Stalin & Karabakh – discrediting false allegations of Armenia

Report presents the article "Stalin & Karabakh – discrediting false allegations of Armenia" by Mariya Khan-Khoyskaya Martignoli:

“I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be heaped on my grave,

but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away without mercy”

Joseph Stalin

A couple of days ago a Georgian friend of mine reminded me about this famous quotation of one of the most controversial figures in the turbulent history of the 20th century – Joseph Stalin. And I thought to myself – how true indeed! Comrade Stalin – damned by some, praised by others – did and said many things and undoubtedly foresaw how much impact his deeds and words would have on future generations. How many blazing debates were held in his name, how much blood was shed in his name or per his orders. Today in 2020, 67 years after his death, many disputes are still being held in his name and human lives are still at stake in the name of Stalin, or rather, due to frivolous and even false interpretations of what he did and didn’t back then, in the dawn of the Soviet era. Thousands of people all over the world are being misled and deceived because of those untrue interpretations. What’s worse: blood is being shed, people – innocent civilians, children – are suffering and dying due to the “courtesy” of the authorities and those who chose to blindly follow them on their path of blatant lies and findings devoid of context. These battles are no longer a matter of “difference of opinions” – they have stepped outside of the limits of the pen wars.

As we are literally flooded by tsunamis of data and, thanks to the modern era, we are also able to flood the internet ourselves, our main task and even duty now is to be able to distinguish between tissues of lies and obstinate facts, to check and cross-check the information, to view things from all sides, to dig deeper into the depths of the history and while doing so, not to stop at the level that satisfies only one side of sometimes many-faceted truth. Sadly, exactly the opposite has been occurring in recent years with regards to the history of the Karabakh conflict, escalating more and more until it became one huge messy tangle of what we have now: fake news and outright lies, bold denials and ridiculous excuses are now trumpeted out of “every iron and microwave” (скаждогоутюгаимикроволновки) as it is said in Russian. The most tragic is that this tumbleweed of chaos, initiated by the Armenian authorities, is carried all over the world: media and governments seem to have become somewhat, I daresay, brainwashed by these hoaxes and as a trained choir organically repeat the same things over and over again (1-5), even going as far as adopting a resolution on a local city level (6). And like a scarlet thread runs through these interviews, discussions, articles and resolutions the same message – Armenia is fighting for “their” land of Karabakh that comrade Stalin “gifted / gave / transferred” to Azerbaijan in 1921 (1) or in 1923 (6), land that had “never belonged” to Azerbaijan before (1). Tired of this utter nonsense, I have decided to clarify this situation basing myself on well-known and accessible for all information, for I am only but a common folk representative who is fond of history, stubborn facts and figures. Facts and figures that involve all engaged parties, all layers of this quite a sophisticated issue – the Karabakh conflict.

The list of resources that I have used here is naturally not exhaustive. As I said, I am a common folk person – I do not possess any access to any confidential archives. Any of you can easily check and cross check the information I have used here and find excessively more than what I have mentioned here. Many of the resources I gave already contain dozens of various sources from historians of many countries. My point here is not to start reciting you the whole history of my home country and the whole neighboring region since the dawn of the days – it has already been done by historians, archaeologists, sociologists, journalists, writers and many other scientists who obviously are better equipped and have more resources and skills than I do. My point here is to share with you the “common folk” point of view with regards to the history that is directly linked, according to my opinion, to the modern-day conflict in Karabakh and to show you that though limited my experience/age/ scientific/historical/political knowledge (underline as appropriate) might be, it is still more than enough to forge an opinion and sort the wheat from the chaff.

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