relocated or forced to relocate [8,152]. The deportation measures covered 22 regions of the Armenia SSR and were mainly carried out in the territories inhabited by Azerbaijanis since ancient times.
After the death of J.V.Stalin in 1953, the Armenian Gregorian Church and the leadership of the Armenia SSR, hoping for a change in the leadership of the USSR, again appealed to Khrushchev to annex the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenia SSR. In 1958, the head of the Armenian Gregorian Church Vazgen II came to Baku and met with the chairman of the Soviet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR Sadig Rahimov. During the meeting, Vazgen II proposed to open a seminary for Armenian children at the Armenian Church in Baku, to allow church bells to ring in the morning and evening, and, most importantly, to approve the annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region to the Armenia SSR. Vazgen II, who received a very harsh response from the chairman of the Soviet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR S.Rahimov, complained to the USSR leadership, but the central government, realizing how dangerous the issue was, refrains from discussing it and the head of the Azerbaijan SSR accused of nationalism was replaced in 1959 [11, 136] and V.Y.Akhundov was appointed head of the Azerbaijan SSR.
Beginning in the early 1960s, anti-Azerbaijani propaganda once again began to gain momentum in the Armenia SSR. In early December 1960, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan received an appeal published in the newspaper “Baykar” (“Struggle”) by Armenian nationalists in Boston, USA, under the headline “To the President of Soviet Azerbaijan” This hypocritical appeal proposed the transfer of the territories of the two “Armenian autonomous bodies” of the Azerbaijan SSR – the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region – to the Armenia SSR, stating that this would “strengthen the eternal Armenian-Azerbaijani brotherhood” [11, 144-145]. First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan Veli Akhundov instructed Secretary of the Central Committee Nazim Hajiyev to prepare a reasonable response to prevent this provocation and protect the territorial integrity of the republic. Aydin Hajiyev, the son of the late Nazim Hajiyev, in his book published in 2000 (“Understand everything, but not forgive everything”. Baku, Law, 2000) wrote: “My father organized a special group on the issue, including historians, lawyers, cartographers, and Central Committee officials. Alovsat Guliyev, the director of A.A.Bakikhanov Institute of History of ANAS, provided very active assistance in this work. This document, prepared by a special group, was sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union together with archival documents and maps [22, 170-171]. M.A.Suslov, the second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, demanded the Secretary of the Central Committee for Ideology come to Moscow immediately. Hajiyev met with officials of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR and the KGB of the USSR and managed to prevent the provocation organized by A.Mikoyan against Azerbaijan [22, 170-171]. But it costs him his life. After the discussion, Hajiyev was hospitalized at the 4th Head Department of the USSR Ministry of Health and was diagnosed with a “malignant tumor”. He was operated by Abramyan, who was considered the “light” of the Kremlin hospital. Academician M.Topchubashov, a close friend of Nazim Hajiyev, who came to Moscow, after getting acquainted with the course of the operation, determined that it was not carried out correctly, and Nazim Hajiyev died at the age of 38 [22, 170-171]. However, Armenian provocations continue. Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR addressed numerous appeals to the leadership of the Armenia SSR and demanded to take action. On April 23-24, 1968, about 100 anonymous letters addressed to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, the Chairman of the Soviet of Ministers and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet were discovered. The issue of returning the “ancient Armenian lands” to the Armenia SSR was the main content of these letters [34, 327-383]. Vladimir Semicast, who served as Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1959-1961, recalls that period in an interview with Russian journalist Andrei Karaulov: “They wrote various rumors and gossips about Karabakh, and unhealthy events took place.  When I spoke at their conference, I was asked countless questions: things are not so. I told them how the situation was. Later, they changed the leadership, and appointed the second secretary of the regional committee, and the situation improved” [34, 327-383]. In the early 1960s, the USSR government’s decision to allow Armenians living abroad to relocate to the Soviet Union greatly intensified the Dashnaktsutyun’s spying units, which sought to pass various provocative groups from neighboring countries to the territory of the Armenia SSR through repatriation channels. This information was reflected in a completely confidential letter sent by the Second Main Directorate of the KGB of the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR to Heydar Aliyev, Chief of the Second Department of the KGB of the Azerbaijan SSR, on February 2, 1962. In the instructions appended by Heydar Aliyev on the letter was stated that if Armenian Dashnak organizations operating in foreign countries violated the borders of the USSR in the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR they had to be overtaken [34, 327-383].
