Elm və İnnovativ Texnologiyalar Jurnalı Nömrə 4, 2018, 29-38 DOI: 10.5782/2616-4418.3.2018.29.

WOMEN AND VIOLENCE: VICTIMS OF GARABAGH CONFLICT (AZERBAIJAN)

Kifayat Jabi Aghayeva Azerbaijan University of Languages, Baku, Azerbaijan

“It is more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in modern conflict” (Patrick Cammaert, 2008, former Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo).

However, making clearer the situation it is to be given brief information about the recent history of my country, otherwise there will be a lot of vague points for the readers. Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia and it is rich in natural recourses. Rich resources of our country have been always attractive for foreign aggressors and it was occupied by different powerful states in the different periods. We were not independent and free, because our destiny was not in our own hands. At the end of the XVIII and in the first third of the XIX centuries, Azerbaijan was fought over by the Persian, Russian and Ottoman empires. The peace treaty of Gulistan, signed on October 12, 1813 by Russia and Persia, gave legal recognition to the effective annexation by Russia of the khanates of northern Azerbaijan. The second Russo-Persian war of 1826-1828 led, on February 10, 1828, to the signing of the Turkmanchai peace treaty, under which Persia recognized its annexation by Russia. So, Azerbaijan was divided by Russia and Iran. The Southern Azerbaijan was given to Iran and Northern Azerbaijan was given to Tsar Russia [Шишов А. В., 2007]. Till that treaty the capital of my motherland was Tabriz (now it is in the territory of Iran). During ruling time Tsar Russia had, in fact, exploited ethnic and religious strife to maintain control in a policy of “divide and rule”. In 1905, class and ethnic tensions resulted in Muslim-Armenian ethnic rioting during the first Russian Revolution.

