On the 3rd of January of the current year, the novel by Azerbaijani journalist who has emigrated from Azerbaijan, Zeynal Ibrahimov, entitled “35 Letters to My Son” came to life.
The author of “35 Letters to My Son”, unravels Heydar Aliyev’s role in the events of 1988-1993 in Azerbaijan, starting from the genesis of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and ending with his coming to power.
The novel depicts the Armenian pogroms in Baku from 13 to 20 of January, 1990, as well as the inner background of the tragic events of Azerbaijani-settled Khojalu city are revealed, which led to the death of a huge number of peaceful residents.
Author himself writes in the annotation:
“Shame, humiliation, and contempt made me write this novel, shame for what I saw with my very own eyes, humiliation for a country that has slipped into fascism and degradation of all human values, contempt for a lie that has been presented to the world for almost three decades, for the world which silently swallows this lie, washing it down with millions of barrels of oil. Aliyev family turned the population of Azerbaijan into the crowd of intimidated slaves. No one dares to openly acknowledge the total falsification of history in Azerbaijan or to challenge Azerbaijan’s involvement in the ethnic and territorial conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. No one in the country dares to recognize the historical reality of genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. I know that I will be cursed not only by the Azerbaijani authorities but also resented by the complacent crowd without the tacit consent of which no dictatorship can exist. For the dictator does not just sit on the throne. He sits in each of those who lie, hate or those who are afraid or silent.”
The review of the novel of the expert of Armenian Institute of International Relations and Security, the editor of the Russian version of “Aravot” edition, Ruben Mehrabyan, constitutes: “The novel presented by Zeynal Ibrahimov, in the form of 35 letters to his son, is a reflection of the atmosphere which reigned in Baku throughout different periods of its history – Soviet period, the period of the collapse of the Soviet empire, early post-soviet, late post-soviet – current. A red line highlights the phased order of the mutation of the public consciousness, which played an important role in the formation of the atmosphere of hostility, the target of which became Armenians of Baku 1988 onwards, after which they were subjected to organized pogroms on January, 1990. The author also illustrates the dynamics of the formation of the personalistic dictatorship of Aliyev clan, using the collapse of the USSR for the full subjection of the post-Soviet republic.
The narration is in the form of autobiography and is the expression of personal feelings of the author, who became the random witness of the events which brought to the formation of the regime, rhetoric and practice of which prevailingly correspond to all characteristics of the phenomena known in the political science as fascism and Nazism, and throughout the dynamics of its development repeating the analogous route in Germany and coutry-sattelites largely, adopting its sad example in the 30s of the previous century. Only in place of Jews and Slavic, here the main target were and remain Armenians…
We need to pay tribute to the author for his perception of the depth of the drama that has taken place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and for civic courage to call all things by their proper names, and for literary mastery in presenting these events for the edification of the next generations.”
The book by Zeynal Ibrahimov “35 Letters to My Son” is available at internet book-store amazon.com in electronic (ASIN: B078SWLJLT) and paper (ISBN-13: 978-1983480676) versions. Follow the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1983480673/?tag=a-fwdnua-20