“
Before you trust your camel to Allah's protection, tie it fast on to your fence.
”
”
Kurban Said (Ali and Nino)
“
I never wish to celebrate
The year of my birth,
For fear lest I wake,
By the clinking of glasses and noisy mirth,
All those who sleep in memory's vaults.
”
”
Isa Ismayilzade
“
The Khojaly genocide, which once again exposed the face of Armenian fascism, is a historical crime against not only the people of Azerbaijan but also humanity. It must be condemned by the civilized world in compliance with international law
”
”
Heydar Aliyev (Qlobal Ufuqlar: Prezident Aliyevin ABS Safari)
“
We’re bordering two nations that would rather we didn’t exist. Turkey tried its best to eliminate us and denies it happened. And Azerbaijan, on the other side, claims we stole their land—us, the indigenous civilization that has lived there for three millennia. It’s . . .
”
”
Taleen Voskuni (Sorry, Bro)
“
A huge majority know nothing of the idea or ideal of the nation.
We remain without a compass and our society, like a group of lunatics, fights among itself.
”
”
Mehmet Emin Resulzade
“
Even if you forget you're a Turk, your enemy will not.
”
”
Ebulfez Elchibey
“
You know when I am in the U.S.S.R. people write to me in "Pravda" when there is an injustice in a town in Azerbaijan. They say "Karkov" will help us.
”
”
Ernest Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls)
“
Nagorno Karabakh we sold, without the faintest sigh,
We auctioned off our factories until our wealth ran dry,
Now we are slaves or exiles, thieving strangers are our lords,
For whom our prostrate backs a wide and easy road affords.
”
”
Bextiyar Vahabzede
“
Once upon a time, when the evil spirit of darkness reigned over the Land of Azerbaijan, hiding the sun inside his underground caves,
When the orphan sky peered at the Caucasus Mountains from the black dome of sorrow,
When the rain shed its tears of ice upon the barren earth…
”
”
Ella Leya (The Orphan Sky)
“
In 2019, a study by the Open Technology Fund identified 102 countries to which China had exported information-control technologies. These included autocracies such as Egypt and Azerbaijan, as well as semi-authoritarian or even democratic states such as Brazil, Malaysia, Poland, and South Korea.240
”
”
Kai Strittmatter (We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State)
“
If Russia is to survive its demographic Twilight, it must do nothing less than absorb in whole or in part some 11 countries — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. This Twilight War will be a desperate, sprawling military conflict that will define European/Russian borderland for decades.
”
”
Peter Zeihan (The Absent Superpower: The Shale Revolution and a World Without America)
“
It's the symbol of freedom (the gray wolf) for all the Turks. We are all Gray Wolves now, and Elchibey is the leader of a greater Turkic world!
”
”
An Azerbaijani officer
“
If there were no war,
We could construct a bridge between Earth and Mars
Melting weapons in an open-hearth furnace.
”
”
Mammad Araz
“
A day that's free, a man that's free,
A spring like this invites a spree!
Seek out the shade of a plane tree
To spread a rug that's rainbow-spun-
And hail the country of the Sun!
”
”
Səməd Vurğun
“
Paths are long,
Paths are short -
Doest it make any difference
In what country,
Or on what path you lose your way?
”
”
Səməd Vurğun
“
With a generous heart,
With a mind that sounds the depths of existence,
Your dreams will not die,
Your thoughts will not fade.
If there is a divine light in your soul,
Hold it up as a torch
And from your tiny kitchen
You will be able to see the great world.
”
”
Nigar Rafibayli
“
We are a pair of dice joined together in the game of fate,
We never get along although we've rolled together for hundreds of years.
Millions of people share this tiny light,
The world belongs to you,
The world belongs to me,
The world belongs to nobody.
”
”
Mammad Araz
“
They can be divided three ways: those that are neutral, the pro-Western group and the pro-Russian camp. The neutral countries – Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan – are those with fewer reasons to ally themselves with Russia or the West. This is because all three produce their own energy and are not beholden to either side for their security or trade. In the pro-Russian camp are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia. Their economies are tied to Russia in the way that much of eastern Ukraine’s economy is (another reason for the rebellion there).
