Armenophobia in Azerbaijan

It is of note that the same testimony is confirmed in the series published on the Day.az website under the heading Historical Prism: 1918: how the mass killing in Guba was carried out”. The article says that a member of the Ganja District Court, Andrey Novatski, who came to Guba to investigate the events of April-May 1918, addressed an inquiry to the head of the municipality Ali Abbas Alibekov to clarify the situation in Guba in the period concerned. In his response dated December 12, Alibekov wrote that Guba had a population of about 20 thousand, of which some 500 were Armenians whose residences were scattered in different parts of the town.

“According to the evidence collected by A. Novatski commission, in April 1918, as the power in Baku was in the hands of Bolsheviks, David Gelovani, representative of the Bolshevik party, arrived in Guba with an international detachment of 187 armed soldiers and set about forming a Bolshevik administration in the town. However, the first attempt was not successful. Nine days after, armed Lezgins from the neighboring settlements managed to chase away the first team of Bolsheviks from the town after three days of fierce fighting. Both sides sustained casualties: 200 Lezgins and another 70 non-combatants were killed,” says the publication.

It is probable that the 200 people killed in the clashes between the population of Guba and the international detachments of Bolsheviks were buried in the accidentally discovered ditch pits. These can be just as well Armenians who were killed in the clashes. However, nothing can be unequivocally asserted without an international scientific expert appraisal.

Thus, the Azerbaijani side, without any scientific expert appraisal, designates the ethnicity and the religious affiliation of the persons whose remains were found as well as pinpoints precise dates of the killings. Why to this day, the local population was not aware of a mass grave of their relatives whose burial site was on a trash dump? What was the method, unknown to the modern science, employed by the Azerbaijani specialists to determine that the discovered skulls belonged to Azerbaijanis, Lezgins, Mountain Jews or Tats? Was there any concomitant evidence discovered that could provide an exhaustive answer to questions of chronology and ethnicity of the persons whose remains were found?

And finally, what is the historical document that reliably reports a burial site of “Azerbaijanis brutally murdered by Armenians” in Guba? All these questions from the Armenian side remained unanswered.

“The genocide of Khojaly”

According to the Azerbaijani version, it is a “genocide perpetrated by Armenian Armed Forces with participation of the 366th Motor Rifle Regiment on the night of February 25–26, 1992 against ethnic Azerbaijanis during the seizure of the town of Khojaly”. However, the reality is that on February 26th 1992, during the hostilities at the approaches to the Azerbaijani-controlled city of Aghdam, under obscure circumstances, between 200 and 300 persons were killed, according to the international advocacy organization Human Right Watch (600 persons, according to the version of the Azerbaijani propaganda), who were deliberately held in the thick of the fighting by the Azerbaijani authorities. Notwitshtanding insistent warnings from the Armenian side, the population of Khojaly, being one of the five weapon emplacements bombarding the blockaded Stepanakert, was forcibly held there and willfully not evacuated for months by the Azerbaijani authorities to be subsequently used as a human shield.

The residents of Khojaly who left the settlement through the humanitarian corridor opened by the Self-Defense Forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic enjoyed unhindered passage of over 10 kilometers and reached the Azerbaijani-controlled city of Agdam. Later, in the immediate vicinity of the Azerbaijani lines, bodies of the dead residents of the settlement were found. The exact number of the killed remains unknown as the official Baku keeps publishing self-contradictory figures. The Parliamentary Commission of Azerbaijan assigned to investigate the tragic demise of the civilians near Aghdam was disbanded on Heydar Aliyev’s orders, and all evidence was classified.

More details about the Aghdam events can be found on www.Xосаli.net or by watching the documentary Between Hunger and Fire: Power at the expense of lives.

However, the Azerbaijani side would not stop there. After counting some 20 Azerbaijani genocides at the hands of Armenians in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the Azerbaijani propaganda decided to expand the geography of their “genocides”.

In autumn 2012, during the construction of a school in the Iranian city of Urmia an unidentified burial site was discovered.

“The mass grave discovered during the excavations in the city of Urmia in Iranian province of Western Azerbaijan

may not be destroyed. It must be preserved and protected as a proof of genocide against Azerbaijanis,” stated Professor Govhar Bakhshaliyeva, Member of the Parliament and director of the Institute of Oriental Studies after Z. Bunyadov of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. According to her, “Iran’s wish to wipe out the grave is an indication of a policy and unjust position in respect of the Azerbaijani people from some chauvinists and paniranists to a single end of aiding Armenians”.

Bakhshaliyeva asserted that “on the territory of today’s province of Western Azerbaijan, presently a part of Iran, Armenian and Assyrian armed bands perpetrated a monstrous genocide against Azerbaijanis in 1918”. Bakhshaliyeva even announced that an international conference on “the Azerbaijani genocide in Iran” would be held in the following year in Baku.

Her colleague, Musa Guliyev, the deputy chairman of the Social Policy Committee of the Azerbaijani parliament, went even further and declared that “it is possible that together with Azerbaijanis, Persians, Kurds and representatives of other nations perished because actually they were killed because of their devotion to Islam”.

The position of the official Baku on the subject was voiced by Ali Ahmedov, the executive secretary of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan: “I condemn the destruction of the burial site in Iran which testified to genocide against Azerbaijanis,” stated Ahmedov.

The reaction from the Iranian side came quick and harsh. “By distorting the history and exploiting ethnic problems, Azerbaijan seeks its own benefit,” stated the Organization for Cultural Heritage of the Iranian province of Western Atrpatakan (Western Azerbaijan). The Organization also noted that groundless claims made by Musa Guliyev, the deputy chairman of the social policy committee of the Azerbaijani parliament were false as research had revealed that the burial site discovered during the renovation works of the historical school in Urmia relates to the events of the World War I when the Ottoman Empire, Russia and England launched an assault to seize north-western regions of Iran leading to a massacre of about 9 million Iranians”.

This story was rounded off by Mohsen Pak Ayeen, the Iranian ambassador in Azerbaijan, who stated in his interview to SalamNews agency that a law was passed in Iran prescribing that construction works could be authorized at the burial sites dating over 100 years. He confirmed the information that human remains had been found during the construction of a school in Urmia. “Some believe that these are remains of Muslims killed by Armenians. However, there is no evidence to this effect,” stated the Iranian ambassador.

16. Women’s role in shaping armenophobia

Due to social and cultural peculiarities, women as mothers, educators and teachers play the main role in the process of educating generations.

In the Azerbaijani society, women have historically been the repositories of traditions who continue to cultivate values in daily and family life (but then, such picture is characteristic of all Oriental countries). The educational level, spiritual and moral potential of women as well as their educational effort determine in many respects what the future community members will look like. The shaping of the person in line with the moral code, culture, world view and code of conduct is influenced in the first place by women.

The role of the mother holds a special place in this context. The relationships between the mother and her child have a fundamental significance for human interaction. Understanding the notions of security, freedom and self-appraisal depends on how the relationship between the mother or the person acting in her lieu evolved or will evolve with their children. It is the female and maternal figure that lays the groundwork for the first attitudes, value benchmarks, preservation of traditions and their development.

In the modern world, with a wider range of duties the role of a woman extended beyond the family to cover virtually all aspects of the child’s life. As a matter of fact, children, irrespective of their sex, obtain the lion’s share of information, attitudes, stereotypes, prejudices and images through women: mothers, kindergarteners and teachers. The information is communicated to children through books read out to them, fairy tales narrated to them and songs sung to them.

In this context, the role of the woman in the society and in intersocial links can be defined as the forefront that allows envisaging the future prospects of this society as well as ideological and moral makeup of its future generations.

Akif Melikov, director of Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Meritorious Worker of Arts: I admire the beauty and wisdom of Azerbaijani women. The Azerbaijani women are simultaneously caring mothers, devoted wives, obedient daughters as well as loved and loving sisters. The outer beauty of the Azerbaijani women is in full harmony with their internal beauty.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict made its adjustments in the world view and the set of values of the Azerbaijani society. The fervent zealotry and yearning to partake “in the struggle against Armenians” soared among women. More importantly, these feelings are directed against an ethnic group rather than citizens of Armenia or those who are personally responsible for purported or real human suffering.

I’d rather go to war than wait for another 20 years,” said Shafag Ismailova (34), a sniper courses trainee and refugee. “War is bad for all. But sometimes the situation demands it”.

Inasmuch as the female role was historically confined to home and family, with women shielded from having to resolve vital issues and rarely facing the cruelty of the outside world, it is generally assumed that the woman is the embodiment of the mercy and compassion. However, at the turn of the 20th century, the stereotypes prevalent in Azerbaijan remain the same, while the philosophy of the modern Azerbaijani woman has changed.

