Karabakh Crisis

It is a rare pleasure when Turks and Armenians agree on something. That is why it was disappointing to read the letter (Feb. 5) by Turkish Assembly Vice President Bulent Basol, who wrote that the Karabakh crisis “is not a religious war as Armenians would like the public to believe.” Armenians agree that it is not a religious war.

Why a Turkish organization takes a point of agreement on a sensitive topic and turns it into a fabricated disagreement is an important question which demands careful scrutiny.

“This is a war for land,” writes Basol. This, too, Armenians agree with--except their explanation would include the fact that Armenians had been living there for 1,200 years before the Turks first invaded and occupied the area. Basol asserts that Karabakh “has never been ruled” by Armenians, that they “were sent there” by the Russians to augment the “Christian population of this Muslim-dominated” region. This not only demonstrates gross ignorance of history, but, more seriously, exposes the Turkish Assembly’s own desire to inject religious overtones.

“Armenians started it,” writes Basol. This is true if, rather than centuries of oppression by Turkish invaders and their descendants, we take as a starting point the massive Armenian demonstrations in February, 1988. The urge today to unite Karabakh with Armenia is the direct result of economic and cultural discrimination. Azeri authorities have been trying to keep the Armenians economically impoverished and culturally suppressed in order to assimilate them or drive them out. The same policy has succeeded in nearby Nakhicheven: In 1921 the Armenian population there was 40%; today, virtually 0%. The policy is a continuing threat in Karabakh: In 1921 Armenians were 95%; today, 83%. This is a human-rights case. And the only solution, it seems, is a boundary change based on compromise.

LEVON MARASHLIAN

Associate Professor of History

Glendale Community College