In March and April of 2021, together with Tatul Hakobyan we initiated a book tour in The US visiting Armenian-American communities in different cities and states. Our goal was, to present Hakobya’s latest book about the devastating war in Nagorno Karabakh between September and November of 2020. Tatul worked on the ground as a reporter throughout the 44-day war and was keeping detailed record of the developments on daily bases. These records became the bases for his work titled “The Valley of Death, 44-day catastrophe”.
It was during this tour that we realized the importance of having the book translated into English, after seeing the great interest not only among Armenians in the US, but our American friends and colleagues, who follow the region of South Caucasus on regular bases. Thus, I promised to my old friend and colleague, that as soon as we finish our tour, I would undertake the work of translating his work and if I were to finish it early enough, the book would be published in English and be presented among non-Armenians only two months after our long drive of 6400 miles on great American highways.
One can imagine how tiring, but also exciting it can be to travel by car from New Jersey to Cleveland, Chicago, Las Vegas, LA and back to New Orleans, Atlanta and Washington DC only in two weeks. It was an incredibly memorable trip, which we were able to make together, as we believed in the importance of telling one of the hardest stories of our recent history. To communicate about the realities of this war with our compatriots by eyewitness’ account and stories. To hear questions and ideas from our Armenian-American compatriots about how we can find solutions out of the catastrophic situation in which Armenia and Artsakh found themselves.
While the topic of this publication is highly emotional for the Armenians, it is also very difficult to read the book especially after such a short time of this calamity of an incredible magnitude. The reader relives every single day of the war through author’s experience, who often reports about what he saw in great detail. It also gives a clearer picture of what happened during those 6 weeks, especially to those who were outside of Armenia and often had little or no trustworthy information about the war. This work shows how the official information provided to the public by Armenian and Karabakh officials during the war misled and confused our nation, when the realities on the ground were far worse from what we were being told. The way communication was failed, is probably yet another reason of why we lost so badly in this catastrophic combat.
“The Valley of Death” is not a book in its classical sense. It is rather an anthology of articles and a war diary, which the author kept during and after the active phase of the war. This is a collection of over 70 articles and publications by Tatul Hakobyan, where he discusses the history of Nagorno Karabakh war, touches upon the diplomatic and political history of negotiations, suggests parallels between the wars which Armenians fought against Turkey and Azerbaijan during the last century. Tatul’s great knowledge of especially modern Armenian history is a true asset and is very well reflected in this monograph.
In addition to this, it is also a great collection of data. One may even call it “everything you need to know about Karabakh wars”. Hakobyan has a special way of taking the reader through time, by going back and forth to early 20th century to late days of Soviet Union and modern developments. The text may sometimes seem discombobulated for those who are not highly informed about the Karabakh war, while some of the toponyms may sound strange to an English reader. However, it is also a great handbook for anyone conducting research about Nagorno Karabakh conflict, or conflict analysis in general.
If around three dozen out of 68 articles of the book are actually about the day-to-day developments of the 44-day war, the other half of the book suggests highly valuable data and analysis about the general environment in Armenia, Artsakh, Azerbaijan, the region of South Caucasus, as well as wider geopolitics. Policies of Turkey, Russia, Iran, the European Union, the United States will appear often in the articles. Analysis of great gambles in big politics are suggested from author’s perspective based on and backed by facts and his own encounters with high level diplomats, state leaders, military generals and others.
Hakobyan’s work is of great value for scholars and students of political science, international relations, history and conflict resolution. Experts in the area of Caucasus and former Soviet Union may benefit from the publication as well. Among other things, an eyewitness’ account of the most devastating war of 2020 can become an important resource for those researching and studying conflict and politics.
Without further due, I would like to thank my friend Tatul for inviting me to this work of translation, which highly enriched my own knowledge of our history, made me revisit my perceptions, stereotypes and dreams. Thus, if you have been following this conflict closely and are ready to challenge your own thoughts and beliefs “The Valley of Death” is the book to read.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my dear friend Nejdeh Bagramian for his great support of the translation process. Nejdeh did the proofreading of every single piece, as soon as the English translation was ready and gave highly valuable feedback, thus encouraging my work.
May 17, 2021
Arsen Kharatyan
