[26 February 1988]
Excerpts from a message by Mikhail S. Gorbachev to the Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as read in Russian over Yerevan Radio by Politburo member Vladimir I. Dolghikh
I am addressing you in connection with events in Nagorno-Karabagh and associated issues. The question has been raised of transferring this autonomous oblast from the Azerbaijan Republic into the structure of the Armenian Republic. Acuteness and drama have been attached to this question, which have led to tension and even actions going beyond the framework of legality.
I must say frankly that the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee has been disturbed by this turn of events. It is fraught with serious consequences. We de not wish to evade a frank, sincere discussion of various ideas and proposals. But this must be done calmly, within the framework of democratic process and legality, without allowing even the slightest damage to the internationalist cohesion of our peoples.
The most serious question of the people’s destiny cannot be placed in the power of spontaneity and emotion.
[…]
Yes, in our life there are unsolved problems. But fomenting of dissension and distrust between peoples will only interfere with the solution of these problems. This runs counter to our socialist principles and our morals, to the traditions of friendship and fraternity among Soviet peoples.
The point of Lenin’s nationalities policy is that every person, every nation should be able to develop freely, so that each people may satisfy its needs in all spheres of its social and political life, its mother tongue and culture, its customs and religious beliefs. Socialist internationalism is the source of our tremendous strength: Genuine fraternity and unity of the people constitute our path.
Not a few shortcomings and difficulties have accumulated in the Nagorno-Karabagh Autonomous Oblast. The new leadership of the oblast must adopt urgent measures to remedy the situation. In this regard, the Central Committee of the C. P. S. U. has issued very precise recommendations and will be watching closely for their fulfillment.
At the moment, what is most important is to concentrate on overcoming the existing situation, on solving concrete economic, social, ecological and other problems that have accumulated in Azerbaijan and Armenia, in the spirit of the policy of perestroika and renewal that is being realized throughout our country.
The traditions of friendship between the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples that have been built up in the years of Soviet rule must be cherished and strengthened in all their aspects. Only such an approach corresponds to the genuine interest of all the peoples of the U.S.S.R.
You know that it is intended to devote a special plenum of our party’s Central Committee to the development of national relations. It is planned to discuss a wide range of questions on this most important social sphere and, on the basis or principled gains of Lenin’s nationalities policy, to mark out the paths for the concrete solution of social, economic, cultural and other problems.
[BBC radio, cited in the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, March 5, 1988]
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[24 February, 1988]
Official reaction of “party activists” of Mountainous Karabagh after meeting with Moscow envoy
[The] meeting of the party activists in the Caucasian region of Karabagh has approved the evaluation of the situation in this autonomous area given by the Central Committee has called for normalizing the situation and consolidating the friendship between nations. The autonomous region was formed in 1923 as part of Azerbaijan. It is situated not far from the Soviet Republic of Armenia and is populated by 49 different nationalities, including a considerable number of Armenians. [sentence as heard] Lately some extremists have been demanding joining Karabagh to Armenia instead of Azerbaijan. Meeting with such demands were held in Stepanakert, Nakhichevan, and Agdam. The Central Committee [finds] that those claims contravene the interests of both republics and harm their relations. A secretary of the Central Committee, Georgiy Razumovskiy, has stated at a meeting of the party activists in Karabagh that the extremists’ activities can lead to serious consequences if responsible measures are not taken against them. There are many unsolved problems in the economic and cultural life of the region, but they ought to be solved in a businesslike way and not by a revision of the national and territorial status.
[Moscow World Service, February 24, 1988]
The Karabagh File, Documents and Facts, 1918-1988, First Edition, Cambridge Toronto 1988, by the ZORYAN INSTITUTE, edited by: Gerard J. LIBARIDIAN, pp. 101-103.
