On February 12, 1988, the Artsakh movement began. The national demand and rallies started in Artsakh, then spread to Armenia as well.

There was only one demand: the reunification of Artsakh and Armenia. Azerbaijan responded to the fair and peaceful demand of the Armenians in a typical way. Massacres and massacres took place against Armenians living in Artsakh, as well as in large settlements of Soviet Azerbaijan. Armenians were forced to leave their homes and settlements. Naturally, these events were in the center of attention of the superpowers of the world at that time.

In the complex geopolitical situation, the superpowers tried to keep their political finger on the pulse of events. In 1988, the US Central Intelligence Agency was also studying the events taking place in Armenia and Artsakh, trying to make assessments and present the analysis of all this to the US leadership.

Among the declassified documents of the US Central Intelligence Agency, we find a report from June 1988, the author of which is William Webster, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency at that time.

He reports to the US Vice President George Bush about the history of the Artsakh issue. Below is the full declassified document.

“In 1988 June 16, Vice President

Attached is a brief historical reference on the origins of the enmity between Soviet Armenians and Azerbaijanis. I understand that you discussed this matter with the PDB reporter this morning, and I think it will be of interest to you.

Sincerely, William H. Webster

The history of Armenian-Azerbaijani enmity

The enmity between the peoples of Soviet Armenia and Azerbaijan is mainly based on religious and ethnic differences. Armenians are Christians, and Azerbaijanis are Shia Muslims of Turkic origin. Over the centuries, these differences have caused sharp territorial disputes, especially over Nagorno Karabakh.

Historically, Armenian and Azerbaijani lands were the subject of struggle between Ottoman Turkey and Persia. In the early 19th century, the Russian Empire spread into the Caucasus, taking both peoples under its control and sometimes turning them against each other.

The almost complete deportation of the Armenian population by Turkey in 1915, during which, according to estimates, about one and a half million people died, significantly deepened the hatred of the Armenians towards the Turkish peoples, including the Azerbaijanis.

At the same time, many Armenians began to view the Russians as protectors, or at least as the lesser evil. After the collapse of the Tsarist Empire in 1917, Armenia and Azerbaijan existed as independent republics for two years. However, their mutual enmity made it easier for the Red Army to establish Soviet power in the Caucasus in 1920, and both republics were incorporated into the Soviet Union.

After the establishment of the power of the Bolsheviks, Karabakh was handed over to the control of Azerbaijan. However, Armenians considered it their legal territory, both because of the ethnic composition of the population, which was overwhelmingly Armenian, and because of its special significance in their national history.

Initially, Moscow attributed Karabakh to Armenia, but after Turkey’s dissatisfaction and fear of the existence of a large Armenian state near its borders, the Soviet leadership in 1923 again handed Karabakh, which was renamed Nagorno Karabakh, to Azerbaijan. Since then, Armenians have regularly demanded the return of Nagorno Karabakh.

According to Abel Aghanbekyan, Gorbachev’s economic advisor, who was half-Armenian, this issue has been constantly raised in Armenian party meetings and public gatherings for decades.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Armenian dissidents spread declarations demanding the return of the region to Armenia. The intransigent position of the Azerbaijanis is partly due to the belief that the Russians are biased against the Armenians because of the religious commonality and the greater representation of Armenians in Moscow’s political elite.

In addition, Azerbaijanis consider themselves victims of demographic processes, which increase the number of unemployed Azerbaijani youth and worsen living conditions.

These deep grievances indirectly exacerbate Armenian-Azerbaijani contradictions and increase the possibility of violence against Armenians living in Azerbaijan.” (See here.):

It is interesting that this document was drawn up at the very beginning of the 1988 Artsakh movement.

The document was presented to the US Vice President as a very short historical reference and an overview of what the Artsakh issue and Armenian-Azerbaijani, as well as Armenian-Turkish problems are.

This document shows how the US Central Intelligence Agency assessed the issue of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict at that time. This document also highlights how the US felt about the issue at the time.

Z. I hesitated

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