”
”
Tim Marshall (Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics)
“
Within twenty-five years of the prophet Muhammad's death in 632, they had conquered all of the Fertile Crescent and Persia, and thrust into Armenia and Azerbaijan. Their lightning advance was even more penetrating towards the west: Egypt fell in 641 and the rest of North Africa as far as Tunisia in the next decade. Two generations later, by 712, the Arabic language had become the medium of worship and government in a continuous band of conquered territories from Toledo and Tangier in the west to Samarkand and Sind in the east. No one has ever explained clearly how or why the Arabs could do this.
”
”
Nicholas Ostler (Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World)
“
I don't like these outdated traditions.
I don't like this love for tombs,
I don't like this kind of respect,
I don't like it
I don't want this untimely honor,
I'd never change one moment of my life
For thousands of golden deaths.
I'd never change one ounce of respect while alive
For thousands of tombs when I'm dead.
”
”
Jabir Novruz
“
Firstly, the Azerbaijanian struggle for a measure of autonomy and self-government is genuine and is locally inspired. The facts of history and existing conditions show that Azerbaijan has always been struggling to overthrow the feudal conditions imposed upon it (and upon the rest of Iran) by corrupt Iranian Governments.
Secondly, the extent of Russian interference appeared to be negligible. In our travels we saw few Russian troops, and in Kurdistan we saw none at all. The leaders of the Azerbaijanian Government are not Russians but Azerbaijanians, and with few exceptions their sole aim seems to be the recovery and improvement and economic reform of Azerbaijan. There may be some Russian influence by indirect means, but I would suggest that it is less than our own influence in Iran which we exercise by direct control of ministers, political parties, state financiers, and by petty bribery.
As for Kurdish Independence. The Kurds ask for an independence of their own making, not an independence sponsored by the British Government. Like the Azerbaijanians the Kurds are seeking real autonomy, and more than that, self-determination. Our present scheme to take them over and use them as a balancing factor in the political affairs of the Middle East is a reflection upon the honest of our intentions, and a direct blow at the spirit of all good men.
”
”
James Aldridge (The Diplomat)
“
Oil
“Soviet Russia cannot survive without Baku’s oil,” told comrade Vladimir Lenin.
One of the plans was to drain the Caspian Sea:
“Is it possible? Can you drain the Caspian Sea?” said the powerful Stalin. It was more an order than a question.”
(- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Azerbaijan - Oil Country).
Mafia
“With his wife Victoria, they reigned here for nineteen years. This period Georgians called ironically the Victorian Era, and his wife got the name Queen Victoria.
Victoria created the system when all was for sale: state documents ten times the price; 5,000 roubles to enter the Communist party; 50,000 for the judge job, … “
(- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Gruzia - Where Soviet Mafia Was Born).
Smoking
“Smoking breaks in the USSR were long and often—and became an official excuse not to work, causing huge damage to the already failing state economy. But on the other hand, with zero unemployment and prison terms, if you are not on a payroll, the state could not provide enough work for everybody.
People had to show up every day in the workplace. Boredom from nothing-to-do turned into massive laziness and Soviet workers spent long hours in the smoke rooms. For some, it was a place to relax, for others, to provoke a frank conversation—because … Well, let’s talk about it later.”
(- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Litva - Friends and Rebels).
God
“The bus was driving slowly, just forty km an hour on the slippery winter road. Outside was a spectacular view of the Caucasus mountains. Here and there appeared churches: nearby and far away, but always on the top of the hill:
“Closer to God, as high as possible,” crossed His mind.
The bus stopped with a creaking sound, and He slowly got off:
“For me, Khor Virap Monastery will be the resting place: from the Soviet life … from the communist lies … I shall spend here the rest of my life. And from here … I shall go to eternity …” these were His last thoughts before He entered the monastery gate. He was dead tired from all that happened, walking uphill closer to God.”
(- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Armenia - Road in the First Christian State).
”
”
Angelika Regossi (Russian Colonial Food: Journey through the dissolved Communist Empire)
“
With life that is an endless, lasting fight,
With kindling flames that rage in blood and heart,
With sun and moon, with morning and with night,
And with the sky's vast cupola, how to part?
”
”
Mikayil Mushfig
“
Heydar Baba, when the thunder resounds across the skies,
When floods roar down the mountainsides,
And the girls line up to watch it rushing by,
Send my greetings to the tribesmen and the village folk
And remember me and my name once more.
”
”
Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar
“
I saw him for the first time in Rangoon
In the zoo.
In a colorful, grilled iron cage.
A lonely white elephant in an iron cage.
His eyes were black, as were his nails,
But he himself snow-white.
He looked at you in such a way
As if to speak.
One can rarely find a white elephant,
One can rarely find an elephant in captivity.
He left the forest a year ago,
And can't stand his heartache in the cage.
And very often
He raises his trunk and roars,
Shedding crocodile tears,
And calling on his free brothers
To help him.
They say that elephants live long lives.
White elephant, white elephant!
Do you need a long life
Imprisoned in a cage for a hundred years?
White elephant, white elephant!
”
”
Rasul Rza
“
A flag once raised will never fall!
”
”
Mehmet Emin Resulzade
“
Remember we Azeris had barely a single general. But I was the one who got the Russian army out of our country.
Remember, I talked in Turkish through a translator to Yeltsin, not in Russian, something that was never done before. Yeltsin once hit his spoon on Akayev's head, but I refused to let them do such things to me.
”
”
Ebulfez Elchibey
“
I left the door open for Aliyev. I thought, he won't let Russia back in. Remember, Soviet Russia had crushed him and thrown him out.
”
”
Ebulfez Elchibey
“
In 2016, ten additional countries were added to the OPEC cartel to form OPEC+. These countries are Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
Make no mistake. The OPEC+ Cartel was formed to exert even more monopolistic control over global fossil fuels production supply and pricing. OPEC+ now directly controls well over 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves. Therefore, every consumer in the world is subjugated to whatever prices and production OPEC+ dictate.
”
”
Neo Trinity (Decoding Elon Musk's Secret Master Plans: Why Electric Vehicles and Solar Are a Winning Financial Strategy)
“
The Khojaly genocide, which once again exposed the face of Armenian fascism, is a historical crime against not only the people of Azerbaijan but also humanity. It must be condemned by the civilized world in compliance with international law
”
”
Heydar Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
“
We have all of Iran on our right, Iraq and the Persian Gulf on our left, and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey ahead of us
”
”
David Archer (Mason's Law (Alex Mason #3))
“
Israel is now one of the top ten weapons dealers in the world, having sold a range of equipment to nations including India, Azerbaijan, and Turkey that worsened conflicts in their own regions. The Israeli government approved every defense deal brought to it since 2007, according to details uncovered in 2022 by Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack.
”
”
Antony Loewenstein (The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World)
“
The world is listening. Israeli arms sales in 2021 were the highest on record, surging 55 percent over the previous two years to US$11.3 billion. Europe was the biggest recipient of these weapons, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, followed by Asia and the Pacific. Rockets, aerial defense systems, missiles, cyberweapons, and radar were just some of the equipment sold by the Jewish state. The result is that Israel is now one of the top ten weapons dealers in the world, having sold a range of equipment to nations including India, Azerbaijan, and Turkey that worsened conflicts in their own regions. The Israeli government approved every defense deal brought to it since 2007, according to details uncovered in 2022 by Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack.
”
”
Antony Loewenstein (The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World)
Mark Walters (Footloose: Twisted Travels Across Asia, From Australia To Azerbaijan (Gonzo Travel Books, #1))
“
The club survived though and became a symbol of hope and pride for over half a million refugees scattered across Azerbaijan, many of whom still live in temporary settlements within a few kilometers of the frontline.
”
”
Arthur Huizinga (Offside - Football in Exile)
“
In less than fifteen minutes, one of the missiles exploded over Tehran, while the other one released an electromagnetic pulse thirty miles above the country of Iran. Tehran ceased to exist in minutes, while the power went out and electronics were fried in the rest of Iran, Kuwait, half of Iraq, and in parts of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan (not that it mattered there), Azerbaijan, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some of the even smaller Persian Gulf countries. The EMP affected the regions by throwing them back to the nineteenth century as far as technology goes, while Afghanistan pretty much remained in the Stone Age.
”
”
Cliff Ball (Times of Trial: Christian End Times Thriller (The End Times Saga Book 3))
“
Football’s power to unite can be stronger than its ability to divide though. For the people of Ağdam: as long as there’s football, there’s hope.