According to the information received by the KGB of the Azerbaijan SSR on June 24, 1962, according to rumors spread by Armenian nationalists in the republic on the eve of the visit of the USSR head N.S.Khrushchev to the Armenian SSR, it was expected that the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region would be separated from the Azerbaijan SSR and transferred to the Armenia SSR. For this purpose, a letter was sent to N.S.Khrushchev, signed by 2.500 people, demanding the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh either to the Armenia SSR or the RSFSR [34, 327-383]. One of the reasons for such activation of Armenians living in the Armenia SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh was the religious, ideological and material assistance they received from Armenian Diaspora organizations living abroad. All this work was carried out under the auspices and control of the leadership of the Armenia SSR. Therefore, their new appeal to Khrushchev on May 18, 1964, ended with the following words: “We insist on an urgent decision on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Either the Autonomous Region and the surrounding areas inhabited by Armenians should be annexed to Armenia, or they should be a direct part of the USSR” [34, 327-383[. In June 1965, B.Ulubabyan, Secretary of the NKAR Branch of the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan, sent an application signed by the responsible party and Soviet workers of the Armenian nation of the Autonomous Region to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The State Security Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR informed the leadership of the republic about it and took necessary measures to prevent provocateurs. In 1966, when the secretly operating emissaries from Iravan of the 40-member “Armenian Youth Union” tried to establish their bases in the territory of the Autonomous Region were prevented by the republic’s special services. In August 1966, a letter addressed to L.Brezhnev, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, signed by about 2.000 Armenian “intellectuals”, stated: “According to the territory and national composition of Karabakh, it belongs to Armenia, according to its structure, spiritual world and life, it belongs to Armenia, the history of Karabakh is the history of Armenia, the language, art and literature of Karabakh belong to Armenians.” Taking into consideration, the Armenia SSR exists, it is not expedient artificially to separate its integral part from Soviet Armenia” [34, 327-383]. Information about this letter titled “Address of scientists and cultural figures of the Armenia SSR to the XXIII Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union” was also provided in the letter addressed on September 30, 1966, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union by First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia A.Kochinyan and the Chairman of the Soviet of Ministers B.Muradyan. The authors of the letter misinterpreted the historical “facts” and “documents” related to the establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as they wished, or rather they tried to falsify their claims to these territories by political, economic and ethnic factors, and by “numerous letters from people from different strata of Nagorno-Karabakh workers to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia”. They tried to justify it with numerous letters to the Central Committee. Heydar Aliyev, then Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the Azerbaijan SSR, later recalled these events when he was President of the Republic of Azerbaijan: “I remember, it was 1966 or 67, a decision came from Moscow. Then Akhundov called me. It was the decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which stated that “the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan – Akhundov, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia – Kochinyan should be instructed to discuss and report on this issue”. What did that mean? So, they instruct Armenia to resolve the issue of Azerbaijan. That’s how they solved it – that is, “you go and solve this problem with them”. He will say it must be mine, and we will say no. We sat and consulted. I told him: “You know, you have to go to Moscow and meet with Brezhnev. He went and explained Brezhnev. Brezhnev understood him and he himself annulled the decision. That was the event of 1967. “Against the background of the territorial claims of the Armenia SSR against the Azerbaijan SSR, in 1967 the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR became tense again. From this viewpoint, Heydar Aliyev’s secret letter No. 10/579, from June 26, 1967 to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan V.Y.Akhundov, attracts attention. The letter said that on the night of June 23-24, 300 8×9 cm leaflets in Armenian were distributed in some streets of Khankendi. These leaflets demanded the unification of the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR with the Armenia SSR and put forward nationalist views [3; 7, 927]. In July 1967, there was a conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Khankendi and was shed blood. The cause of the conflict was the mysterious murder of 8-year-old N.B.Movsesyan, the son of the chairman of a local collective farm in the village of Kuropatkino, Martuni region (Agdere – J.B.) