Xocali, Ai Khojaly, never forget Hojali!

26 February 2010 marks the anniversary of what is locally known as Xocalı faciəsi, the Xocali Tragedy. If you are not in some way connected to Azerbaijan, you are unlikely to know of Xocali. It was therefore not surprising that, like 18 years ago, the world media kept largely silent about the event. 18 years are apparently too long to remember a massacre held in a place the West hardly knows about. And lets face it, there is too much other important news to stand still to the tragedy that happened back then.


e.g. Poster campaign Exhibition vs goods being sold 100 m further

This failure to remember world wide is compensated here: every day people remember Xocali. And so – apart from extra national media attention, some posters and a gruesome open air exhibition– Xocalı faciəsi seemingly passed like any other day. It did not seem like the one day to openly mourn the death and losses incurred, to stand still and reflect and cry and be angry and demand justice and pledge to avenge and never forget. Or at least I did not see it.

So then why write about it? Understanding Xocali and how Xocali is used is key to understanding part of the mindset of the children we work with. It is something they are faced with day in day out, consciously and subconsciously, for most of their infant years, and probably their entire life. Their parents have most likely fled or been driven out from Nagorno-Karabagh, and the children bear the burden of these memories. Even if parents keep their memories to themselves, the schools and national curriculum (at least for IDPs) is sure to remind them. So every day, the children are faced with horrid images of atrocities that took place. The cult of martyrs is instilled in them, and the curriculum ensures they know all the dates and horrid events that took place. And all of them, boys and girls, from drop-outs to university students, are ready to discard the peace talks, pick up arms, and fight what they see as the devil embodied: Armenia.

Images that IDP children see every day hanging at school. Only on special days are the red carnations placed under the XOCALI sign

Xocali

Before reverting back to some insights in the mindsets of IDP children, a short explanation of Xocalı faciəsi. Please remember, I am by no means objective or impartial, nor is the information I have gathered. In fact, virtually everything regarding the Nagorno Karabakh war has been disputed between the two sides (Azerbaijan and Armenia), including the numbers of those killed or wounded, the number of those forced to flee their homes (and the reasons why), and even the amount of Azerbaijani territory currently under ‘Armenian’ occupation. (Implication à doubt my words, find your own information)

These disputes are depicted in the name given of the Xocali event. On the Azerbaijani side, the massacre is referred to as Xocalı soyqırımı, the Khojaly Genocide or Faciəsi- Tragedy: Armenian sources use the terms Battle of Khojaly or the Khojaly Event; and the Western world refer to it as the Khojaly Massacre.

This massacre is seen as the largest one in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict, regardless of which version of the events you read. Xocali is the town that was levelled to the ground by Armenian armed forces and –allegedly– part of the Russian 366^th Motor Rifle Regiment in the night of 25-26 February. Xocali is also the news item that –when it finally was published in Western media about a week later– shocked not only due to the numbers killed and the repulsive nature of it, but also because the Armenians were the most likely perpetrates, and the Azerbaijani’s the underdogs. It should be remembered that up till that date, after 4 years of conflict, the number killed stood between 1500 – 2000. After that date, depending on the source, the number increased by 200 – 800 in one night.

Back to mindset

The Xocali Massacre is used in Azerbaijan as the message of ultimate injustice. In fact, international organisations have commented that over the years, Azerbaijanis have developed a similar sense of victimization vis-à-vis Armenians, even employing much the same language, including terming Armenian atrocities "genocide". The media here portrays Armenians as sub-humans capable of all evils, as depicted by the horrific acts committed at Xocali.

Educated adolescents state that Xocali surpasses the holocaust in the committed atrocities, and the children we work with (11 to 18 years old alike) tell us stories how they would like to join military training schools to become snipers or grenadiers and that dying is not a problem but an honor, well worthy for the freeing of their beloved land, Karabagh. And that –lest we doubt their sincerity– they will be fighting when they turn 18, having divided what role they will play among their friends already. This all implies that for the upcoming years, the IDP children are trained as so called 'kannonenvoer', and the rest of the populations is taught the language of injustice, victimisation and heroism for those that avenge.

For more information, international, Armenian or Azerbaijani, see:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975096,00.html;

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/03/world/massacre-by-armenians-being-reported.html;

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/1997/03/23/response-armenian-government-letter-town-khojaly-nagorno-karabakh;

http://www.justiceforkhojaly.org/,

http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/02/24/samvel-martirosyan/

Or read: Black Garden (Thomas de Waal) or Azerbaijan Diary (Thomas Goltz)