Maragha – A Contemporary Golgotha

MARAGHA – A CONTEMPORARY GOLGOTHA
Alisa Gevorgyan

“Radiolur”
13.04.2012 17:39

An event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Maragha tragedy
was held at the Yerevan office of the Armenian Assembly of America.

“If you ask a more or less educated person what Khojalu is, he will
answer in a few words, but if you ask about Maragha, many of them
will look at you surprised,” Larisa Alaverdyan, Head of the “Against
Legal Abuse” NGO said during the event.

What really happened in Maragha? The best definition was given by
Baroness Caroline Cox: “It was truly like a contemporary Golgotha.”

On April 10, 1992, the subunits of the Azerbaijani regular army invaded
the village of Maragha. As a result of the aggression hundreds people
were killed – mostly women, children, and elderly persons.

Scores of people were taken hostages and later were exchanged, but
the fate of many of them still remains unknown.

The monstrous crimes in Maragha followed the Armenian pogroms and
deportations in the Northern Atsakh, as well as Baku, Sumgait,
Kirovabad and other settlements of Azerbaijan and were aimed at
frightening the people and disabling them to live in their homeland.

With the depth of human tragedy, the level of cruelty, the number of
people exposed to violence and captured, the events in the village
of Maragha occupy a special place among the bloody crimes committed
by Azerbaijan.

“Despite the unawareness of the population, a lot of materials on
the tragedy have been collected,” Larisa Alaverdyan said.

For many years the anniversary of Maragha tragedy was being marked
only by NGOs. For a number of reasons, Maragah was left without
attention. According to Larisa Alaverdyan, the Public Relations and
Information Center established at the President’s Office brought about
serious changes in the information policy. Thanks to its efforts, the
“Maragha” film was shot within the framework of the “Common genocide”
project.

The event at the Yerevan Office of the Armenian Assembly of America
was initiated by the Assembly of Armenian Refugees from Azerbaijan,
which also presented its stance on the Maragha tragedy in a
written call. The text reads, in part: “It’s time for the Armenian
authorities to review the stereotypes in the principles of settlement
of regional conflicts. In particular, they must prevent the return of
any territory under Baku’s jurisdiction. Since the refugees cannot
return to Baku, they can only return to Bagaran, a new city, where
they will reestablish the norms of life and culture crystallized
throughout millennia. New Maragha instead of Maragha: this is the
worthy response to the butchers.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS