BLACK GARDEN
T H O M A S D E WA A L
BLACK GARDEN Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War
a New York Universit...
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BLACK GARDEN
T H O M A S D E WA A L
BLACK GARDEN Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War
a New York University Press • New York and London
N E W YO R K U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S 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
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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< Two Maps, of the South Caucasus and of Nagorny Karabakh
ix 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 Appendix 2: Chronology Notes Bibliography Index About the Author All illustrations appear as a group following p. 114.
284 287 299 321 327 337
Author’s Note
The research done for this book is based on around 120 original interviews 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
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
The book was made possible because of a generous one-year research 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 Edward 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.
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