Mr Peter Barabas
The News Editor
Euronewsl
Lyon

Dear Mr Barabas,

On February 01 you aired a report entitled "Forgotten victims of a frozen conflict" about the Azeri refugees from Karabagh.

Regrettably the report presented one side of the story only, that of the Azeri refugees, who for the last 15 years  have been kept in refugee camps and railway cars simply for the reason of political propaganda.

In spite of the millions of petro-dollars pouring into the country, the Azeri authorities have chosen to keep these poor people in the worst possible condition, in order to use them as a propaganda tools.

Compare this situation with that of Armenia. Prior to the conflict almost 400,000 Armenians lived  and worked in Azerbaijan, who were first subjected to pogroms (Sumgait, Feb 1988) and then expelled from their homes and country overnight. Yet Armenia, who had only a years ago experienced a devastating earthquake and did not have the financial resources of Azerbaijan either, managed to house those who wished to stay in Armenia.

I am not delving into the details and the origins of the conflict, which was started by the Azeri government, when, after decades of repression, the Armenians of Karabagh (who constituted 85% of the population) tried to express their complaints and wishes, only to be met by Azeri bombs and missiles.

Furthermore, for the past 15 years the Azeri authorities have been injecting their population with such anti-Armenian venomous propaganda, that the new generation of Azeris really and truly believe that the Armenians are Azeri-killing machines. , Is this the way to resolve a conflict? This bring to mind the Nazi propaganda machine, as is also designed to create hatred amongst nations, not political regimes.

To maintain balance and neutrality, perhaps you could send a reporter to Karabagh to investigate and report the story from the other side as well.

With my best regards
Rouben Galichian
London
Cartographer and
Author of "The Invention of History" and other works on the cartography of South Caucasus.