NYtimes in 1977: How Karabakh Armenians complained to Brezhnev about Azerbaijan's oppression

PanARMENIAN.Net - In an article published back in 1977, The New York Times details the tension, clashes, protest demonstrations at public events and pleas by Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to Moscow for help. A letter sent to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev asked him to intervene and end Azerbaijan's oppression of Armenians of Karabakh.

After Moscow turned over Karabakh to Azerbaijan, the region's Armenians became victims of Azerbaijan's cultural oppression, economic discrimination and other ethnic disadvantages. They demanded, with increasing insistence, that Karabakh be put under the Armenian Republic.

"Although 80 percent of the area's inhabitants are Armenians, it was assigned in 1923 to Azerbaijan, whose people are of Turkic‐Islamic background," the article reads.

"Moscow's decision to turn over the Karabakh region to Azerbaijan was in conflict with earlier promises to the Armenians. The promises were reflected in a declaration on Dec. 4, 1920, in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda by Stalin, then Lenin's Commissar for Nationalities. Stalin, in a commentary on the Communist victory in Armenia, said Azerbaijan had relinquished claims to Karabakh and other territories historically Armenian."

The letter cited by The New York Times to the Soviet leader was sent by writer Sero Khanzadyan, who told Brezhnev about of various disorders, which included “casualties,” and urged him to intervene on behalf of the Armenians.

Khanzadyan said a “national injustice” existed in Karabakh and accused the local authorities of insulting Armenians and calling them “backward” and “ignorant”.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey, launched a large-scale offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. International and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages, as well as the iconic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi. Even after a humanitarian ceasefire began from midday, October 10, Azerbaijan launched a new offensive and struck settlements both in Karabakh and Armenia.