”
”
Arthur Huizinga
“
The Safavids were either of Kurdish or Turkish origin. In the late thirteenth century, a member of the Safavid family founded a Sunni Sufi religious brotherhood in Azerbaijan, the Turkish-speaking region of northwestern Iran. The brotherhood attracted an ardent following among the Turkish pastoral tribes of the area, and by the late fifteenth century its influence had expanded into Anatolia and Syria. The heads of the brotherhood led the tribes in a series of expeditions against the Christians of the Caucasus, thereby acquiring temporal power as well as enhancing their reputations as servants of Islam. Their Turkish followers were known as Qizilbash, the Redheaded Ones, after the red headgear they wore to identify themselves as supporters of the Safavid brotherhood.
”
”
William L. Cleveland (A History of the Modern Middle East)
“
Sumqayit, Azerbaijan
”
”
Anonymous
“
All your decisions discount the Persians themselves, and that is the mistake of your ignorance and your plotting. To you the Persian is a stupid peasant who can't decide his own affairs; an uncultured wretch who will take all manner of deceit and oppression and diplomatic twisting. If you do see any signs, any glimmer of revolt, you blame the Russians and take it to the Security Council. But it isn't the Russians. It's the peasant himself who is revolting. If any of you understood Iran you would know that. Dirty and wretched they may be, opium-ridden and backward and dull, but they are really the people you should fear, not the Russians. It may take time and there may be set-backs, but sooner or later the Persians are going to throw us out and throw out all our corrupt and friendly governments. They don't need any complicated political excuse to revolt, however much you cry Communism. There isn't a simple man, woman or child in Iran who isn't landlord-ridden,m who isn't a slave by the way in which he works, who isn't preyed upon by corrupt officials, who isn't beaten and insulted and robbed by the police and the army. The peasants are impoverished by the tithes they must pay the Khans, and the mechanics are underpaid and underfed and overworked. There isn't an adult in Iran who isn't ridden with some chronic disease, there isn't a child who survives all the ravages of poverty and dirt and sickness. The whole government structure is rotten with bribery and extortion and petty cruelties, and there isn't a modicum of justice in the land. There are no real courts, no political rights, no representative government, no wage laws, no right to organize, no means of adjusting the bad conditions of life except by revolting as the Azerbaijanians and the Kurds are revolting. Thank heavens the Russians have given them a chance to revolt; and damn us for preventing it wherever we can. We will fail anyway, whatever the Security Council decides in New York. You can get the Russians out of Azerbaijan and you can give it back to your merchants and wazirs of Teheran, but after a little while it will all begin again because you cannot stop the Persian from deciding his own affairs. He is not ignorant and stupid to his political situation. He is not so wretched and afraid of revolt. He is not even uncultured: in the language he speaks and the use he makes of it there is more natural culture among the peasants of Iran than you can find among the world's diplomats a the Savoy Hotel. He is backward and poor and dirty, but that is largely due to the influence we have had on Iran for a hundred years or more. Now it is too late for us. These people have reached the breaking point and they don't care about the wise men of the House of Commons and the clever men of the Security Council. These people are desperate, and for our reckless methods of holding our power and our oil it ought to be a warning. It will all go. The oil, the power, and the last drop of influence. Rather than let us have any of it the Persian will wreck Abadan and the wells and every other sign of our presence and our strength there. They are beginning to hate us and that is beginning a battle which we can't stop, which you can't stop in the Security Council. Unless we are determined to kill every man in the country we will lose. We cannot help but lose.
”
”
James Aldridge (The Diplomat)
“
I'd like you to see that we are interfering too drastically. WE can't just assume so completely that Azerbaijan is in the hands of dangerous men and vicious Bolsheviks. I suppose it's all in the way you see Iran. I'd like you to see that Iranians are just as serious about their politics as we are: perhaps more so. The Iranian is a vigorous individual with definite ideas about the right and wrong done to him. It's easy for these journalists to laugh at the idea of political spontaneity among the Iranians because they look on these people as dirty, stupid, childlike natives who stare open-mouthed while the wonders of the west are offered to them.
…...
They are not like that at all. They want proper government, the same as anybody else. They have certainly tried hard enough to get it, but they haven't had a chance. We have done a great deal to prevent them getting real government. It may shock you, but we have always wanted corrupt administrations. Since the Reuter concessions sixty years ago we have begaved like American gangsters using threats, money, and even war to extort privileges and concessions which amounted to owning the country. At one time we had complete control over the administration, over the entire wealth of the land, the banks, and the army. It's rather silly to say the Iranians are un-political when you realize how quickly we had to hand back those concessions. This country rose to a man against us. We gave in hastily, but we managed to cling desperately to our oil concessions. [MacGregor]
I think you are worrying yourself unduly [Essex]. We can't be too bad an influence. We may not be reformers ourselves... but we do not fight people who are really trying to improve the country. You must admit that we did not resist the last Shah, and he certainly reformed the place as best as it could be reformed.