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In 1918 Azerbaijan attained its independence; unfortunately, it lasted less than 2 years. Russian Red Army occupied Northern Azerbaijan again. Azerbaijan, one of the fifteen republics entered into the part of USSR and it lasted for seventeen years. But the tragic events of January19-20, 1990 are a turning point in the story of Azerbaijan’s independence from the . The attack by Soviet military forces (Red Army) stormed Baku and murdered hundreds of civilians. The Soviet aggression against Azerbaijan during 70 years came to the end with this bloody tragedy. Soviet Special Forces entered to Baku without warning and committed ferocity action against innocent Azerbaijani people. The invasion was launched at the midnight and committed with brutality and no mercy for children, women and elderly. The military contingent entered to Baku was informed to protect the rights of Russians and , which was violated by the local population. But it was explicitly disinformation. The real face of the Soviet attack was totally different. At that time, Azerbaijan was subjected to aggression from neighboring . Armenia violated the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, which was resulted the occupation of the Azerbaijan territory. Russia always wants to be powerful and influential in the Caucasus. When Soviet Union collapsed, Russia lost her influence on Georgia and Azerbaijan. The only state, which can help to spread Russian influence on the Caucasus, is Armenia because it is not able to survive without help and support of Russia. Armenia was accustomed to be subsidized by other republics of USSR during Soviet time. Despite being subjected to military, political and moral aggression, Azerbaijani national movement succeeded to stand against Soviet challenge, and Soviet troops eventually had to withdraw from Baku. Subsequently, Azerbaijan declared its independence on October 18, 1991. Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh Conflict, IDP/refugee women. The Upper Garabagh conflict became as one of the most tragic conflicts in the history of XX century and affected the destiny of millions. The Armenian side has cared for years to deteriorate the hostile situation by having pondering on the ethnocratic nature of its plot. It should be mentioned that Azerbaijan has endured ethnic cleansing and genocide by Armenian nationalist-chauvinists for 200 years. The people of Azerbaijan were deported from their historical lands and became refugees and internally displaced persons because of Armenian occupation. Azerbaijanis were also forced from their historical lands even during the Soviet period. The following information might be useful for understanding the root of this conflict. Garabagh is one of the ancient regions of Azerbaijan. The word “Garabagh” consists of two Azerbaijani words “gara” (black) and “bagh” (garden). The Armenian population was not present in Garabagh before a Russian resettlement in 1828. After the signing of the Gulustan and Turkmanchay treaties a very rapid mass resettlement of the Armenians in the Azerbaijani lands (specifically in Garabagh) and the subsequent artificial territorial division took place. The conflict over Upper-Garabagh has long history. In 1905, the Armenian Dashnak party, taking advantage of the Russo-Japanese War, attacked the Capital Women and violence… 31 Baku, burned and destroyed more than 300 cities and villages, killed thousands of Azerbaijani civilians, and raped many women. In the Azerbaijani city of Quba, Armenians massacred not only Azerbaijanis but also many Jews who made up half of the population of this city. There are hundreds of mass graves only in this region. 400 skeletons were found in this mass grave, most belonging to women, old men and children. 16.000 people were killed in this city during 1918-20 and 122 villages were destroyed, mosques were burned [see: http://www.liveleak.com.view]. Only by the help of the Turkey army Azerbaijan people could overcome this difficulty. In 1921, Stalin and Lenin (Head of Russian Communist Party) pacified Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the leader of the Turkish Nationalist Army) by assigning the disputed angered the Armenian leaders who, having been forced into Soviet Union learned that Stalin had little patience for their complaints, holding out the prospect of severe recriminations if actions were taken by them [Mooradian M. & Daniel Druckman, 1999]. In 1922 Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia also became socialist republics of the Soviet Union under the name of The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR). In 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR was divided back to the three socialist republics as the Armenian, Azerbaijan and Georgian SSRs. As part of their “divide-and-rule” policy in the area, the Soviets established the Upper- Garabagh Autonomous Region as the part of Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. From time to time the soviet governmental officials stopped this ethnic conflict rose but it. 150,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from Armenia and placed in the Kur-Araz plain from1948-1953. 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forced from their historical territories in 1988 and Armenia became a mono-ethnical state [Institute of History named after A. Bakykhanov of ANAS, 2015]. The last conflict emerged in the dying days of the Soviet Union, in 1988, in a peaceful call for independence that immediately escalated to inter-ethnic violence. It is a conflict on the personal, national, state, and international level, posing a compound challenge of understanding. Armenian separatism in Upper Garabagh became even more active after the first and last president of the USSR; rose to power in 1985. He was also following Russian empire’s “divide-and-rule” policy. One of Gorbachev’s economic advisers, Abel Aganbekyan (Armenian), spoke on the economic importance of annexing Upper Garabagh to Armenia. Gorbachev took no action against an adviser nurturing ethnic conflict within the USSR. Garabagh Armenians asked him to help them Upper Garabagh to be made a part of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. He gave the order for the right of the Garabagh Armenians to self-government and was ready to legalize their request. Since then regular armed attacks were organized by the Armenian separatists against the Azerbaijanis and with the support of Moscow. This process of occupation continued until the end of 1993, and as a result, besides Upper Garabagh, seven adjoining districts were also occupied. During military campaign of 1992 and 1993, with the help of Russia Armenia occupied 20% of the 32 Kifayat Jabi Aghayeva

