Interviews Peter Lukimson, one of the outstanding Israeli Russian-speaking journalists and writers.
Q: Have you changed your opinion about the situation in Azerbaijan after arrival? What has impressed you most?
A: In fact, I am a constant lover man, and if I have ever cheated on Azerbaijan, it was only Israel. I would confess that for all those 20 years I have been avoiding the visit to Azerbaijan because I was assured that Baku, and the most important, its population have changed dramatically and it is an ‘alien’ city. I was afraid of coming and seeing that it is all true. I would like to admit that I am not the only coward. My close acquaintance, fanatically in love with Baku, who has not visited it since 1990, called me the day before my trip. “I believe only you!”, he said “If upon return, you say that it is ‘not our Baku’, it would mean it is really not our!”.
So, I was impressed by many kind and open faces on the streets, the very atmosphere within the city. It was my Baku and it remained my Baku, still walked through by Bakuvians. The city has become more national, ‘more Azerbaijani’, but I think this is not merely normal-this is how it has to be.
Q: Could you, please, share your impressions about the visit to the mass burial in Guba region of Azerbaijan?
A: Here, we would probably not agree with you. I am a man of weak nerves and I was unable to stay in that place for more than five minutes. I am convinced that the remains of the innocent people must be buried as soon as possible and a memorial must be erected in place of their mass grave. Our and, likely, your religion prescribe to bury the dead as soon as possible while demonstration of their remains means mocking at their honor and memory. In Israel, some offered crazy ideas to send the bodies of those who died in the rocket attacks from Gaza to Europe and demonstrate them to all to prove the implications of attacks against our country.
But some attempts were immediately prevented by the statement ‘we will never allow mocking at our deceased and will never use their remains for political purposes-no matter how noble they could seem'.
Q: Some believe Karabakh conflict threatens to be as protracted as Middle Eastern. Do you share this view?
A: I fear it is all true. But I hope those political ideas I developed in Azerbaijan and those I will bring to the supreme leadership of Israel will change something in this issue. Anyway, if they are accepted, the world attention to the Karabakh conflict will imminently become more instant.
Q: Azerbaijan, like Israel, has gone through ethnic cleansing, mass murders of its citizens, though, certainly, in narrower scale than it was during Holocaust. Meanwhile, Armenian authorities continue stating that Armenians and Azerbaijanis cannot coexist in the same region, considering their alleged ‘ethnic incompatibility’. What should be taken to eradicate mutual hatred between the two hostile nations?
A: While talking to Solmaz Togidi in Baku, we both came to a conclusion that we and you should avoid the term ‘genocide’ while speaking about such events. It has been distorted for some known reasons. The events in Guba should better be called ‘pogrom’, ‘massacre’ and other words of this kind. As for the very essence of your questions… For me the statements about ‘ethnic incompatibility’ and impossible coexistence of the two nations are not merely inadmissible, they are criminal. Middle East is the best proof that this thesis is wrong. On the other hand, in different historical periods, there have always been forces, unsatisfied with such a situation and they started to shed blood of their neighbors and finally got drowned in this blood themselves. I believe in the possibility of achieving peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. But we should understand that peace does not always mean the recovery of good neighbor relations between the peoples. ‘Shalom’ (‘peace’) does not mean ‘sulha’ (‘sulh’ means ‘peace’, ‘reconciliation’) so far. The word ‘sulha’ originates from ‘sliha’ – ‘apologize, forgiveness’.
To recover normal ties between the two nations, they first must forgive the blood, shed from both parties. Such wounds take long to heal and, therefore, we should not expect any political solution to the problem to immediately change the attitude. This would take decades. But I do not rule out that one day Armenians will again appear in Baku and Azerbaijanis in Yerevan. By the way Azerbaijanis also lived there in the past though no one speaks about it (I mean Yerevan, not Zangezur or adjacent regions).
Q: Azerbaijan and Israel are friendly countries. Along with interstate contacts, our countries also maintain activity on the level of communities. How do you evaluate the prospects of further cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel?
A: Prospects are really great on all levels, including economic, cultural and humanitarian. This cooperation already exists and is developing successfully. However, I would put the main stake on establishing closer political and diplomatic cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan on the international arena. This cooperation may bring significant dividends to us and to you and cause further rapprochement between our nations.
Peter Lukimson, one of the outstanding Israeli Russian-speaking journalists and writers, deputy editor-in-chief of the Weekly news, former editor-in-chief of Russian Israeli newspaper. He is the author of more than tens of books, published in Russia and Israel on Jewish and Israeli issues.
Leyla Tagiyeva
News.Az
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