[MacGregor] It has become a habit to pass all compliments to Reza Shah,...even though we dethroned him. All reforms and modernizations are supposed to be his idea. Yet he simply took over the power of a popular revolution which we resisted at the time. He took power as a despot and he was little better than his predecessors. These people are getting fed up with despots. They obviously want to achieve some kind of better government, particularly in Azerbaijan.… That revolt in Azerbaijan doesn't have to be a Russian idea. It is really the continuation of five or six revolutions, all of them trying to get rid of corrupt governments. This time they seen to be succeeding. Our idea is to stop it.... Every level of government in Iran is corrupt from top to bottom, including the court, the police, and the parliament. Government is organized corruption. The ministers prey on the population like buzzards; they arragne taxes, laws, finances, famines; everything to the purpose of making money. The last Shah might have wiped out some of it; but that meant he became the biggest grafter of them all. He controlled the little fellows, and took the best of everything for himself. By the end of his rule he owned about a fifth of this entire country. He is not the hero we think he is, and his police regime was as brutal as anything the Germans had. Though we co-operated with him, he was a little tougher than the others and he always held out for more. Once, he threatened to wipe out our oil concession but we brought him off. He could always be bought off, like all the other grafters.
”
”
James Aldridge (The Diplomat)
“
Bu anarxiyadan böyük bir şey doğacağına inanırdı. Düşüncəsinin birinci sırasını təşkil edən öz vətəni və öz milləti idi: Rüstəmbəy islamiyyət məfkurəsi ilə əlaqədar deyildisə, Turan idealı daşəyanlardandı.
”
”
Yusif Vəzir Çəmənzəminli (Studentlər)
“
O, millət bir dildə danışan, bir ənənəsi olan, bir torpaqda yaşayan və bir ideal daşıyan yeknəsəq bir kütlə kimi təsəvvür edir və onun hürr yaşamağının tərəfdarı idi.
”
”
Yusif Vəzir Çəmənzəminli (Studentlər)
“
Yenilik ağrı ilə doğulur
”
”
Yusif Vəzir Çəmənzəminli (Studentlər)
“
Azerbaijan’s output has tripled since the breakup of the Soviet Union and is now around 800,000 barrels per day. But the real oil powerhouse is Kazakhstan, whose output has grown from 570,000 barrels per day to 2 million. Those countries together are now producing more oil than the combined Norwegian and British output from the North Sea.
”
”
Daniel Yergin (The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations)
“
The next day, 13 January, murderous anti-Armenian violence overwhelmed Baku. A vast crowd filled Lenin Square for a rally, and by early evening men had broken away from it to attack Armenians. As in Sumgait, the savagery was appalling and the center of the city around the Armenian quarter became a killing ground. People were thrown to their deaths from the balconies of upper-story apartments. Crowds set upon and beat Armenians to death. Thousands of terrified Armenians took shelter in police stations or in the vast Shafag Cinema, under the protection of troops. From there they were taken to the cold and windy quayside, put on ferries, and transported across the Caspian Sea. Over the next few days, the port of Krasnovodsk in Turkmenistan received thousands of beaten and frightened refugees. Airplanes were on hand to fly them to Yerevan.
”
”
Thomas de Waal (Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War)
“
In this collection of essays, you will meet more people like Zakia - golden-hearted souls who come from places like Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Canada, Cuba, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Nepal, Spain, and Tanzania. People who become the heroes of our stories because they show the way or deliver joy, care for us when we're vulnerable, help us navigate meaning, or propel us when we're stuck. They are custodians of travel; they keep us believing in its magic.