Azerbaijani territory. As an outcome of the war, more than one million of people have been subjected to the ethnic cleansing by Armenia. Thousands of Azerbaijanian women and men were clearly at a loss. Jonathan RUGMAN in Kanliq, southwest Azerbaijan, reports: “On the main road south through Kubatli province, thousands of men, women and children are packed into trucks at an Azeri checkpoint waiting for permission to leave. Helicopters shuttle in and out with the wounded, while a group of women sit waiting at the roadside, tearing at their bloodstained faces with their fingernails in a frenzy of grief. Anew exodus of refugees is under way towards Azerbaijan’s border with Iran as Armenia forces continue ignoring United Nations demands that they stop their offensive. This week the UNHCR began distributing 4,000 tents and 50,000 blankets to those displaced in the recent hostilities. The organization said 250,000 Azeris have been displaced so far this year and about 1 million since the massacre began in 1988 [The Guardian, 2 September 1993]. During wartime majority of Garabagh women lost their homes, families, job places. The popular scientist Mehrangiz Najafizadeh writes that many Azeri IDP/refugee women were highly educated and occupied major positions as physicians, academics, teachers, cooperative leaders, and managers in their home communities prior to displacement. These women brought these same attributes with them as IDPs/refugees, and some were able to acquire employment in their newfound communities. However, more often, IDP/refugee women either were only able to find lower-level employment or remained unemployed, while still others gained income through work in the informal economy. The author states that many husbands and sons of IDP/refugee women were killed, continue to be missing in action, or became physically disabled because of the war, and other IDP/refugee men remained unemployed or sought employment in Russia or in other neighboring countries because of the economic decline in Azerbaijan immediately after independence, significant numbers of IDP/refugee women— regardless of educational level or prior occupations—have become the core of their families and a major or the sole economic provider [Mehrangiz Najafizadeh, 2013]. Wartime Sexual Violence against Azerbaijani Women. Sexual violence raping in war constitutes one of the most common and the most severe forms of violence against women. The rape of women in war is used as “a deliberate strategy to undermine community bonds, weaken resistance to aggression”. Upper Garabagh conflict has also brought about problems such as trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. Azerbaijani women also suffered at the hands of the Armenian military forces and gangs during the Armenian occupation and offensive. Women and girls were harassed, humiliated, and raped individually, serially, and by gangs. Women were stripped and forced to submit sexually to the sexual-sadistic fantasies of their persecutors, warders, and guards. They were forced to dance a gauntlet naked and defenseless. Such “sexual crimes are used to humiliate as many people as possible, Women and violence… 33 to destroy the fabric of the family, and by extension the fabric of society... Rapes committed in public effectively terrorize communities and convince people to flee. The nature of conflict is changing. Wars are no longer military-to-military conflicts. Ethnic conflicts and ethnic cleansing lend themselves to sexual violence” [Nazila Isgandarova, 2011] Human Rights Watch reports that during the conflict women admitted to being subjected to sexual violence. Given that a significant proportion of victims subjected to sexual violence cannot acknowledge the experience to anyone else, the figures are inevitably an underestimate. It was considered likely that at least half the subjects had been subjected to sexual violence, by interviewers experienced at picking up testimonial clues. Khojaly Genocide –the Tragedy of XX Century in Foreign Press. It is hard to imagine that such an unprecedented savagery took place at the end of the 20th century and was witnessed by the world community! Mass massacre perpetrated by Armenian military forces against hundreds of Azerbaijani civilians of a small town of Khojaly in the Upper Garabagh region of Azerbaijan on the night from February 25 to February 26, 1992 constitutes one of the worst crimes against humanity. The Khojaly genocide is one of the most terrible and tragic pages of Azerbaijan history. 2500 inhabitants of Khojaly left behind out of a population of seven thousand people suffered from this unseen terror act. The gruesome statistics indicates that 613 people had been killed, of which 106 were women and 83 children; 1275 taken hostage, 150 went missing; 487 people became disabled and invalid, 78 of whom are teenage boys and girls; 8 families had been completely destroyed; 25 children had lost both of their parents, 130 children had lost one of their parents; and 56 people had been killed with extreme cruelty and torture. Sharing the fate of its population, the town of Khojaly had been completely destroyed as well… This tragedy has been widely covered called genocide in the world press [BBC Monitoring Service-United Kingdom; Feb 9, 2002]. According to the international law, genocide is the act against the world and civilization, and regarded as the worst international crime. The UN Convention №260 (III) On the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide December 9, 1948 inured in 1961 defines legal bases of the crime of genocide. The Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan manifests all attributes of genocide enshrined in the Convention. “Foreign journalists saw among women and children killed in Khojaly, three scalped, with their nails pulled out. It is not Azerbaijan’s propaganda, but a reality” [“Le Mond” (Paris), March 14, 1992]. “Many of them disfigured, baby girl had only the head”. [“Tim withes” newspaper (London), March 4, 1992. - See more at: http://garabagh.net/content_263_en.html#sthash.qSXKamFn.dpufº)] Journalist of British TV company with “Funt man news”, R.Patric who visited the place of tragedy: “Crime in Khojaly cannot be justified in public opinion”. 34 Kifayat Jabi Aghayeva

