tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post197009609598028488..comments2024-03-19T21:41:42.835+01:00Comments on Poemas del río Wang: Autumn in BakuStudiolumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06377777909296284368noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-9741123064015497032010-09-15T18:24:27.137+02:002010-09-15T18:24:27.137+02:00Finally, profimedia has changed the captions of ra...Finally, profimedia has changed the captions of rally photos on my request of 7 September with a reference to this article. Thank you again, Studiolum!Arazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14791220527752500079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-17880084074818734452010-08-21T03:18:16.475+02:002010-08-21T03:18:16.475+02:00I feel like I need to make few remarks about what ...I feel like I need to make few remarks about what <b>languagehat</b> said:<br /><br />First about books and history - we, especially those from the former soviet/USSR countries, perfectly know how tricky history books can be - almost everything we were taught for 70 years turned out to be just propagandist lies. <br /><br />Can't agree more with almost everything written above - yes, there are no bad nations or good nations, but I think that there are always bad guys and good guys.<br /><br />Please search your shelf for books by Zori Balayan, for example "Очаг" (Hearth) published in 1981 and 1984 in Yerevan and Moscow. Dedicated to "the 150 years of joining of Eastern Armenia to Russia" with a modest description "Essays about Armenia. For senior secondary school children age" this book as early as then creates an image of enemy - Turk-Azeri, speaks about "native Armenian lands", about "reunion", "revival" of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Proposed_Armenian_state_in_Asia_Minor.png" rel="nofollow">"Great Armenia"</a>. The author, who became one of the leaders/orators of the Armenian popular movement back then (and receiving various awards till now), does not mention what should happen to many hundreds of thousands of Azeris (and others) living on these lands, but the first thousands of refugees from Armenia, driven out of their houses in the cold winter of 1987, and the rest of more than a million Azeri refugees could tell you... those who were killed will not. <br /><br />You will not find any similar writing by any Azeri intellectual of that time. <br /><br />My writing may not be complete/unbiased also because I tried hard to keep it short and focused. I don't know how much unbiased back then were Grigoryants - editor-in-chief of the "Glastnost" magazine a <i>reliable</i> source of Western media on issues in the USSR, Sitaryan - chief adviser on finance and planning, Shakhnazarov - chief adviser on foreign policy, Aganbegyan - chief adviser on economic policy (all Armenians) of the Secretary General Gorbachov (the supreme leader of the USSR), but the statement of the latter supporting annexation of Karabakh from Azerbaijan to Armenia at a reception organized by the powerful Armenian diaspora in France back in November 1987 was a signal for active separatist activities in the region.<br /><br />Of course Armenian pogroms killing 50/90 in Baku in January 1990 and 31 in Sumgayit earlier in February 1989 are black marks in the history of Azerbaijan. But shouldn't the fact that soviet leadership having all the means to prevent them did not do anything for that give some <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2970324.ece" rel="nofollow">food for thought</a>? Shouldn't the fact that just before them in January 1990, while there virtually were not any Azeri left in Armenia, there were still hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Baku ring a bell? So "it is important to call each thing in each case by their names". The Square Movement never had a nationalistic anti-Armenian slant, but unfortunately there were outbreaks of anti-Armenian sentiments outside of it.<br /><br />So, of course, Azeris were not <i>simply</i> involved in a noble struggle for independence. They were drawn into a struggle for survival, naively expecting help from the soviet regime. Very soon people understood that it is time to decide their own fate. The Square was the place where we heard the forbidden history of struggle, the ideas of freedom brought to us through sufferings in undergrounds of KGB and camps of Siberia by different generations of intellectuals. Simple discontent had grown into a movement. <br /><br />Of course there were many disillusions later, but these images represent the slightly idealistic period of great hopes and devoted unity in the national liberation movement in Azerbaijan.Arazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14791220527752500079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-13999873252995022712010-08-21T00:06:58.425+02:002010-08-21T00:06:58.425+02:00Oh, I don't feel you're biased at all, and...Oh, I don't feel you're biased at all, and I'm sorry you took it that way. I was talking about the commentary provided by Araz, which seemed to me to give only one side of the picture, so I thought I'd present the other. Your link to the previous post does an even better job, so thanks for that!languagehathttp://languagehat.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-88883215113887411062010-08-20T17:06:26.158+02:002010-08-20T17:06:26.158+02:00Language, I think nobody wanted to present the sit...Language, I think nobody wanted to present the situation so one-sided as you consider it, the least I who <a href="http://riowang.blogspot.com/2009/07/armenian-cemetery-of-julfa.html" rel="nofollow">abundantly wrote</a> on the other side of the coin as well, and I am sorry if the post was suitable to be misunderstood like this. I have no pro-Azeri bias, just like I have no pro-Armenian bias as I was reproached when writing about the crimes committed against them. My studies, travels and personal encounters taught me to deeply appreciate both people, and I feel sorry for the tragical situation and hatred in which they find themselves entangled against each other.<br /><br />Exactly because the situation in the Caucasus is so complex, because there are no perfectly good guys and perfectly bad guys, that’s why it is important to call each thing in each case by their names. Calling an obviously anti-Communist demonstration an “anti-Armenian meeting” as the image banks sell their pictures <i>is</i> a gross distortion of history that must be corrected. This was the only purpose of this post, and not any general whitewashing of one side from the crimes in fact committed. I am sorry if the post could be interpreted like that.Studiolumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377777909296284368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-87901343877230217042010-08-20T16:02:11.292+02:002010-08-20T16:02:11.292+02:00I hate to wade into these contentious issues, but ...I hate to wade into these contentious issues, but I feel this presentation of events is so one-sided it represents a distortion of history. From this post, it would seem that the "anti-Armenian" label is pure slander and that the Azerbaijanis were doing nothing more than striving for independence. In fact, in the words of the article on Azerbaijan in <i>The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States</i> (Longman, 2nd ed. 1996):<br /><br />"From 13 to 15 January 1990, roving bands started to raid Armenian homes and commit atrocities. Inexplicably, large numbers of former prisoners had been released just before, and, at the same time, the forces of law and order abstained entirely from taking any action during the three days of violence. Alleged perpetrators of violence who were brought to the police stations and army stations were immediately released."<br /><br />(This is just the first book I pulled off the shelf; I have quite a few books on the period and could provide similar citations from any of them. This is not anti-Azeri disinformation, it's history.)<br /><br />As a result of this and similar acts of violence, the entire Armenian population of Baku, and most of Azerbaijan, was forced to flee. Of course, the Azeris were also forced to flee from Armenia; the situation is as tragic as the forcible "exchange of populations" between Turkey and Greece 70 years earlier. There are no good guys and bad guys here, and the situation should not be presented as if the Azeris were simply involved in a noble struggle for independence.languagehathttp://languagehat.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-12136482507165580822010-08-20T02:57:21.696+02:002010-08-20T02:57:21.696+02:00Thank you, Studiolum!Thank you, Studiolum!Arazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14791220527752500079noreply@blogger.com