”
”
Lavinia Spalding (The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 12: True Stories from Around the World)
“
What incensed me most was that, at more or less the same time, 'ethnic revolt' in Azerbaijan and the 'Rumanian Liberation' were being telecast as a special programme. Large crowds were shown shouting: "We want freedom; we do not mind spilling our blood; death to the oppressors who have kept us in chains." If any proof of Government unimaginativeness or its disoriented functioning was needed, there it was. There could be no comparison between the case of Kashmir and that of Azerbaijan or Rumania. But it should have been understood that in the circumstances prevailing at that time, the Kashmiri youth would misread the message. Virtual incitement was provided by our own television. The timing of the telecast confirmed my impression that the political and bureaucratic mandarins of New Delhi had very little knowledge of the currents and undercurrents of the situation in Kashmir and its ground-level realities.
”
”
Jagmohan (My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir)
“
Never confuse culture with state. Some of the richest cultures of the world often end up with some of the most regressive states in the world - Türkiye, Azerbaijan, India, Italy to name a few, in the context of 2023.
So I repeat, never let your disapproval of a government make you bitter towards a culture. Government never reflects culture - if it did, I would not have penned a single Turkish word in my works - as opposed to the fact that, the Turkish culture is an intrinsic element of Naskarean literature.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch)
“
Shah Ismail came to power with the support of Turkoman tribes in Azerbaijan and Anatolia
”
”
Billy Wellman (Suleiman the Magnificent: An Enthralling Guide to the Sultan Who Ruled during the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire)
“
France, Germany, Russia, China, and India are major and active players, whereas Great Britain, Japan, and Indonesia, while admittedly very important countries, do not so qualify. Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey, and Iran play the role of critically important geopolitical pivots, though both Turkey and Iran are to some extent—within their more limited capabilities—also geostrategically active. More will be said about each in subsequent chapters.
”
”
Zbigniew Brzeziński (The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives)
“
The tour of the South Caucasus in 2018 ends where the book began, in the mountains. The extraordinary natural features of the Caucasus cross all political boundaries, and its extraordinary landscape and outstanding biodiversity are its often-hidden glory. Foreign visitors are awestruck by these landscapes, still far less developed than the alpine zones of western Europe. The World Wildlife Fund has named the wider Caucasus region—stretching into Russia and Turkey—one of thirty-five “biodiversity hotspots” on the planet, with over 1,650 indigenous plants and animals in nine climate zones. To name but three examples of this biodiversity: the mountains of Georgia and Azerbaijan contain more species of oak than western Europe, as they survived the last Ice Age; a few mountain leopards still prowl the highlands of Armenia; and less than 200 “goitered gazelles” are to be found on the borders of Azerbaijan and Georgia. Some natural spectacles draw visitors from all over the world. From late August to early October, birdwatchers come to the Black Sea coast of Georgia to see the annual migration southwards of millions of birds of prey through a 10-kilometer-wide corridor between the sea and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains known as the “Batumi bottleneck.” On October 2, 2014, after days of rain kept the gates of the corridor closed, an astonishing 271,000 birds were counted flying through and darkening the skies.
”
”
Thomas de Waal (The Caucasus: An Introduction)
“
I don't want freedom gram by gram, grain by grain.
I have to break this steel chain with my teeth!
I don't want freedom as a drug, as a medicine,
I want it as the sun, as the earth, as the heavens!
Step, step aside, you invader!
I am the loud voice of this land!
I don't need a puny spring,
I am thirsting for oceans!
”
”
Khalil Rza Uluturk
“
My freedom is beckoning the cowards,
To come out of their caves:
See the vast sky above
And breathe the fresh air that they crave.
”
”
Khalil Rza Uluturk
“
Life is strange to those who know it,
But so familiar to those who don't know.
”
”
Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh
“
O Time! It may be pitiless, or sad,
And now and it brutally shakes the earth.
If Time intends to annihilate you, my lad,
Go boldly forward, and fight for all you're worth.
”
”
Səməd Vurğun
“
Don't erect a marble stone upon my grave,
Nor a grand monument.
Just place a pair of shoes there
For someone barefoot to wear.
”
”
Vagif Samadoghlu
“
Mikhail Sergeevich, Some mathematical problems have no solution. They cannot be solved. Mathematics has methods for proving that a problem is unsolvable. Karabakh is such a problem. It cannot be solved. There is no optimal solution. Any conceivable solution will be unacceptable to one of the two sides.16 Alexander Nikolaevich wrote this note to Gorbachev in January 1988. For months, tension had been building between the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus concerning Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave that was part of Azerbaijan. This was the first region in the Soviet Union to cry foul in the nationalism/internationalism game.
”
”
Masha Gessen (The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia)