Category: Projects

Our lands under occupation
of those who died for freedom
in dear memory

The negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict had reached a dead end. The provocations of the new forces that came to power in Armenia increased against Azerbaijan. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's regular visits to the occupied Shusha, playing yalli in the ancient city of Azerbaijan, holding the "swearing-in ceremony of the president of Nagorno-Karabakh" in Shusha, and declaring that the separatist parliament will also move to our ancient city showed that war was inevitable. The provocation perpetrated by the Armenian armed forces in July was the last straw for our patience.

You can download the book here: Iron Fist

I dedicate it to the dear memory of those who died in the Karabakh war.

2016 was a year to remember. The 4-day April battles in the front area created excitement in the Azerbaijani society. "If it is possible to return the strategic height and settle the village that has been empty for more than 20 years, we will have the strength to liberate other territories under occupation" dominated the society. However, in 2016 there was hope as well as despair. After the April war, the hopes that the great powers would influence the occupying Armenia and vacate the regions around Nagorno-Karabakh did not come true. It became clear that even the threat of war is not enough to make the co-chairing states - Russia, France and the United States of America - to bring the Armenian authorities on their way. The meetings of the presidents in Vienna and St. Petersburg with the participation of mediators were unsuccessful. Before the start of the war, various meetings and visits to the region were held during the year. I wrote the book "April fire(kas)i" about the details of the progress and the negotiations regarding Karabakh that year.

You can download the book here: April Fire

Starting from 2014, I made regular visits to Ukraine and analyzed the situation there. While the second "Maidan movement" was underway in Kiev, Russia annexed Crimea, followed by Moscow-backed separatists in Donbas against the central government. Going from Kyiv to Donetsk city, I analyzed the situation there on the spot, and based on the occupation of Azerbaijani lands in the early 1990s, I came to the conclusion that a more serious crisis awaits Ukraine. In front of my eyes, separatists and special forces sent from Russia were seizing administrative buildings in the city of Donetsk. While I was in Donetsk, I received the news that the first 5 people were killed. I returned to Kyiv by train from Donetsk, and it was the last train from Donbass to the capital of Ukraine. The struggle of Kiev with the separatists began. I narrated my observations and meetings in Kyiv and Donetsk in the book "Maidan Dan Maidan" written in Russian. I presented the book both in Baku and Kyiv.

You can download the book here: From "Maidana" to "Maidana"

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Elkhan Sahinoglu wrote the book "Nagorno-Karabakh: Status without Status" in 2010. At that time, although the Azerbaijani authorities did not reject the issue of status in general, they emphasized that it was possible to discuss this topic after the initial items of the "staged" settlement plan were fulfilled. However, during and after the Second Karabakh War, the Azerbaijani authorities repeatedly declared that the issue of the status of Karabakh would not be discussed.

States facing separatism, including Azerbaijan, have a growing interest in autonomies in different regions of the world. These models need to be studied and researched. It should be mentioned that the Dalai Lama, one of the famous figures of the world, went to South Tyrol during his visit to Italy in 2009. The purpose of the Dalai Lama's visit to the region, who fought for the autonomy of Tibet, was to get acquainted with the example of how peoples live together in the autonomous province connected to Italy. Armenian separatists also need to study these and similar experiences. Because in the end, the status that will be given to Nagorno-Karabakh will not exceed the status of the 10 models narrated in this book.

You can get the book here: Nagorno-Karabakh-Statusless Status