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic of Azerbaijan. Armenians accused local Azerbaijanis – Arshad, Alamshad and Zohrab Mammadov brothers for the murder. After the passing sentence of the brothers at the Summer Variety Art Park in Khankendi on July 3, 1967, N.B.Movsesyan’s parents and other Armenians attacked the guards; brutally killed the Mammadov brothers and they even skinned their heads. The murderers, who were prepared for this atrocity, brought the stones to the city in cars. In order to thoroughly investigate this issue, the chairman of the KGB of the Azerbaijan SSR, Heydar Aliyev, was sent to Nagorno-Kara­bakh, and the criminals were identified and arrested. The trial of the organizers of the Khankendi events in Baku sentenced 5 people to death, and 14 others to various terms of imprisonment [3; 7, 927]. The events of 1967 kept the republic’s leadership in tension for a long time. In a report prepared by the KGB of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1967, Heydar Aliyev having analyzed the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh Region wrote: “In many cases, politically negative and anti-social actions in the region took place under the influence of some nationalist elements of the Armenia SSR, who were their direct organizers and participants”. This is evidenced by the facts collected over the past 5 years. People who came to Khankendi from the Armenia SSR spread various rumors about the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenia SSR, collected signatures for specially prepared appeals, brought and distributed here appeals written in the spirit of nationalism such as “Call to the Armenians of Karabakh” and other provocative printed materials” [34, 383].
The provocations of the Armenian nationalists continued in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1968-1969 as well. Heydar Aliyev, the chairman of the KGB of the Azerbaijan SSR, wrote in his report to the Party Control Committee of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party in April 1969: “There is a nationalist mood in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. In recent years, nationalist elements living in the region and some residents of the Armenia SSR have been trying to incite the local population to secede from Azerbaijan and unite with Armenia. Some young people, including Komsomol members, are under the influence of nationalist elements. The nationalist mood among the youth was also present in 1968” [34, 383].
In 1968, there was a land conflict between the Shamsaddin region of the Armenia SSR and the Gedabey region of the Azerbaijan SSR. In order to resolve the situation, in accordance with the instructions of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from June 23, 1968 and the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR from June 10 and 20, 1968, a special document on the settlement of the land dispute was signed on October 28, 1968 by First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia A.Kochinyan, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan V.Y.Akhundov and the USSR Minister of Agriculture V.Maskevich. According to Article 4 of the adopted document, the Supreme Soviets of the Armenia SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR were instructed to consider and approve a graphic description of the prepared borders by the parity commissions of both republics on the basis of the decisions of the Central Executive Committee of the Transcaucasian FSSR in 1927-1929 [4]. The resolution of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR M.Is­kenderov and the secretary Z.Shukurova signed on May 7, 1969 “On approval of the graphic description of the border between the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenia SSR” consisting of two articles (No. 805-VII) stated that the boundary between the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenia SSR, approved by the Transcaucasian Central Executive Committee, had been drawn on sheets of topographic maps at a scale of 1: 25.000 by the parity commission of the indicated republics, and to approve the graphic description submitted by the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR; To instruct the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR to ensure the transfer of the description of the republican border in nature together with the representatives of the Armenia SSR in the relevant fields by November 1, 1969. At the meeting of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan on May 21, 1969 (pr. No. 100, 4 – q), the draft resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR on maintaining the geographical description of the borders between the two republics was approved [15, 90].
