Sham trials of Armenians in Baku act of personal revenge against  Nagorno-Karabakh leaders - Konstantin Zatulin 

ArmInfo. First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Konstantin  Zatulin called the trial of Armenians in Baku, including the current  and former military-political leadership of Artsakh, a massacre.

He expressed his position during a round table organized by the  Institute of CIS Countries jointly with the Institute's branch in  Yerevan and the International "Lazarev Club" on the topic "Trial in  Baku: where will the desire for revenge lead?"

"How should we in Russia - I am a deputy of the Russian State Duma -  treat this? Of course, as a reprisal. I made a statement on this  matter, I hope you know it. I believe that this is an act of personal  revenge against the leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh. All those people  in question have been partners of the Azerbaijani leadership in  negotiations for many years, when it came to the overall process of  peaceful regulation within the framework of the Minsk Group, which  today they do not want to accept in Azerbaijan or in any other  negotiating formats," the Russian deputy noted.

According to him, this trial reflects the general desire of the  Azerbaijani leadership to continue celebrating the victory not just  over the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but over the Armenians and the  Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh in general. He argued his  words by the fact that it is accompanied not only by claims and  arrests and trials, but also by other actions.

"A free interpretation of history, according to which there is no  place for Armenians at all, not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in  the Caucasus in general. The fact that today attempts are being made  to rewrite the history of culture retroactively. Historical monuments  that are well known to all of us:  monasteries of the 5th century,  such as Amaras. Or, let's say, 12th century, such as Gendzasar or  Dadivank, are declared Albanian. As well as all historical cultural  monuments in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, dating back to the  time when the Azerbaijanis were not only not in this territory, but  did not exist at all as a nation in nature. They had not yet formed  it," he added.

Of course, according to the Russian MP, Azerbaijanis have lived for  many hundreds of years in the neighborhood or next to, or together  with Armenians in this territory, but not earlier than the Armenians.

"Which, in my opinion, is obvious to everyone except the leadership  of Azerbaijan itself. All this is accompanied by mockery of what is  dear to the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. The destruction of some  iconic monuments. The roof over the National Assembly or monuments to  individuals in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

All this is supposedly aimed at fitting Nagorno-Karabakh into the  cultural, ethnic, national, state space of Azerbaijan as quickly as  possible. How to return it to this space," Zatulin summed up.