To Donald Trump, the President of the United States,
To Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States,
Dear Mr. President,
Dear Vice President,
I’m Zaur Aliyev who is applying to You as PhD in Political Sciences, associate professor and Aghdam resident born in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, but was forced to leave the country as a result of the occupation of Armenia through Russian armed support in 1993. I ask You, as a resident of Karabakh, as well as a scientist, to prevent the injustice against Azerbaijan and more than one million refugees and IDPs of Azerbaijan.
I’m writing to You a short explanation of this word as the protest against renaming Maryland Avenue in Glendale, California as "Artsakh" avenue. Armenians themselves have no information about the name of Arsak and the history of "privatization" of this word by them. "Arsak" is related to the Sak, name of the ancient Turkic tribe and means "courageous sak", "brave sak", "sak man". Since the 2nd century before our era, some territories in the present Karabakh region and south of it (South Azerbaijan) were called Arsak. Subsequently, the use of Karabakh toponym compressed the word Arsak. However, it is still used in parallel with the word "Karabakh". According to initial medieval sources, Arsak was one of the most important provinces of Caucasian Albania. The territory of this state covered the area to the Hakari River and to the outer edges of the Karabakh range in the West, and to the Murovdagh Mountain Range in the North. Currently, the province is the mountainous part of Karabakh. After the Arabs, people of Arsak were able to preserve Christianity and were assimilated under the influence of the Armenians. If we look at the writings in the Middle Ages, then the word of Arsak can be found in Gandzasar and other Albanian monasteries. Armenians have changed Arsak to "Artsakh". However, in those ancient sources, the words of Hayastan or Armenia are not encountered.
Though Armenians' allegations and frauds, not only Azerbaijan, but also the international community used the term of Nagorno-Karabakh, none of the foreign diplomats, even in Iravan and Khankendi, use the word "Artsakh". In all official and diplomatic documents, the territory is referred to as Karabakh and as a territorial unit of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a simple example, it is sufficient to look at the UN Security Council resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (822, 853, 874 and 884-1993).
Today, we understand that Azerbaijan remains one of the allies of the West as a supplier of energy, although it is not a priority country in US foreign policy. Over the past decade, this line of cooperation has been effectively distinguished. There is always calling for friendship and cooperation in the attitude of our state toward United States. Your state requires democracy and protection of human rights from the side of Azerbaijan. If You require it, You are responsible for protecting the human rights of more than one million refugees and IDPs from Karabakh. If democracy means that the city's leadership consists of Armenians and so-called name is given to the street to try to violate the peace in the Caucasus, how it is possible to expect peace from You.
I ask You as a scientist, as a resident of Karabakh, as a teacher who teaches American model of democracy to confirm our expectations, to prevent this illegal step and not to let the part of the Maryland Avenue in Glendale be called "Artsakh".
Sincerely,
Zaur Aliyev,
PhD in Political Sciences, Associate Professor
Founder of Karabakh TV (zaur.aliyev@gmail.com , +994502682244)
