In addition, the ideology stating that the stigmatized Armenian residents of Baku constitute a threat or provoke negative emotions permeates the information space of Baku and Azerbaijan, as a whole. The borderline between stigmatized and correct persons is clearly marked. “The media and the daily life swarm with concepts of stigma: “historical enemies”, “a small Armenian bastard”, the derogatory term “Khachik” and so forth. You can say that ethnicity becomes the quality which sets apart the Armenians of Baku and distinguishes them from the other residents of the city and other citizens of Azerbaijan”.114
Following a spate of pogroms on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and attempts to completely purge the country of ethnic Armenians, some of them had to remain in Azerbaijan for various reasons.
They can be conventionally divided into several categories since they often migrate from one category into another.
1. Elderly, sick and lonely people are those who were not in position to leave the country and did not envisage their lives elsewhere, as Azerbaijan was the place where they had been born and raised; they had no other place to go and no one to host them.
There are no data on the number and later fates of those who had been stranded on the territory of Azerbaijan. However, it can be reasonably assumed that by now most of them have already passed away due to their health condition, age and lack of proper care and social protection.
2. Persons bound by intermarriage: those included under this category can be ranked as the most ‘problem-free’ as they enjoy protection from their husbands and children. As Sevil Huseinova notes in her research,115 these were Armenian women who had married the Azerbaijanis, and whose husbands and children could warrant their safety. As a rule, their lives were less endangered during the pogroms, their houses were not seized, and many of them could keep their jobs and property.
However, as evidenced by scarce publications and reports by international organizations, these women, too, had to face manifestations of extreme, moderate or latent xenophobia. For personal safety reasons, they had to alter their appearance116, last and first names, place of residence and work; they also concealed their origin to fully accommodate the realities of the modern Azerbaijan, but on the whole they had no regrets about the choice they made.
Liana – Leila: “By then, I had already formally changed my name to Leïla. But shortly after, our new neighbors, who were Azerbaijanis banished from Armenia, learned about my Armenian descent. At first, they shot angry glances at me. When they saw me passing in the street, they used to hurl abuse at my back so that I could hear it. Their resentment was understandable as they had lost their homes and shelter, just like the Armenians, who had been forced to leave the city, in which they had lived for decades. I understood why they did not treat me well. But this lasted only a short time. Time heals all, as I learned first-hand. Our neighbors accepted me, and we have had very good relations,” tells Leïla. < > Nobody in Lankaran, except her husband’s family, knows of Leïla’s Armenian descent.117
However, this relatively unscathed category of women includes those who found themselves marooned in the Azerbaijani society and had to go through their share of trials and tribulations reserved for Armenians. Manush Khujoyan, the representative of the Saved Relics organization, told the story of the sister of one of their organization members who had remained in Baku.
“During the Sumgait pogroms, as everybody was fleeing, the husband of that woman had convinced her to stay behind, vouching for her safety; however, with the advent of the Karabakh war, he immediately divorced her. This woman shares the lot of many other Armenians in Azerbaijan and lives in very poor conditions, without any documents. To this day, she holds a soviet passport”. The ‘Saved Relics’ wanted to help this woman come to Armenia with the mediation of the Red Cross; however, she refused to contact the Red Cross as she seriously feared for her life.118
3. The term Homo soveticus refers to those who had hoped that the “tide” would subside, and the things would resume their ordinary course. Account must be taken of the fact, that the pogroms were perpetrated as the Soviet Union was still alive and kicking, and it could not possibly occur to a number of people that the soviet government would not find a way to remedy the situation. A year later, as the Soviet Union disintegrated, the ensuing economic collapse and the war against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic made travel impossible as crossing the border meant disclosing one’s ethnic origin and therefore was unsafe.
Kamalya Yesina, Karina Sargsyan: She wanted to leave, but stayed. At first, she thought that things would get to normal, and it was only a nightmare. But with every new day, the situation spiraled. Neighbors and relatives left the country. Memories of past conversations rushed back. “Didn’t I foretell this situation,” said her uncle in one of those ‘kitchen conversations’, and he was right. <…> The decade of the 1980s drew to its end… Sitting in an empty kitchen, she answered the questions of her own monologue. And they were so numerous. There could be but one answer: pack up things and leave. But where and why? <…> “Good that my parents didn’t live to see these dreadful days. At the turn of the 1990s, the neighbors left. For good. Tears poured profusely. Hopelessness, fear and bitterness”, recalls Karina. Her relatives who lived next door left back in January 1990. <…> As they left, she knew for sure that she would stay in Baku. <…> Her last name is Russian, her children are considered Russians, and Russians are spared in Azerbaijan,” and they will spare me too,” she reasoned. <…> Today, Kamalya Yesina has no regrets about her staying. She simply could not leave. But she confides that these years have claimed a heavy toll on her looks… prematurely.119
Zhanna Shahmuradyan: Baku. Two women of Armenian descent will receive identity documents from the Republic of Azerbaijan. <…> Earlier the applicant Zh. Shahmuradyan filed a court petition asking to issue an identity document for her daughter. The applicant motivated her claim with the fact that she was born in Baku in 1966 and had lived there ever since. In 1983, she was issued a soviet passport for the last time. She never left the territory of Azerbaijan, but the police turned down her request for evident reasons. In 1992, she met an Azerbaijani man and lived with him for a while in a common-law marriage. They had a daughter named Ayla. However, as the girl’s mother had no documents, the child was not issued a birth certificate. In the meanwhile, Zh. Shahmuradyan submitted evidence to the Administrative-Economic Court № 1 of Baku attesting the fact that she and her daughter indeed had lived in Azerbaijan for many years. As a result, the court instructed the Main Passport, Registration and Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to issue documents to these women. “After we receive the documents, I will first of all travel to Russia to meet my mother whom I haven’t seen for long. But I will have to return to my daughter”, says the woman.120
Nora Vartanesovna Varagyan: After the ruling of the Court of Appeals of Baku in respect of the Police Department of Nasimi district, the applicant Nora Vartanesovna Varagyan filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. Presently, the case is examined by Asad Mirzoyev, Civil Board member of the Supreme Court. The cassation will be examined on May 8.