Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War

349 Pages·2015·1.41 MB·English

BLACK GARDEN
THOMAS DE WAAL
BLACK GARDEN
Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War
a

New York University Press • New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
© 2003 by New York University

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

De Waal, Thomas.

Black garden : Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war /

Thomas de Waal.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8147-1944-9 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, 1988–1994. 2. Armenia (Republic)—

Relations—Azerbaijan. 3. Azerbaijan—Relations—Armenia (Republic)

I. Title.

DK699.N34 D4 2003

947.54085'4—dc21 2002153482

New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
War is kindled by the death of one man, or at most, a few;
but it leads to the death of tremendous numbers.
—Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power
Mercy on the old master building a bridge,

The passer-by may lay a stone to his foundation.

I have sacrificed my soul, worn out my life, for the nation.

A brother may arrange a rock upon my grave.

—Sayat-Nova
Contents
Author’s Note< ix
Two Maps, of the South Caucasus and of Nagorny Karabakh xii–xiii.
Introduction: Crossing the Line 1
1 February 1988: An Armenian Revolt 10
2 February 1988: Azerbaijan: Puzzlement and Pogroms 29
3 Shusha: The Neighbors’ Tale 45
4 1988–1989: An Armenian Crisis 55
5 Yerevan: Mysteries of the East 73
6 1988–1990: An Azerbaijani Tragedy 82
7 Baku: An Eventful History 96
8 1990–1991: A Soviet Civil War 108
9 Divisions: A Twentieth-Century Story 125
10 Hurekavank: The Unpredictable Past 145
11 August 1991–May 1992: War Breaks Out 159
12 Shusha: The Last Citadel 184
13 June 1992–September 1993: Escalation 194
14 Sabirabad: The Children’s Republic 217
15 September 1993–May 1994: Exhaustion 225
16 Stepanakert: A State Apart 241
17 1994–2001: No War, No Peace 251
Conclusion: Sadakhlo: The Future 269
vii
viii CONTENTS
Appendix 1: Statistics 284
Appendix 2: Chronology 287
Notes 299
Bibliography 321
Index 327
About the Author 337
All illustrations appear as a group following p. 114.
Author’s Note
The research done for this book is based on around 120 original inter-
views done in 2000–2001, supplemented by eyewitness reporting and
secondary sources. Personal testimony is of course subjective, so I have
tried to balance my reconstruction of events from as many sources as
possible. The problem is that the written record on the subject is also
frequently unreliable, partisan, and incomplete. It will take many years
for a full picture of what happened in Armenia and Azerbaijan after
1988 to be assembled. This is intended as a beginning in a field that has
very few accounts interested in both sides. Many Armenians and Azer/
baijanis will take an interest in what is written here, and I would make
a plea for them not to quote some of the information here selectively, to
suit their own political agendas. The book stands or falls as an entire
whole.
The use of names is problematic. Written Azeri has two alphabets,
Armenian has a Western and Eastern version, and most of the written
material I have drawn on is in Russian anyway. I have tried to be as con/
sistent as possible. One of the more disputed things about the disputed
province in the middle is what to call it. I have chosen not to use the
Russianized form, which has become prevalent in most of the outside
world, but to use the more grammatically correct Nagorny (rather than
Nagorno) Karabakh. Where a town has two names, one Armenian and
one Azerbaijani, I use the one that was in currency when the dispute
started in 1988. So I say Shusha, rather than Shushi, and Stepanakert,
rather than Khankendi. In an ideal world there would be an agreed lin/
guistic distinction between the ethnic group of Azerbaijanis and the cit/
izens of the state of Azerbaijan; because there is not an ideal world, I
have forgone using the word “Azeri” (apart from when referring to the
language) and stuck to the word “Azerbaijani” throughout.
Dozens of people helped me in the research and writing of this
book. Some of them knew they would not like all the things I say, which
makes me appreciate their generosity all the more.
ix
x AUTHOR’S NOTE
The book was made possible because of a generous one-year re-
search grant from the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. In
London, I received valuable administrative and moral support from
Juliet Williams and above all Jonathan Cohen of Conciliation Resources
(CR). CR also helped me make my trip across the front line in May 2001.
I am deeply grateful to both organizations. I did not set out on this proj/
ect with an agenda focused on “peace,” but I finished it with a deep con/
viction that compromise from both sides is the only fair and feasible
way out of this impasse.
In Azerbaijan, my special thanks go to Zaur Aliev, who fixed up the
majority of the interviews in Baku; to Azad Isazade for his practical
help, detailed knowledge, and humanity; and to Arif Yunusov, whose
in-depth knowledge, objectivity, and fair judgment on the Karabakh
issue are unrivaled in the Caucasus. I would also like to thank Arzu Ab/
dullayeva; Vugar Abdusalimov and Ulvi Ismail of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees; Fuad Akhundov; Sabina Alieva;
Halid Askerov and Oleg Litvin for their photographs; the staff of the
BBC office in Baku; Craig Dicker; Rauf Husseinov; Tahir Jafarov; Ke/
rim Kerimli; Vahid Mustafiev and the staff of ANS Television; Shahin
Rzayev; Hikmet Sabioglu; Rauf Talyshinsky; Roger Thomas; Anne
Thompson; Peter Van Praagh; and Leila Yunusova.
In Armenia, Tigran Kzmalian and family were the warmest of hosts
and friends; Alyosha Manvelian and Karen Topchyan of the BBC were
always exceptionally helpful, and Suzanna Pogosian was a brilliant or/
ganizer and researcher. My thanks go also to Larisa Alaverdian; Mi/
chael Bagratuni; Alla Bakunts for much help and advice; Mark Grigo/
rian for sharing thoughts and old newspapers; Tim Jones; Onnik and
Gohar Krikorian for friendship, contacts, and photographs; Eduard
Kzmalian; Leonid Mirzoyan for good company on many long trips to
Karabakh; Asya Mirzoyan; Grigory Mosesov; and David Petrosian.
In Karabakh, I would like to thank Iosif Adamian and family; Ar/
mine Alexanian; Ani Azizian and family; Ashot Gulian; and Simon
Porter.
Elsewhere, my thanks go to Behrouz Afagh, Famil Ismailov, Ste/
phen Mulvey, and Jenny Norton of the BBC; everyone in the BBC office
in Moscow; Jonathan Rowell of CARIS at the BBC World Service; Terry
Adams; Kenan Aliev; Jonathan Aves; Robin Bhatty for supplying large
amounts of useful material and comments; Tony Borden and the Insti/
tute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR); Bruce Clark; Alan Cooper-
AUTHOR’S NOTE xi
man and Martina Vandenburg; Felix Corley; Sasha Deryabin; Madalena
Fricova and Lawrence Sheets; Thomas Goltz; Edmund Herzig; Robert
Hewsen; Lee Hockstader; Scott Horton; Alik Iskandarian; Nev Jefferies;
Jon Jones; Jan Koehler; Brady Kiesling; Edward Kline; Marina Kurk/
chian; Laura Le Cornu; Steve Levine; Gerard Libaridian; Anatol Lieven;
Dov Lynch; Andrew Martin and Dennis Sammut of LINKS; Wayne
Merry; David Michelmore; Boris Nefyodov; Michael Ochs; Craig Oli/
phant; Arkady Ostrovsky; Paul Quinn-Judge; Razmik Panosian; Philip
Remler; Peter Rosenblatt; Laurent Ruseckas; Leonora Soroka of the
Hoover Archives; Nina Sovich; Ronald Suny; Len Taylor; Hratch Tchil/
ingirian; Valery Tishkov; Effie Voutira; Christopher Walker; and Ed-
ward W. Walker.
My agent, David Miller, was helpful from first to last; at NYU Press
Niko Pfund commissioned the book and Stephen Magro saw it through
to publication; Brenda Shaffer gave exceptionally useful comments and
insights on several chapters; my mother, Esther de Waal, was hugely
supportive for several crucial weeks of writing; it would not have been
half so much fun without the company and hospitality of my Caucasian
kindred spirits Wendell Steavenson and David Stern. Finally, the love,
humor, patience, fine editing skills, and constant support of my wife,
Georgina Wilson, have been beyond measure and it is to her this book
is dedicated.