Rector of Baku Music Academy: We should have defended Shusha!

- What is your memory of Shusha?

- If there is a heaven on earth, it is in Shusha. A fresh air, unique for its scenic beauty, crystal clear springs, which have brought the fame to these places, magnificent mountains, seemingly inclined right in the heavenly firmament around Shusha is what we have lost. Of course, in the Soviet times much negative things were done. This city of paradise was filled with ridiculous buildings that spoiled unique the image of Shusha - a town with one-and two-storied houses.

But all these mistakes, all failures could have been addressed if our Shusha remained with us. If .... Alas, so far we can only state bitterly that we also lost the unique culture of Shusha, a really great school of musicians and performers. There are already no such voices as those of children who were lucky to be born and grow up in Shusha. There are voices a bit better or worse, but there are still not the same! But the main thing is that the loss of Shusha was a large blow to the honor and dignity of the Azerbaijanis. We are still unable to recover from this shock.

- And which places in  Shusha are most dear to you?

- Of course, this is - a ring of mountains framing the plateau Dzhydyr Dyuzyu. It has seen and heard many famous singers. In addition, the ubiquitous Shusha boys did not miss the chance to play with this wonder of nature. The children's voices, just are just learning basics of mugham singing were heard everyday from different mountain descends and echo responded to them from the surrounding mountains uniting them into a single whole.

- How do you feel today, after so many years already since we have lost Shusha, could we defend the city?

- We should have to defend Shusha! Alas, our people has repeatedly lost their lands in the result of political intrigues. And yet ... We should have done everything possible in order not to lose Shusha! If it was not possible to do so by military means, we should have done it through political means, if this is not successful, then we should have to pay, agree, to do everything possible to avoid losing Shusha. Alas ...

- And where were you on 8 May 1992?

- In this tragic day for everyone Azerbaijani  I was in Baku. I do not think that I could be a good military. But we have done everything that could possibly be done: visited military units, where we met with soldiers and officers. These meetings were needed only in a moral and psychological sense. At that time Azerbaijan needed a clear military leadership. And Azerbaijan did not have such a leadership. When an ordinary teacher becomes the minister of defense, it becomes a problem for a country.

- In June 2007, after OSCE monitoring on the fire contact line you together with the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu and the rector of the Slavonic University Kamalom Abdullah flew in a special helicopter to Shusha. Do you remember your home town at that time?

- Shusha without Azerbaijanis is a dead city. I think that at heart Armenians are still convinced that, sooner or later, Shusha will return to Azerbaijan town. We just need to change the rhetoric. We have to stop to shake the air with spread-eagle statements, and give way to a firm understanding that the Azerbaijanis and Armenians of Shushi, what, incidentally, speak our language even better than some of the Baku Azeris, will work together and live peacefully in Shusha.

Any spread-eagle statements from both sides make it impossible to establish peace in the region, delaying the process of settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

/Day.Az/