You Will Never Hear “Mugham” in Artsakh – Arpine Hovhannisyan’s Response to Mehriban Aliyeva

First Lady and Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva declared on her official page that “the Azerbaijani people will never reconcile with the occupation. Our land, our struggle for the Motherland is sacred. Our cause is just, and God is with us.”

Sadly, just as in the past, rather than advancing the nation’s diplomatic interests, the wife of the Armenian Prime Minister Anna Hakobyan used this opportunity for self promotion, promoting her deceptive and dishonest Women for Peace campaign and citing Azerbaijani “victims”, without a mention of who launched the aggression, all while donning a black dress, in reference to the Women in Black Initiative.

Sadly this was only the latest olive branch Anna Hakobyan has extended to the other side, while simultaneously insulting Armenia and damaging the nation’s strategic interests. Last December, she invited Mehriban Aliyeva to come to Shushi with her to listen to Turkic Mugham music, something much more prominent in Yerevan than Shushi, and which has never actually existed in Artsakh or been part of its culture- further advancing the notion long propagated by her husband and his allies that the people of Artsakh are somehow Turkic or less Armenian.

Seven months earlier, on the anniversary of the Four Day War, she declared that we have had thousands of deaths for this conflict, and we have sacrificed their lives for nothing.

A few days before that, on a trip to the U.S. Congress — despite not holding any official title or office in Armenia which would legally justify such a trip — she once again called on the women of Azerbaijan to join her Women for Peace initiative. Yet, almost at the exact same moment, Mehriban Aliyeva was declaring that the Azerbaijani flag will fly over Artsakh.

Seven months before that, she held her first Women for Peace initiative panel. Sitting on her panel was Oksana Pushkin. The same woman would appear in Baku six months later for a “Khojali Massacre” march.

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Perhaps knowing full and well what was coming from Aliyeva’s counterpart, former Minister of Justice and Vice President of the National Assembly, and Co-Founder of “Legal Education and Control” NGO Arpine Hovhannisyan provided her own response to the Azerbaijani Vice President.

“How should the peace calls coming from Armenia be understood by M. Alieva?

For I am sure the addressee will read this:

Mehriban Alieva should understand that, as she says, the fight for the homeland is indeed sacred.

There is just one problem: you have invented a homeland for yourself that never belonged to you, you want to usurp someone else’s homeland, and that is impossible. This is not a military-patriotic pathos, this is a reality that you and your “husband” would need to put up with. You will never hear ‘’mugham’’ in Artsakh with or without invitation.

Therefore here is guidance from the Armenian society in case you misunderstood the “peaceful” calls coming from Armenia.

We do not cry for peace, we have impelled it on you … ALWAYS. Our mothers and sisters strive for peace, but they have not forged weapons into ornaments. We are able to defend our land through a genuine sacred struggle. Just yesterday Grigory Khachaturov and our soldiers have proved that to you.

Do not be fooled by camouflage, flowers and pathos, don’t take it seriously, we are vigilant. We are strong and we speak of peace from a position of strength. No one is afraid of your edgy plea and never was. Ask Ganira and Seminj and they will tell you. You are deceiving the Azerbaijani people, but that is your problem. However you will not be able to deceive the Armenian people. Peace is our tomorrow, and to achieve it we must be ready for a war today. We are ready. Our soldiers are ready. They say that there is no good war and bad peace. I would say- there is a victorious war and a dignified peace. And this is the choice of our people.”