“Camcoder showed the kids with the cut off ears. One old woman was cut off the half of her face. The men were scalped” [“Izvestiya” newspaper (Moscow), March, 1992]. Armenians outraged upon survors. They scalped, cut people's head and other organs off, extracted eyes of children, and chopped stomachs of pregnant women. Forbidden bullets of 5,45 caliber and chemical weapons were used in Khojaly during the attack. All these facts prove that Armenia committed genocide against civil people, violating Geneva Convention protocol concerning war rules. Armenian writer Zori Balayan who is searched by justified the Khojaly genocide in his book "Revival of our souls" and proudly confessed Armenians' genocide against Azerbaijanis in Khojaly region in February in 1992, APA reports. “When I and Khachatur entered the house, our soldiers had nailed a 13-year-old Turkish (Azerbaijanian) child to the window. He was making much noise so Khachatur put mother’s cut breast into his mouth. I skinned his chest and belly. Seven minutes later the child died. As I used to be a doctor I was humanist and didn’t consider myself happy for what I had done to a 13-year-old Turkish child. But my soul was proud for taking 1percent of vengeance of my nation. Then Khachatur cut the body into pieces and threw it to a dog of same origin with Turks. I did the same to three Turkish children in the evening. I did my duty as an Armenian patriot. Khachatur had sweated much. But I saw struggle of revenge and great humanism in his and other soldiers’ eyes. The next day we went to the church to clear our souls from what done previous day. But we were able to clear Khojaly from slops of 30 thousand people” [Zori Balayan, 1996] Speaking Our Truth. After the genocide in Khojaly and the ethnic cleansing, the theme of sexual violence has been set on the international agenda of Mass Media. In recent years, parliaments of several countries have formally recognized the event as a massacre. Legislative bodies in numerous countries have officially recognized the Khojaly Genocide. Mass rape of women in this conflict has generated open debates about the phenomenon. It seems that the taboo, which has overshadowed rape and sexual violence for so long, has now been changed. The Khojaly genocide committed by Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijani civilians during the 1990s war continues to gain wide international recognition and the Azerbaijani parliament seeks to express gratitude to those who recognized the massacre. Khojaly to be recognized as Genocide in international level representatives of the parliaments of 51 states adopts the relevant resolution. Khojaly to be recognized in international level representatives of the parliaments of 51 states adopt the relevant resolution. Participation of the 38 persons in the Khojaly genocide was fully proved and it was decided to make them criminally responsible under articles 103 envisaging liability for genocide and war crimes against peace and humanity, 107 (deportation or expelling of population), 113 (torture), 115.4 (violation of the laws or customs of war), 116.0.17 (committing other acts of rape, sexual slavery, forced Women and violence… 35 prostitution, forced sterilization and sexual violence), the press service of the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Republic told Trend 38 persons declared to be under international search due to occupation of Azerbaijani city of Khojaly [K.Zarbaliyeva, 2010]. The Khojaly massacre is a genocide according to the international law, in particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN`s legislative acts on genocide [See: http://azertag.az/en/xeber]. Fortunately, in recent years a number of foreign nations have spoken up and supported our campaign to gain international recognition of the Khojaly Genocide. By spreading the truth about this tragedy in the world so that together we can ensure these acts never happen again! We deeply believe that states, parliaments, international organizations in the world will support restoration of equity for happy life of every nation without any discrimination having entered the XXI century, for equity, for high humanist values.

