On 29 May The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) launched two new books.

Karabakh, Istoriya v kontekste konflikta (Karabakh, History in the Context of Conflict) is a collection of 18 essays by leading Azerbaijani and international academics on the history of Karabakh and, in particular, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite the enormity of the political and social problems arising from Armenia’s continuing illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territory, few studies have brought together the work of both Azerbaijani and international historians.

This collection traces the history of the land and its people from first habitation, through the experiences of the early Caucasian Albanians and the influx of transplanted Armenians, especially from 1828 following the Treaty of Turkmenchay between Russia and Iran.

The history gives the context for analysis, especially by international writers, of the contemporary conflict and the problems arising from it.

Photographers Klaus Reisinger and Frederique Lengaigne

This first edition was published by Vestnik in St Petersburg, essentially to fill the gap in such studies in Russian academic literature. As the conflict impinges further on western consciousness too, an English edition of the texts is in preparation.

Khojaly Witness of a War Crime – Armenia in the Dock is the first book to be printed in English and published in the West that fully documents from original sources the massacre of 25-26 February 1992 – the worst atrocity so far in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
State offi cials, MPs, journalists and academics attend the launch

Opening with direct accounts by survivors of the Armenian assault that took the lives of 613 of their fellow townsfolk, the book continues with the personal recollections of the international journalists who were there to witness the immediate aftermath. These stories are supported by the first collection of pictures taken by prominent western and Russian photographers, many published for the first time.

The book also has the assessments of international human rights organisations and academic studies, as well as the texts of the many resolutions passed in condemnation. The latter section includes the full texts of the four resolutions passed by the UN Security Council in 1993, demanding the withdrawal of the occupying Armenian forces. The resolutions remain unfulfilled.
Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of the Azerbaijan Presidential Administration and head of its Foreign Relations Department

The two books were presented to a full house in the richly decorated Eastern Room in what was once the house of oil magnate and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev. The building now houses the National History Museum. Azerbaijani and British parliamentarians were in attendance at the launch along with Frederique Lengaigne and Klaus Reisinger, two of the photographers who contributed to the historical record of Khojaly.

Hard copies of the books are available from secretariat.baku@teas.eu and online from autumn. An e-version of Khojaly Witness of a War Crime – Armenia in the Dock is already available online.