MARAGHA: CONTINUOUS BITTERNESS ABOUT ONGOING GENOCIDE
Nune Hairapetian
Wednesday, 11 April 2012 06:14
What happened 20 years ago in one of the biggest and most prosperous
villages in Artsakh, Maragha, became the most tragic page of
our national-liberation struggle, another witness of the Turkish
barbarians’ bloody traces and genocidal nature in the pages of the
Armenian history: for setting the Armenian civilians to fire and
sword, the Turkish Azeris, following the example of their brothers,
also chose the most beautiful spring month.
On its tragedy and cruelty, which is out of human reason, the crime
committed on April 10, 1992 in Martakert region’s Maragha village
does not yield to the 1915 Genocide, to Sumgait, to the villainous
genocidal acts committed by fascists during the World War II. This
village was situated on the Gandzak-Stepanakert highway and was
considered the northern gate of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the
1989 Census, 4670 people lived in Maragha (mostly Armenians).
The fact that some participants of the barbarity against the civilian
population received high state titles of the Azerbaijani Republic
testifies that the crime committed in Maragha was planned, organized,
and implemented at the state level by Azerbaijan. The regular crime,
which was committed by Azerbaijan and which is neither condemned nor
punished so far, was not only directed against the civilian population
of Maragha, but also against humanity in general. The lack of legal
and political assessment of the genocidal act allows Azerbaijan to
continue today its aggressive policy of hatred towards Armenians.
The piratical attack, which started early in the morning, followed
the firing of the village from different sides. Azerbaijanis were
well prepared: the detachment numbered in thousand was accompanied
by corresponding armor. There were no soldiers in the village, but
the inhabitants created a self-defense detachment. Realizing that
the firing will be followed by an attack, the 200-people detachment,
armed with hunting rifles and homemade machines, was ready to resist
the Azerbaijani attack. The large-scale attack began at dawn. According
to the detachment commander, now head of the community of Nor Maragha
Roma Karapetian, during the first attack, after the dreadful fights,
the enemy retreated; a few hours later the attack restarted and again
retreated, and in the evening, the Azerbaijanis attacked the village,
supported by about 15 tanks. The villagers’ defense was breached
and the village was occupied. In a few hours, the women and children,
elderly people and bedridden patients, who failed to leave the village,
were brutally tortured and killed. All those killed were then tortured
by knives, and crosses were drawn on all the bodies. Over 60 people
were taken prisoners. The inhabitants of Maragha, who miraculously
escaped the massacre, found shelter in various parts of the world;
they still remember the damned day with tears. Their stories about
raped and tortured women and about disfigured corpses cannot leave
indifferent even the most cold-hearted people.
Radik Gabrielian (82 years old, now living in the town of Martakert):
– The attack started at 6 o’clock in the morning. We, three families,
already lived in a basement: we made dugouts near our houses, then
realizing that they were more dangerous, we moved to the basement. The
Azeris were firing from cannons and large machine guns.
>From the very beginning, my son Kima, together with the village men,
started providing arms – he prepared homemade explosives and improved
hunting guns. During these activities, he lost his right hand, but he
continued his work. Most of them removed their wives and children from
the village. We were optimists: we were not brothers with Azerbaijanis,
but over years, for decades, we lived side by side. Our village was
situated in two kilometers from Mirbashir. We didn’t expect such
barbarity. That day, my sister’s and brother’s families were at our
home; as soon as we knew that the Azeris had entered our village,
we led our families out of the village; I don’t want to recall the
sufferings we experienced on our way. Most Azeris were armed with
sabers; they specially brought bodies to torture; those who had
no weapons and just came to loot, were hitting the people with the
sledgehammer and axes. My friend Borik Vardanian worked at the water
economy and was engaged in distribution of irrigation water. The OMON
soldiers cut off his head with a saw and left a note on his body:
“After this, you’ll distribute the water fairly”. His mother Parandzem
and his wife Zarya were taken hostages, and it is not known yet where
they were taken. That day, their son Vladik was seriously wounded. Our
fellow villager Patvakan Galstian reached Berlin in the World War
II, but was murdered in his home with machine gun bullets. Alyosha
Stepanian and his mother and wife were killed and divided into parts.
Which one can I recall?.. The Azeris knew well Hamo Arakelian who
had worked for many years in Mirbashir as a skilled agricultural
machinery repairer; he was under 90, but they did not spare even him
and cut off his head with an axe.
Janna Petrosian (now living in Stepanakert):
– I was away from the village on April 10. In late February, my husband
Edik, together with his friends, fell into an ambush at the approaches
to the village and was seriously wounded; he became a first-degree
handicapped. Those days, we were in the military hospital in Martakert,
but my main concern was the village where our three children were, the
younger being under 2 years old. I kept calling our fellow villagers
to learn the news. Having heard that the Azeris attacked the village,
without hesitating, in secret from my husband, I decided to reach the
village. It was raining that day, and it is impossible to remember
how I reached the village; I guessed everything. Our house was at
the edge of the village; hiding, I approached our house, saw the
gates locked and was happy, guessing that our parents had brought our
children out of the village. I returned to Martakert. The next day,
on April 11, our village was liberated: the survived inhabitants of
Maragha came to find their lost relatives and to bury those dead,
I was with them. What we saw is still before my eyes; you’ll not
see anything like that in the most horrible film – tortured bodies,
beheaded corpses, the smell of blood, crying…
I was the head of our village post office, I know closely many people.
A band had a jamboree in veterinarian Haykaz Soghomonian’s house
(all the Maragha inhabitants were well-to-do, they had fine wine),
and then beheaded the body of the house owner. The young mechanic
was tied, tortured, and then burned. 20 years have passed, but as if
it was yesterday. The captives were also treated cruelly. A few days
later, in Martakert, I met Rita Mnatsakanian: with great difficulties,
spending huge amounts, her brother could save her from the Mirbashir
prison. Bruises were all over Rita’s face; there were black points
on her hands and neck – they were burned with cigarettes. Rita didn’t
want me to ask her any questions about herself. She told me about our
dear teacher, Alvina Baghdasarian – she was in the same cell with her.
Everybody knew Alvina, she was one of the devotees of the movement;
she spent her entire salary for the needs of the soldiers. She was
proud, patriotic, and a true intellectual. According to Rita, in the
cell, they shove a bearing remover in her hands and ordered to remove
her own gold teeth. “You need them, then remove them yourselves”,
she said coldly. Alvina refused to say “Maragha belongs to Azeris”,
and they shot at her legs. When Rita started to yell, they dragged
her away to another cells. Alvina is considered deceased. For all
the inhabitants of Maragha, she is one of the most strong and honest
women-heroes of the war. I think it is wrong that she has neither
been rewarded nor granted any title posthumously. Today, many of our
villagers live in New Maragha; the Government built houses for them
and created tolerable living conditions. We suffer from longing about
our village; few people can love their native village as the Maragha
inhabitants do; that’s why, though the day turned into a hell for the
inhabitants of the village, the people of New Maragha sleep and wake
up with the hope to return to their native homes.