An Open Letter to Mr. Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia

AN OPEN LETTER TO MR. NIKOL PASHINYAN, PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA:

Mr. Pashinyan,

I am a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin, born in the city of Iğdır, just across the Aras River, 50 km from Yerevan. In a sense, I am your next-door neighbor. There is a proverb that says geography is destiny. Whether we like it or not, we will be side by side for centuries. I have no intention of bringing up the mutual suffering experienced in the near or distant past. We must bury our sorrows in our hearts. History should not be a stage for revenge and reckoning. Humanity's duty is to nourish the souls of new generations with feelings of brotherhood and love, and to take steps towards a peaceful world.

In 2006, I worked for a company in Azerbaijan for a short period. As a result of the unfortunate events in the South Caucasus following the collapse of the Soviet Union, over 1 million Azerbaijani civilians were forced to leave their ancestral lands, Nagorno-Karabakh, and were condemned to a miserable life in tents in open fields in the border towns of Azerbaijan. I would like to state that the displacement of Azerbaijani civilians was a human tragedy. I can almost hear many Armenian citizens reading this sentence saying, "Our ancestors were also displaced in their time." History is a period not for repeating mistakes, but for learning from them. The Nagorno-Karabakh region is within the natural borders of the Azerbaijani State. I am looking at the present, not the past. Today, the civilians forced to migrate are alive and carry their pain in their hearts.

The Republic of Armenia will continue its existence in the coming years as a neighbor to the Republic of Turkey on one side and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the other. Even if it were to build a Great Wall of China around itself, it would not escape the reality of being neighbors with Turkey and Azerbaijan. While it would be easier to transform this neighborhood into brotherhood and mutual respect, the existence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, created through war and violence by choosing the difficult path, has not gained international recognition, as you know. While it is possible for you to benefit from the economic wealth in the region through mutually respectful relations with your neighbors, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, built on violence, should be dissolved, the return of Azerbaijani civilians should be ensured, and the administration of the region should be left to the Azerbaijani state. Furthermore, by recognizing the Armenian genocide, world parliaments may win the friendship of those countries, but you are losing two important neighbors. Your true friends will again be your neighbors. I am fully confident that a strong Turkey-Armenia-Azerbaijan friendship can be established despite all the negativities experienced in history. The only thing you need to do is to sit down at the table with Mr. Ilham Aliyev without the need for any mediator. This will not be remembered as your defeat, but as your exemplary behavior for humanity, and it will go down in history.

Sincerely,

MÜCAHİT ÖZDEN HUN