Press-release

Of presentation of the book “Shusha- Ancient Azerbaijan land” published by Public Association for “Protection of Rights of Migrants and Internally Displaced People in Azerbaijan” in Azeri, Russian and English languages on May 7, 2009

The Public Association for “Protection of Rights of Migrants and Internally Displaced People in Azerbaijan” held roundtable on “Shusha- Ancient Azerbaijan land” on May 7, 2009. The meeting was dedicated to the presentation of the book “Shusha- Ancient Azerbaijan land” published by PA in Azeri, Russian and English languages. Opening the meeting with his speech the chairman of Public Association (PA) Nadir Abdullayev stated that Shusha which was supposed to be “the Crown of Karabakh” had an ancient history. Shusha has a special place in Armenians’ claims on the Azerbaijan territory. Actually, by occupying Shusha Armenians occupied whole Nagorno-Karabakh area. During the occupation around 200 people were killed, 600 were wounded, 150 were disabled, 552 children became orphans and more than 20 000 people were internally displaced. As a result of the occupation around 600 historical monuments, 7 kindergartens, 22 secondary schools, cultural-educational and economic technical schools, secondary music schools, 8 cultural houses, 14 cultural clubs, 20 libraries, 2 cinemas, 3 museums, tourism bases, the factory of eastern music instruments and hundreds of cultural monuments were destroyed. In order to inform world community on these realities our Public Association presents this book to you.
Then the floor was given to the executive director of Public Association for “Protection of Rights of Migrants and Internally Displaced People in Azerbaijan” and the project director Deyanet Musayev. Giving information about the project D.Musayev stated that the books about each occupied regions would be published in future. He thanked Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan and Association of Town Municipalities of the Republic of Azerbaijan for their contribution for the publication of the book.
Giving information about the published book within the project he leads the speaker stated that useful materials about Shusha was placed in the parts “The population of old Shusha”, “The history and architectural monuments of old Shusha”, “Shusha after the occupation”, “Well-known people of Shusha” etc. D.Musayev informed that the book would be sent to all local libraries, governmental and non-governmental organizations and also abroad.
At the end, the author of the part “The population of old Shusha”, Doctor of historical sciences, Professor Jamal Mustafayev made a speech on the book. The Professor J. Mustafayev informed that Shusha was built by Panahali Han, the city passed through 3 stages of formation, the population of the city mostly consisted of Azerbaijanis in XIX century and afterwards.
The officials of Ombudsman Administration Rashid Rumzadeh and Zemfira Mammadli, the chairman of Karabakh Liberation Organization Akif Nagi, the head of Law Department of Shusha Executive Power Bahtiyar Aliyev, the director of Shusha Culture and Tourism Department Zahid Abbasov, the intellectuals of Shusha Teymur Alban, Zahid Guliyev and the other people made speeches at the meeting. The speakers thanked people participated in the publication of the book, estimated this book as a successful step against Armenian vandalism and aggression, and stated that they hoped this book to be broadly published.
At the end the questions of the guests and journalist were answered.

Samir Sadayev