DOCUMENTS The
demands of Upper Karabakh
THE FOLLOWING TEXT is that of a petition by Armenian activists addressed to Gorbachov in October 1987 before the big mass mobilization in Upper Karabakh and Yerevan. It was signed by 75,000 people.
Armenia's geographical position has made it for centuries a bastion and a crucially important strategic centre for Russia, For centuries, Armenia also shed its blood, particularly during the Russo-Turkish wars. It gradually lost the space necessary for its national existence. Turkey, in occupying Armenian territory, and faithful to its barbaric policy of the fait accompli, organized the genocide of the Armenian people in 1915-16, which took on monstrous proportions. In creating the Soviet state, V.I. Lenin took into consideration the political situation in which the Armenians found themselves. He demanded that the Russian government use all means possible to put pressure on Turkey to resolve the Armenian question. He demanded that western Armenia be joined to Russian Armenia and that the Armenia thus created have access to the sea, which was necessary for the existence of its people. Unfortunately, the illness and then the death of the leader of the revolution prevented the application and implementation of his instructions and demands. What is more, under the pressure of imperialist Turkey, Nakhiche-
114 International Marxist Review van and Karabakh, historically Armenian, were annexed to Azerbaijan as autonomous regions, and all this took place despite the fact that, on December 7, 1920, the commissars of the (Azeri) revolutionary committee on foreign affairs had published a government statement saying: From this date, Upper Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhichevan will be part of Soviet Armenia. Because of Turkish pressure this remained a dead letter. Already at that time, Turkey was developing its illusory plans of Islamicization of Russian territories and had already begun to carry out its project of Turkification of Armenian territories. And these two regions were thus forced to enter into the Azeri structure. Today there are no longer any Armenians in Armenian Nakhichevan and the Armenian monuments which exist there are destroyed in the most barbaric fashion. Every year, the population of Upper Karabakh declines because of the impossible living conditions created there by those who are the real masters of the country. And the number of Azeris, that is to say Turks, is increasing in Karabakh and even in Stepanakert. In Chuchi, the former Karabakh capital, the Turks have become 95% of the total population. And the present agents of Turkish pan-Islamicism state openly: That which was taken away from us without firing a shot by the Empress Catherine, the Communists are giving back to us with additional territories. They do not limit themselves to throw the Russian and Armenian inhabitants out of Nakhichevan and Karabakh, they have also created a belt of Islamic villages, which consider themselves as Turkish, along the Soviet border. When Turkey carried through the incorporation of Nakhichevan into the Azerbaijan Republic, it also bought a strip of territory from Iran, in order to to have a common border with Nakhichevan. Please make an effort to look at the map and you will see this strip of land. By neglecting the Leninist principles of nationality policy, by separating Armenia from its historical territories and incorporating them into Azerbaijan, everything is happening as if some one is the past had acted in the interests of the enemy of the Soviet Union, Turkey, guardian of imperialism, backwardness, and aggressiveness to the south of our country. There are now, on each side of Soviet Armenia, the Armenian autonomous regions which are the only one — and this is done on purpose — not called by their national identity (as is done for the Tatars or the Abkhaz) but by their geographic names. Is this not a violation of the nationalities policy of our country?. Many times the inhabitants of Nakhichevan and of Upper Karabakh have asked Moscow to resolve the question of the incorporation of Nakhichevan and Upper Karabakh into Armenia, on the basis of Leninist principles. Many times letter signed by the entire populations of these Armenian regions have
Demands of Upper Karabakh 115 been sent to the leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Ten years ago, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union published letter sent to Moscow by the workers. One of them said, quite correctly:
Because of historical events some decades ago, Upper Karabakh was artificially annexed to
Azerbaijan and, in this operation, the historical past and the national identity of the inhabitants, their economic interests and the wishes of the people were not taken into consideration. Decades have passed and the Karabakh question still remains on the agenda and it is worrying because it is becoming an obstacle to friendship between two neighbouring peoples. Artsakh (the Armenian name of Karabakh) must be reunited with Soviet Armenia so that all is done as it should be. (Note No 61 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the
Soviet Union, November 23, 1977.) Dear Mikhael Sergeivich, in the name of the victory of historical justice, in the name of respect for Leninist traditions, we send you an ardent appeal that Upper Karabakh and Nakhichevan be attached to socialist Armenia.
MIKHAIL SOLOKOV