Zatulin: The trial in Baku — celebrating the victory over the Armenians

The trial of the former leaders of Nagorno—Karabakh is an act of personal revenge, Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin said during the round table "Trial in Baku: what will the desire for revenge lead to".

"How should we in Russia, — I am a deputy of the Russian State Duma, — should I treat this? Of course, as a reprisal… I think this is an act of personal revenge against the leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh. All those people in question, for many years, have been partners of the Azerbaijani leadership in negotiations when it came to the whole process of peaceful regulation within the framework of the Minsk Group, which today they do not want to accept in Azerbaijan or in some other negotiation formats," Zatulin said.

According to him, "this trial reflects the common desire of the Azerbaijani leadership to continue celebrating the victory over not just the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but over the Armenians and the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh in general."

"Because it is accompanied not only by claims and arrest and trial, but also by other actions. A free interpretation of history, according to which there is no place for Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but in the Caucasus as a whole. The fact that today attempts are being made to rewrite the history of culture retroactively. We all know well-known historical monuments: monasteries of the 5th century, such as Amaras. Or, for example, the XII century, like Gendzasar or Dadivank, are declared Albanian. As well as in general all the monuments of cultural history on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, dating back to the time when Azerbaijanis did not exist not only on this territory, but did not exist at all as a nation in nature. They haven't formed it yet," Zatulin said.

Of course, he said, Azerbaijanis have been living in the neighborhood or next to, or together with Armenians in this territory for many hundreds of years, "but not before the Armenians." This, according to the MP, is obvious to everyone except the leadership of Azerbaijan itself.

"All this is accompanied by mockery of what is dear to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The destruction of some iconic monuments. Roofs over the National Assembly or monuments to individuals on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. All this is allegedly aimed at integrating Nagorno-Karabakh into the cultural, ethnic, national, and state space of Azerbaijan as soon as possible. How to bring him back to this space," Zatulin added.

Earlier, the MP noted that his friends, former NKR presidents Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, as well as former NKR State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, who renounced his Russian citizenship to share the fate of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, were on the bench accused of "war" crimes in 1,389 criminal cases from October 1987 to April 22, 2024. Karabakh.