Do Not Allow History's Mistakes to Be Repeated: Tatoyan

Do not allow history's mistakes to be repeated. This was written by former Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan on his Facebook page, addressing the territorial disputes that have historically existed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“It is essential to prevent the recurrence of historical mistakes. During the Soviet years, in the boundary disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there were instances where Azerbaijani authorities participated in official discussions while simultaneously organizing attacks against Armenian villagers, seizing lands and subsequently turning those seized lands into subjects of ‘discussion’ (such as Barana, and currently Novaberdo, Koghb, Koti, Dovekh, and others).

For example, despite the decision by the Central Executive Committee of the Transcaucasian Federation on April 28, 1923, which stipulated that only 5,000 десятин of land situated in the Shinikh-Ayrum area should be surrendered to the Kazakh District, the Kazakh land management group deliberately drafted an entirely different plan, disregarding the requirements of that decision. They unlawfully occupied a much larger area than was provided for in the decision. Specifically, they had seized around 7,000 десятин of land by intimidating the local forest ranger, their ‘acquisition’ reaching up to 11,800 десятин and turning it into a subject of discussion.

Another example is the boundary disputes involving the Tavush, Karvansara (Ijevan), and Kazakh districts since May 1922, where the final works of the commissions were continually delayed because Azerbaijani organizations had seized most of the lands that belonged to Armenians but lay within their territories, and they refused to return them. This also created difficulties for villagers in accessing pastures, forests, and water resources.

Generally, disputes often arose due to the large landowners of Azerbaijan (noted as landholders in archival documents), who sold their plots to Armenians and then later demanded them back without justification. At that time, the authorities of Soviet Armenia did not adequately document the facts of Azerbaijani violations; they relied on discussions and Azerbaijani ‘soft cushions’ hoping not to create ‘extra problems.’ In reality, this only created gifts for the Azerbaijani authorities, presenting them as peaceful and humanitarian to the world at the expense of our Homeland and compatriots.

Note: The десятин is an old measurement unit of land area equal to 2,400 square sazhens or 1.09 hectares,” he wrote.