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References and notes:

BBC Monitoring Service-United Kingdom; Feb 9, 2002 “Izvestiya” newspaper (Moscow), March, 1992 “The Kojaly Genocide-The Tragedy of the 20th Century-Documentary”, Institute of History named after A. Bakykhanov of ANAS, Jan 27, 2015 K.Zarbaliyeva, Azerbaijan, Baku, Trend, 23 FEBRUARY 2010 “Le Mond” (Paris), March 14, 1992 Mehrangiz Najafizadeh “Ethnic Conflict and Forced Displacement: Narratives of Azeri IDP and Refugee Women From the Nagorno-Karabakh War”, Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. 14, No. 1 January 2013, p.166-67 Mooradian M. & Daniel Druckman, “Hurting Stalemate or Mediation? The Conflict Nagorno-Karabagh, 1990-95”, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 36, No., Nov., 1999, p. 709. Nazila Isgandarova, “What the Spiritual Caregiver Should Know While Dealing with Survivors of Ethnic Violence”, Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2011, p. 38 “Nowhere To Hide For Azeri Refugees”, The Guardian, 2 September 1993 “Tim withes” newspaper (London), March 4, 1992 Zori Balayan, “Revival of Our Souls”, 1996, pages 260-262; as excerpted by Baris Sanli, “Russian Finger Inside Capitol Hill: Armenian Lobby?”, October 17, 2007 Шишов А. В., “Схватка за Кавказ”. М., 2007 http://azertag.az/en/xeber http://www.liveleak.com.view Additional Reference Cornell, Svante E, The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, (Uppsala University, Department of The East European Studies, Report No. 46, 1999), 5. Refugees or as internally displaced Azerbaijani women as hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes because of longstanding conflict in Upper Garabagh.

Women and violence… 37

XÜLASƏ

Qadın və Zorakılıq : Qarabağ münaqişəsinin qurbanları (Azərbaycan)

Kifayət Cəbi Ağayeva Azərbaycan Dillər Universiteti, Bakı, Azərbaycan

Qarabağ konflikti birbaşa qadınların seksual istismarı problemınə gətirib çıxarmışdır. Qarabağ münaqişəsində qadın və uşaqlara qarşı kütləvi təcavüz bu fenomen barədə açıq müzakirələrə yol açmışdır. Silahlı münaqişələr zamanı seksual və digər xarakterli zorakılıqların qadın və uşaqların üzərində bir çox mənfi nəticələri müşahidə olunur: zorla evlilik, zorakılığın daha pis formaları, təkrar- təkrar təhqiretmələr, ailə və cəmiyyətdən təcridolma, ailə-nikah əlaqələrində gərginlik, valideynlik cavabdehliyin pozulması, təcavüz nəticəsində doğulmuş arzuolunmayan uşaqlar, məktəblərdən və iş yerlərindən kənarda qalma, nikah üçün uyğun olmama, daha çox şiddət və təkrar hücumları rahat qəbul etmə. Xocalı soyqırımı və etnik təmizləmə, seksual təcavüz mövzusu kütləvi informasiya vasitələrinin və beynəlxalq medianın gündəminin əsas mövzularından oldu.

Açar sözlər: Silahlı münaqişə , qadın, gender əsaslı zorakılıq, zərər çəkmişlər, beynəlxalq media

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РЕЗЮМЕ

Женщины и Насилие: Жертвы Карабахского конфликта (Азербайджан)

Кифаят Джаби Агаева Азербайджанский Университет языков, Баку, Азербайджан

Карабахский конфликт привел к таким проблемам, как торговля женщинами для сексуальной эксплуатации. Массовое изнасилование женщин и детей в карабахском конфликте вызвали открытые дебаты по поводу этого явления. Сексуальные и другие формы насилия по признаку пола могут иметь множество негативных последствий для женщин и детей во время вооруженных конфликтов, таких как: брак, дальнейшее насилие, повторное нападение и отказ и изоляция от семьи и сообщества, напряжение в супружеских отношениях, нарушение навыков воспитания. Дети, рожденные в результате изнасилования, выгоняются из школ и рабочих мест, воспринимаются как неприемлемые для брака, подвергаются дальнейшему насилию, повторных нападений. Геноцид в Ходжалах и этническая чистка- темы сексуального насилия, которые были установлены в международной повестке дня СМИ. Ключевые слова: Вооруженные конфликты, женщины, насилие по признаку пола, жертвы, международная пресса