This past Monday, I was running a conversation club for my colleagues at the office. I had a topic in mind, but the team was adamant in requesting that we talk about the Khojaly Massacre, which took place today 22 years ago.
I had already been aware that the tragic events in Khojaly are very much on the national mind. For example, when I visited an art gallery in Salyan a few weeks ago many of the local artworks featured Khojaly. Today, a day of mourning for the victims, I went to lunch with a local friend; she complained to one of the waiters about the fact that they were playing happy music on a day like this and he shut it down. Clearly, there is a national trauma here that needs to be confronted and dealt with.
The conversation we had was very interesting, and I was amazed at how open everyone was in talking about their feelings and personal experiences regarding Khojaly and the Nagorno-Karabakh War in general. They shared not only their perspective on the events, but also the experience of transitioning from Soviet occupation to independence, and the impact the war had on their own lives; one person even spoke of their experience as an IDP (internally displaced person).
At the end of the conversation I was informed that I was commissioned to speak at the commemoration ceremony, which would take place the following day.
Initially, I was stomped. I really did not know how to approach this presentation seeing as all I could really say about Khojaly is that what happened there is horrifying and an example of some of the worst aspects of humanity. But then I thought about it some more, and had a realization- I, or rather we, the international community, can help heal this wound. And so I decided to focus my speech on breaking down the demand “justice for Khojaly”, which everyone made.
So, what did I tell the international students I spoke to in this events?
What happened in Khojaly was an offense against the entire Azeri nation, since the civilians who were murdered there were targeted for no other reason than their ethnic background. Therefore, justice in this case really means recognition. This recognition has two aspects. The first is internal; as Holocaust survivor, author, and activist Elie Wiesel said: “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” Therefore, giving people the space to talk about what happened, relay the story of what happened to their nation, is extremely important to the healing process. The second aspect is external, to have others accept that something awful happened here.
That is where we, said international community, have a role to play. As part of my talk, I pledged to inform people back home about what happened in Khojaly.
The history of how the massacre came to pass is actually very complicated. Of course it originated from the conflict over Karabakh (which I wrote about in a separate post) that had evolved into a full-fledged war after the fall of the USSR. In 1992, as the war raged, Khoajly was one of the towns where the majority were ethnic Azeris. In February 1992 Armenian forces, with the support of Russian troops, stormed the town. The exact reasons for this are contested by the belligerents, with the Armenian side claiming they were trying to stop the bombardment of their stronghold in the region and the Azeris arguing that the attack was staged to cleanse the region of Azeris. To be perfectly honest, I have not been able to find any primary sources to definitively prove either claim, though one statement by General Sargsyan who headed the Armenian forces at the time, indicates that there was malintent: “Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that [stereotype]. And that’s what happened.” (the quote is taken from Thomas de Waal’s book, Black Garden).
Even if one accepts the claim that the Armenian operation was strictly defensive, this does still not absolve the military from making the maximum effort not to harm unarmed civilians. This was not at all the case here. The Armenian forces shot indiscriminately at the town’s population, including at people who were fleeing. According to renowned human rights organization, Human Rights Watch: “A large column of residents, accompanied by a few dozen retreating fighters, fled the city as it fell to Armenian forces. As they approached the border with Azerbaijan, they came across an Armenian military post and were cruelly fired upon.”
Furthermore, photographic evidence and testimonies by survivors indicate that the Armenian soldiers ruthlessly tortured the townspeople and mutilated some of the bodies.
Official statistics put the number of victims at 613, including men, women, and children.
Regardless of what anyone may opine about the war, what happened in Khojaly was an atrocity that must be condemned in the strongest terms.
It is my sincere hope that readers will not take this as cause to hate Armenia; more animosity is not what this troubled region needs. Instead, those reading this should simply be aware of the fact that 22 years ago something truly heinous happened in Khojaly and remember that this is the price of hatred and lack of compassion. Tragedies such as these happen as we fail to put a human face on the “other”, the “enemy”- this is why we need to build bridges and learn to understand one another, it is the only way to build lasting, sustainable peace.
South of Russia, North of Iran 