From Game of Thrones to the reality of a 20 year old conflict

Originally published on The Neutral Zone. 

“Those boys didn’t kill your sons […] They were just boys, look at them”.

Generally, I abstain from quoting lines from movies, TV series, or songs. But sometimes, there are some lines that are worth quoting; sometimes they are even worth writing down somewhere, and reading them every day to remind ourselves of who we are, what we have become, what we want to be, or where we are headed. When I heard these words, I wrote them down to remind myself and hopefully others of what we have become or will become if we do not stop seeking vengeance.

Some of you might be familiar with the “Game of Thrones” an epic fantasy television drama series. The series are based on a fantasy novel series written by George R. R. Martin. In season three, there is an episode when two captive, innocent boys are murdered by soldiers out of vengeance – their uncle’s soldiers killed the two sons of another fighter. The perpetrators are punished for committing this crime even though the captives are from the enemy line. The leader (the King of North) refuses to accept this act as crime committed out of justice. He says these boys were just boys and were not there when the two sons of the man who killed them were murdered.

Yes, it is a movie. Yes, it is a novel. But doesn’t this accusation hold true today, in many conflicts around the world? The act of revenge, vengeance, retaliation – there are so many ways to say it – but most of the time just one way to get it – ending someone’s life forever. Even if it means to kill an innocent child…

Often, this is what I think of nationalism that has taken over the minds and souls of many Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Isn’t this their “argument” – claiming lives of more innocents just because they are the enemies who once fought us and killed our brothers and sisters, uncles, fathers, mothers, and sometimes did much more than just killing?

But aren’t we forgetting something? Aren’t “those boys just boys”?! Why do we find it so easy to demand, to take the life of the other?! Did we give that life to them? No! Did we take part in the upbringing of that person? No! Then how can we so easily just say that someone deserves to die simply because that person comes from a certain country, nationality, blood, or race?

True, those who are responsible for the acts of violence should be held responsible but in no way can we hold a young Azerbaijani or an Armenian responsible for something that was done 20 years ago, perhaps when these innocent people were only infants. And instilling hatred and anger from a young age, influencing the decision and thinking of younger people based on history of violence isn’t the right way either. No one says let’s forget it all together and give up. History is an important part of our life, shaping our countries just as it shapes our lives. But it should not be used as an excuse or a weapon. Respecting history and paying homage to it is one thing; killing and seeking vengeance based on it is something else…

One book, one novel, a lot of "anger"

Ekrem Eylisli is a well respected writer in Azerbaijan, well, he was up until few days ago. He was the center of discussion at the opening session of Azerbaijani Parliament on February 1st, not much, for some 50 minutes. He was heavily criticized for his recent book "Stone Dreams" published in mid-December in a Russian magazine "Friendship of the people". The parliament members demanded 75 year old Eylisli stripped of his title of "national artist". And its not just the parliament. A group of young men and women, gathered in front of the house where the writer lives, and chanted slogans as "Death to Eylisli", calling him a traitor, moving to Armenia, burning down his portrait, and "burring" him in a coffin with a cross placed on top of the coffin. Others went as far as to call for a DNA test to "check" his "roots". 

Unlike recent protests that were violently dispersed by local police, this protest wasn't. According to reports, police just stood there watching. I doubt this was a sanctioned rally.

In an article that appeared today in NYTimes, Azerbaijani journalist, Shahla Sultanova, writes the following about the novel:

The work tells the story of two Azeri men who try to protect their Armenian neighbors from ethnic violence, an incendiary topic in Azerbaijan, a country still gripped by the war it fought two decades ago with Armenia. Since the war ended, Azerbaijan has been trying to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnically Armenian enclave within its borders, and secure the return of Azeris who were forced from their homes.

The author, says he wasn't expecting such reaction. But this is sadly the case with anyone who writes anything positive about the country's neighbor. Many have been criticized for speaking of "the enemy" in a "positive" light before and Mr. Eylisli is not the first nor is he the last one given the resentment and anger people are fed eveyday.