PROJECT “AN ORDINARY GENOCIDE” A NEW FILM TO BE LAUNCHED
Aysor.am
Friday,December 03, 2010
Another documentary is launched in the frameworks of the project
“The Ordinary Genocide”. The fourth project is dedicated to the
20th anniversary of one of the most tragic pages in the history
of the Karabakh movement “Operation “Koltso” (Ring), which will be
memorialized in 2011.
“Operation “Koltso”, as a result of which the population of several
tens of Armenian cities and villages of NKR and Shahumyan district
were deported by force, was realized in April-July of 1991,” the
project manager of the “The Ordinary Genocide” Marina Grigoryan says,
“Unfortunately, just like in case of the tragedy of the village
Maragha, this heinous act of governmental terror against thousands of
Armenian villagers is little known even in Armenia itself. Meanwhile,
it was a large-scale punitive operation by the Soviet Centre and
the Azerbaijani special police detachments (OMON) realized against
the civilian population, through which the Azerbaijani leadership
sought to implement its sinister goals: i.e. the extermination
and proscription of the Armenians from their historical residence,
depriving them from their motherland. Moreover, few people remember
today that the population of the border-regions of Armenia – Goris,
Noyemberian, Tavush and others – were subjected to violent actions
implemented during this operation. The operation was carried out by
the troops of the special police detachments of Azerbaijan, with
unimaginable cruelty against the civilians – killings, torture,
raping, hostage-taking, humiliation of human and national dignity,
pogroms, looting and pillaging.
“During the operation “Koltso” 26 Armenian villages and small towns
in Shahumian, Hadrut and Shushi regions as well as the south and west
of the Nagorno-Karabakh were subjected to severe pressure, rioting
and looting by the Azerbaijani troops. About ten thousand people were
deported, more than a hundred people died. More than six hundred men
were taken to hostage, were tortured and abused. The military forces
were followed by groups Azerbaijanis who violate from the neighboring
settlements. They were confiscating the houses, the cars, the cattle
and other property; they were taking the loot away by trucks. The
statements and complaints of the Armenian people were not treated by
anyone,” wrote Victor Krivopuskov (advisor to the Russian Embassy in
Armenia at present) in his book “Rebellious Karabakh.”
While working on the film unique documentary materials taken in
spring and summer of 1991, were found. Video materials about the
preparatory works of army units on attacking Getashen and Martunashen
were found, as well as shots of besieged Armenian villages which were
recorded on the very next day after the deportations which are an
evidence of the villagers who have become the victims of pogroms,
violence, torture and humiliation, and have lost their homes and
property. The shots which are an incontrovertible evidence of the
presence of millennial existence and centuries-old culture of the
Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh territories occupied by Azerbaijan
are particularly valuable.
“It is not possible to watch the shots of the old cemetery Getashen
() without perturbation.
There are depicted crooked cross-stones, reminding of the barbaric
destruction of khachkars (cross-stones) of Old Jugha by the
Azerbaijan. Most likely, khachkars of Getashen suffered the same sad
fate,” M. Grigoryan says. “The shots of the medieval cemetery of the
village of Gulistan () have
been saved too with ancient tombstones, on which Armenian inscriptions
are clearly visible, and the relatives of the deceased tell about
their ancestors. All this, surely, will be included in the film and
will be another convincing proof that it is Azerbaijan that still
occupies the part of Nagorno Karabakh territory”.
Based on the extensiveness of the material and the dimensions of the
spring-summer events in 1991, the film will likely consist of two
parts. The premiere is scheduled on May 2011, when the commemoration
day of the recurrent act of genocide against the Armenian people –
a crime against the humanity- will be marked, which, undoubtedly,
appears to be the Operation “Koltso”.
“The Ordinary Genocide” project is being realized by the support
of the “Information and Public Relations Center” of the Armenian
President. The première of the first three films – “Baku, January,
1990”, “Sumgait, February, 1988” and “Maragha, April, 1992” were shown
in January, April and September 2010; the films are translated into
several languages and are being spread in CD-ROM format as well as
through internet.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TT2vhhi-ZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI4kjgTYCbM