However, at the turn of the 20th century, the stereotypes prevalent in Azerbaijan remain the same, while the philosophy of the modern Azerbaijani woman has changed.

Mahira Abdulanin: Let’s march on Karabakh…
I must cut out the eyes of the enemy,
Pull out his tongue and flay him alive.
In the ancestral lands of lions, jackals became
masters,
Let’s march on Karabakh…
Hoist this flag, hoist!
Release this owl form the pinnacle!
The enemy is leeching us and thirsts for our blood
Annihilate Armenians, annihilate!
Go and plant our tricolor flag!

Overall, the inculcation of xenophobia dispensed from the lips of women follows a classic scenario added to the armory of the official ideology, the only difference being that its female version is more emotional in character and stands at the outset of the nascent personality.

Eluja Atali Explanation for the little Fidan: All of a sudden, little Fidan asked:…-Then, why do we call them (Armenians) ‘mundar’ (dirty, vile)? Her age of 4 years prevented me from gathering my thoughts and giving an accurate answer. Considering her age, I picked my words carefully and said:

– Look, my little one, when a person has a vile and filthy heart, this propagates all over the body through the blood. And no matter how much they wash their hands and face, they cannot get clean. You can’t wash away just any dirt with water.

For the mother, “picking the words carefully” means a choice of terms and phrases understandable for a 4-year-old child rather than the semantic content of the answer to her question. It is important for the author that the girl learns a lifetime lesson that “Armenians are vile and filthy”.

Women exert impact on future generations through laying the groundwork for the child’s socialization and social adaptation.

Socialization is the process of learning the social roles, cultural adaptation and acquiring the skills of social interaction. This is the process of entering the society by an individual through acquired social experience, meeting social expectations, following norms and values which are in demand for a successful life in the given society.

It is in the process of socialization that personal traits, knowledge and skills formulate enabling the individual to partake in social relationships. Socialization occurs as the individual becomes spontaneously influenced by various life circumstances as well as through deliberate shaping of the individual makeup.

The spontaneous socialization covers companies of children and teenagers, the impact of various prejudiced opinions, old customs and traditions.

The depictions of children’s games by female Azerbaijani writers Umm-El-Banine and Shabnam Kheyrulla in the early 20th and in the early 21st centuries respectively provide illustrative examples of the spontaneous socialization.

Umm-El-Banine: On holidays, we played our favorite game – the Armenian massacre. Inflamed with racism, we lost our heads and sacrificed Tamara to our enmity and hatred inherited from our ancestors. First, we hurled at her unfounded accusations of killing Tatars and relished in several rounds of executing her by shooting. We feasted our eyes upon the sight of her blood and then resurrected her again to kill her by conventional means: we bound her hands and feet together, threw her on the ground, first cut her tongue and then severed her head; to show our hatred to her Armenian body, we carved out her heart and internal organs and threw them to the dogs. After our wild rampage subsided, and there was nothing left of the poor girl’s body, we started dancing around her body waiving our wooden swords as savages. If anyone passed by, we immediately helped Tamara to her feet and with our tongues dry from fear, grabbed her hand and whirled around the garden singing children’s songs. She never dreamed of making any complaints against us because we would have called her a snitch, a traitor and dirty Armenian; besides, she would lose our company. No matter how much we insulted, humiliated and permanently killed her, she couldn’t live without our friendship.

Shabnam Kheyrulla: One of these days, I witnessed how the kids from our neighborhood played tag in the street. I was so fascinated with the children’s game that I decided to watch. A girl of five or six, her brother one year younger and other children of about the same age were crying noisily and merrily to decide who was to run and who was to chase. After long bickering, they finally decided to assign roles using a counting-out rhyme. I was about to walk on, but this counting-out rhyme pronounced by the little girl drew my attention because of its unique and original character. It is actually the reason why I set about telling you this story:

Vay-vay, it’s cold,
Armenians are chickens,
Wherever you see an Armenian,
Put the bullet through his brain.

These words brought an involuntary smile to my lips. At the same time, it made me wonder: can it be really true that at this early age our children already understand who Armenians are, who the enemy is, and hate them? The thought was comforting, but I was still incredulous.

Spontaneous impact may include one-time, non-recurrent emotional publications in the press, single watching of a video, etc. They have a much weaker acceleration effect, but may exert dramatic impact, especially if they can shock the child.