By Ivan Gharibyan

November 17 is National Revival Day in Azerbaijan – one more piece of evidence of absurd system of values the neighboring state is based on.

A round-the-clock rally held in Lenin Square in Baku on November 17, 1988, was an action of protest against the authorities of Soviet Azerbaijan and USSR authorities who would not allow the local nationalists, Popular Front of Azerbaijan, to dictate its terms. Baku mass media are now trying to present the events that occurred 22 years ago as a manifestation of “reason and consciousness,” an all-important step toward independence, passing over in silence the fact that the way to independence was over the dead bodies of Armenian civilians in Azerbaijani cities, who fell victims to pogroms.

In assessing the events in Baku in November-December 1988, one should pay special attention to the intrigues within the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, or rather, to Heydar Aliyev’s crucial role – he was doing his best for destabilizing the situation in the country to create preconditions for his return to Azerbaijan’s political life. The Internet sources out of the Aliyev clan’s control repeatedly circulated the information on the provocative role of Heydar Aliyev and officials at his service, ones who lost power after their boss was relieved of the post of leader of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1982. First Secretary Abdurahman Vezirov was overtly charging Heydar Aliyev  with organizing delivery of food for the participants.

The “éminence grise” did his best to discredit the leaders of Soviet Azerbaijan, who held the post of First Secretary after him. Kyamar Bagirov, Abdurahman Vezirov and Ayaz Mutalibov shared the same fate. Heyday Aliyev needed anarchy in the country, especially in its multinational capital, Baku, for the local Azeris to implore “Heydar-baba” to help!

In late 1988, the central Soviet authorities, in cooperation with the then local authorities headed by Abdurahman Vezirov, proved able to take decisive measures to prevent interethnic strife and violence. The rally was dispersed on the night of December 5, and about 1,000 extremists were arrested. Thus, the Armenian pogroms in Baku on January 13-19, 1990, were “put off” for a year. The authorities, both central and local, were urging Heydar Aliyev to ask his supporters to return to their homes. However, he was inexorable – he needed “good grounds” for a hysterical speech at the Azerbaijani Representation in Moscow, when the entry of troops to Baku was condemned. All that breathed a new life into Heyday Aliyev’s political career.

Well, this is National Revival Day in independent Azerbaijan, and by this the Azeri authorities mean violence, pogroms, appeals for “making a second Ararat out of Armenians’ heads” – the principal slogan at the rallies in Baku in November and December, 1988.