However, the borders established by the decision from October 28, 1968 provoked protests from the villagers of Hajilar village of Gedabey region named after Kalinin, who demanded the return of their lands staying outside the border zone established in June 1969. According to archival documents, a week after Heydar Aliyev was elected head of the Azerbaijan SSR, on July 22, 1969, at a meeting of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party; he boldly raised and discussed the difficult situation around the collective farms of Gedabey region. As a result, a special decision was signed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and the Chairman of the Soviet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR A.Alikhanov. It should also be noted that after Heydar Aliyev’s transfer to a new post in Moscow in December 1982, disputes between the two republics over certain areas of the border re-emerged. When the new Constitution of the USSR was adopted in 1977, the leadership of the Armenia SSR, at the instigation of the Armenian Gregorian Church, again appealed to the Central Government of the USSR to annex the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Region of Azerbaijan to the Armenia SSR. It should be noted that at the meeting of the Presidium of the Soviet of Ministers of the former USSR on November 23, 1977, at the insistence of the leadership of the Armenia SSR, the issue of annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenia SSR was discussed and a proposal was made in this regard. (Minutes of the meeting of the Presidium of the Soviet of Ministers. November 23, 1977, No 61, 11-4133). Upon learning of the issue, Heydar Aliyev took decisive steps to prevent Armenian political aggression [13, 111]. He appeals to I.H.Ali­yev, Doctor of History, Professor, head of the department “Ancient history of Azerbaijan” of A.A.Bakikhanov Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, to prepare a scientific reference on the fact that the Karabakh region is the ancient land of Azerbaijan. Doctor of History, Professor. I.H.Aliyev says that in 1945 he presented such a scientific reference on this issue to M.J.Bagirov, then the head of the Azerbaijan SSR, and suggested Heydar Aliyev to rework this reference and submit it to him. Approving the proposal, Heydar Aliyev discussed it in the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and made a decision on the groundlessness of the claims of the leadership of the Armenia SSR, which was submitted to the former head of the USSR L.I.Brezhnev. As a result of decisive steps taken by Heydar Aliyev, the vicious intentions of the Armenians did not come true [27, 117].
In fact, the authority of Heydar Aliyev in the leadership of the USSR worried the Armenian Gregorian Church and the Armenian nationalist-separatists. Therefore, after he was elected a member of the Politburo of the CPSU in 1982 and appointed First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Soviet of Ministers, the Armenians took advantage of the weakness of the Azerbaijan SSR leadership, in 1984, despite the strong protests of the population of Gazakh region they were able to get the consent of the leadership of the republic for the transfer of 5.000 hectares of land to the Armenia SSR.
From the mid-1980s, anti-Azerbaijani, anti-Turkish propaganda and terrorist mobilization began to intensify in the former USSR and, first of all, in the Armenia SSR. In 1985, Armenian separatism was openly promoted in the Nagorno-Karabakh Region of the Azerbaijan SSR. It should be noted that this process became more widespread after the election of M.S.Gor­bachev as head of the USSR. In early 1985, K.Demir­chiyan, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, addressed the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with a proposal to mark every year April 24 as the anniversary of the so-called “Armenian genocide” in the USSR. Although Gorbachev, who chaired the meeting of the Politburo, agreed to this, he faced strong opposition from H.A.Aliyev, N.A.Tikhonov and A.A.Gro­miko. Approving K.Demirchiyan’s proposal, M.S.Gor­bachev did not dare to confront H.A.Aliyev seeing his sharp protest, but he did not forget his position [29, 97]. Therefore, after Gorbachev removed Heydar Aliyev from the high post of the USSR on October 20, 1987, the Armenians’ hopes for the realization of their vicious and criminal intentions increased. In November 1987, Moscow did not hesitate to express its positive attitude to the Karabakh movement to the whole world in Paris, albeit unofficially, in the words of academician Abel Agen­bekyan, Gorbachev’s adviser on economics. In an interview published on November 18, 1987 issue of the “L’humanité” news­paper, A.Aganbekyan stated that it was expedient to transfer the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenia SSR and made a proposal to the head of the state [11, 257]. The local organization of the “Karabakh Committee”, which had long been secretly operating in the Azerbaijan SSR, especially in the Nagorno-Karabakh Region, began to operate openly under the name “Krunk”. On March 2, 1988, the “The Struggle Committee for the Reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia” – the “Committee of 55s” uniting the heads of large enterprises – was established. After the Armenians committed an anti-Azerbaijani provocation in Sumgait city of Azerbaijan, on February 26-27, 1988, with the consent of the USSR state special services, under this pretext, 250.000 Azerbaijanis were deported from the territory of the Armenia SSR, from their historical ethnic lands – 185 villages and other settlements, including the city of Iravan, 31.000 houses, private farms, 165 collective farms were looted, 214 people were killed and 1.154 people were injured, hundreds were tortured and the honor of brides was insulted. More than 15.000 Kurds and several thousand Russians were expelled from the Armenia SSR [11, 258]. In 1988-1989, as a result of the escalation of the military-ideological aggression of Armenia, the Azerbaijani population, subjected to deportation, ethnic cleansing and genocide, took refuge in the Azerbaijan SSR, which in turn led to aggravation of socio-political stability in the republic. Armenia’s military aggression, which was expanding as a result of the hostile policy of the central government against the Azerbaijani people, raised it to the struggle for national liberation. On January 20, 1990, violating the Constitutions of the USSR and the Azerbaijan SSR and the sovereign rights of the republic the USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the deployment of troops in Baku to punish the Azerbaijani people who were protesting against the territorial claims of the Armenians, and a bloody genocide was committed against the Azerbaijani people. Heydar Aliyev was a prominent statesman who first raised his protest against this crime of the USSR. He came to the Permanent Representation of the Azerbaijan SSR in Moscow on January 21, 1990 and accused Gorbachev of the genocide committed by the USSR against the Azerbaijani people, and his protest caused a great stir around the world. In protest of the crime committed by the USSR against the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev left the ranks of the Soviet Communist Party in July 1990 and returned to his homeland, Azerbaijan. The republic’s leadership resorted to all kinds of provocations to prevent Heydar Aliyev from staying in Baku, the political center of the country, and he was threatened with an act of terror. Sensing a real threat to life, Heydar Aliyev was forced to go to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. It made it impossible for the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was under heavy blockade in 1990-1993, to survive and protect its borders. Heydar Aliyev made a very harsh report on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at a session of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan in February 1991, saying that at that time the Azerbaijan state did not have a specific program of measures to resolve the problem. However, the measures put forward by him were not taken by the leadership of the republic, and in a very short time the Azerbaijani people were dealt a heavy blow by the enemy. In mid-February 1992, Armenian bandits once again attacked the village of Garadagli in the Khojavend region. After four days of unequal fighting, Armenian bandits captured the village of Garadagli, brutally killed 92 of its defenders and 54 residents, and threw them into silo. The rest of the population was taken prisoner. The aggressive “state” of Armenia has further expanded its bloody terrorist acts against the Republic of Azerbaijan. On January 8, 1992, 25 people were killed in a similar terrorist attack on the Krasnovodsk-Baku passenger ferry. 88 people were seriously injured. On February 28 of the same year, 11 people were killed and 18 were injured in an explosion on the Kislovodsk-Baku passenger train near Gudermes station. It should be noted that the Armenians carried out 206 terrorist acts in the railway transport system of the Republic of Azerbaijan from July 14, 1989 to May 7, 1994 [11, 359]. Armenian bandits together with the 366th mechanized infantry regiment in Khankendi belonging to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation committed the Khojaly genocide, leaving behind the tragedies of the 20th century Khatin and Songimi. On February 25, 1992, at 9 p.m., Armenian military units, the 366th Regiment (two of the three battalions in full and one in part), as well as foreign mercenaries attacked Khojaly. As a result of military aggression, 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people. More than 1.000 civilians, including 76 children were injured by various bullet wounds. 1275 people were captured, 8 families were completely destroyed, 25 children lost both parents, 130 children lost one of their parents, 56 people were burned alive with special cruelty, their heads were skinned, their eyes were gouged out, their heads were cut off, and pregnant women were stabbed in the abdomen. Seeing all these horrors, Colonel V.R.Savelyev, Chief of Special Unit 02270 of the 366th Regiment, admitted in a letter (report – J.B.) to the General Intelligence Agency of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence, the UN and the Council of Europe that genocide had been committed against the Azerbaijani people: “I couldn’t help an eight- or nine-year-old girl who was shot ten steps away from me. I fear the day when God will punish me. Cursed days alternated” [30, 478]. Azerbaijani journalists Seyidagha Movsumlu and Chingiz Mustafayev, who first videotaped the events, said in a video that the majority of the killed were children between the ages of 2 and 15”. Jean-Yves Ginette, a French journalist who witnessed the tragedy, wrote: “I have heard a lot about the wars and the cruelty of the German Nazis, but the Armenians left them behind by killing 5-6 year old children and civilians” [11, 359].
On March 10, 1992, the Minister of Internal Affairs sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation B.Yeltsin, stating that he wanted to meet in connection with the Khojaly incident and attached a videocassette on the Khojaly tragedy to the letter. General Yerin wrote to B.Yeltsin: “Children, women and the elderly were shot in Khojaly. The heads of the killed were skinned off”. The video recorded the criminal actions of the 366th regiment of the Russian Armed Forces. These words are taken from the 96th page of N.Gavrilov’s magazine “Военные ведомости (Military bulletin)” published in St. Petersburg in 1998. After watching the videotape, Yeltsin signed a special order (No. 0219/21-OD-1992.III.12 – J.B.), which banned the display of these videos in Russia [30, 479]. Relying on the military circles of the Russian Federation, Armenian bandits occupied the ethnic regions of Kelbajar, Aghdam, Fizuli, Jabrayil, Gubadly and Zangilan in 1993 and carried out ethnic cleansing, as a result of which more than 1mln.10.000 citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan became refugees in their country. As a result of the military aggression, 100.000 people were injured, 50.000 became disabled, 20.000 people were killed, 4.853 people were missing, 439 of them were killed in captivity, and 783 people are still in captivity. On the whole, according to the State Commission on Captives, Missing and Hostages from January 1, 2011, the number of captives, missing persons and hostages were 4.049. 3.273 of them are servicemen and 771 are civilians, and 5 of them is unknown whether are military or civilian. Of the missing civilians, 47 were under mature age (17 underage girls – J.B.), 247 were women, and 347 were elderly, of whom 149 were women. So far 1.309 people have been released from captivity and hostage. 343 of them are women and 1056 are men. It should be noted that 170 of the released were children (65 underage girls – J.B.), 112 out of 289 adults were women. In addition, during the analysis of the materials received by the State Commission, it was determined that 563 people were killed in captivity or died of various causes. 104 of them are women and 448 are men. While only the names of 137 of these individuals are known, the names of 74 of them are unknown (12, 61). After the occupation of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Republic of Azerbaijan by the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia in 1991-1992, a new phase of military aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan began in April 1993 with the occupation of the Kelbajar region. From July 24 to October 28, 1993, with the military-political assistance of the Russian Federation, the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia occupied the Aghdam, Fizuli, Jabrayil, Gubadly and Zangilan regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a result of military aggression by the Republic of Armenia, 71.000 citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan became displaced from Lachin, 74.000 from Kelbajar, 165.600 from Aghdam, 146.000 from Fizuli, 60.000 from Jabrail, 87.900 from Gubadly and 39.500 from Zangilan [12, 62]. Thus, it turned into the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Despite all the efforts of the Minsk Group, established in 1992, UN Security Council Resolutions No. 822 of 30 April 1993, No. 853 of 29 July, No. 874 of 14 October and No. 884 of 12 November 1992 on the occupation of the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan remained unfulfilled. However, after a 28-year break, on September 27, 2020, the people of Azerbaijan started the Patriotic War and, guided by these resolutions, liberated their territories from Armenian occupation and restored their territorial integrity. It should be noted that since 1992, this protection has become an international conflict, and on March 24 of that year, the Minsk Group was established to resolve the conflict, which includes nine states. The military-political crisis that took place in the Republic of Azerbaijan on June 4, 1993 aggravated the situation in the country and, first of all, in the frontline. On June 15, 1993, Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a new stage in the socio-political and socio-economic life of the Azerbaijani people began. However, from July to November 1993, the military aggression of Armenia expanded and as a result, seven regions were occupied. Heydar Aliyev took decisive steps to restore socio-political stability in the country and prevent Armenia’s military aggression. As a result of the steps taken to build a new army, the enemy suffered heavy and crushing blows, a number of occupied settlements were liberated, and on May 12, 1994, he was forced to sign a ceasefire. As a result of the occupation carried out by Armenia in 1988-1994, 946 settlements, 6.000 industrial, agricultural and other enterprises, 150.000 of housing with a total area 9 mln. square/meters, 4366 socio-cultural institutions, 690 secondary schools, including 850 preschool institutions, 665 medical centers, 927 libraries, 22 museums, 4 art galleries, 6 state theaters, 44 temples, 9 mosques were destroyed. The amount of material damage caused by the military aggression against the Azerbaijani people is more than $ 60 billion (1994 estimates – J.B.). At present, the amount of damage in 2011 prices is $300 billion [11, 357]. In addition, a large amount of direct material damage was inflicted on the border areas with the Republic of Armenia. This figure is $ 1.389.233.500 in 1994 year’s prices. Thus, according to the executive authorities of the districts located in these regions, the direct material damage caused by the occupation was as follows in US dollars for the regions: For Tartar and former Aghdere districts – $ 799.295.100, Gazakh district – $ 327.529.464, Tovuz district – $ 189873420, Agjabadi district – $ 22.420.050, Aghstafa district – $ 1.998.950, Beylagan district – $ 3.812.500, Gedabey district – $ 44.303.800. Thus, the more than 60 billion in material damage inflicted on the Republic of Azerbaijan as a result of the military aggression and occupation of the “state” of Armenia, $ 28066 billion was inflicted on 7 regions adjacent to the former Nagorno-Karabakh and currently under occupation, and $ 1.389.233.284 on the frontline and border with Armenia [12, 85]. It should be noted that the material damage inflicted on Nakhchivan AR is not included here. All available indisputable facts confirm that as a result of the policy of deportation, ethnic cleansing and genocide pursued by Armenians against the Azerbaijani people in the 20th century alone, Northern Azerbaijan lost 29.8 thousand square /km in 1918-1929, 20% of its territory in 1991-1993. Taking all this into account, the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted a resolution on the Khojaly genocide committed by the Armenian aggressors on the night of February 25-26, 1992, and February 26 was declared the “Day of Khojaly Genocide”. Based on this decision, by the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev dated February 25, 1997, a minute of silence was declared on February 26 at 17.00 in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a sign of respect for the memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide. On March 26, 1998, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev signed a decree “On the genocide of Azerbaijanis” and in accordance with this decree, the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted a statement declaring March 31, 1998 the “Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis”. In 2009, on the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Head of the Foundation’s Representation in the Russian Federation, the International Propaganda and Information Company “Justice for Khojaly” was established. On February 13, 2014, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order on measures for holding the campaign “Justice for Khojaly” in connection with the International Propaganda and Information Company “Justice for Khojaly” established on the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva. As a result of successful propaganda work in the international arena over the past six years, the parliaments of many countries have recognized the crime against the civilian population in Khojaly as a crime against the Azerbaijani people. In early April 2016, the Azerbaijani Army responded to the provocations committed by the occupying Armenians by launching a counterattack and liberating a large part of the occupied territories. This was the first large-scale military step towards the liberation of the occupied territories. On July 12 and September 27, 2020, in response to the war crimes committed by Armenian fascism, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev decided to free the country from Armenian Nazis and ensure the country’s territorial integrity. As a result of military operations launched on September 27, the Azerbaijani Army delivered crushing blows to the enemy and liberated most of the country’s Fizuli, Jabrail, Zangilan, Khojavand, Tartar and Kelbajar regions and the city of Shusha. Destroyed by the Azerbaijani Army, the Armenian Army was forced to sign an act of surrender on November 10, 2020. By the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated December 4, 2020, September 27 was declared the “Day Remembrance“ and November 8 was declared the “Victory Day”. On December 10, 2020, the “Victory” parade was held on Azadlig (Freedom) Square in Baku. Based on all historical, legal and factual documents, the conclusion is as follows: As a result of deportation, ethnic cleansing, genocide and aggressive policy of Armenian fascism against the Azerbaijani people norms reflected in numerous international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 260 (III) A (179 Plenary Session, December 9, 1948) and entered into force in 1991, World Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on Children the Rights, including the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), Paris Convention on the Illicit Traffic in Cultural Property (1970) UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, (1972) and all provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Archaeological Heritage (1992) have been violated.

 
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