The girl’s mother was left dumbfounded as she was told this. I also think that this is a sad thing to happen: a 20-year old young teacher and the brain of a 5-year-old baby. Why do you need to hammer this into the head of a 5-year-old girl?
The implication of Azerbaijani schools into the state propaganda presents the perilous prospect of fostering a generation of vengeance brought up exclusively on feelings of malice and hatred, with a traumatized mind.
In 1990s, we heard rumors that Armenians whispered into the ears of their newborn children: Turks are your enemies. I don’t know if the rumor was true, but back then it made many of us feel sorry for Armenians. But as we can see, over time people increasingly resemble their enemies.
Imagine that! Telling a 5-year-old child: “Armenians made us unhappy and miserable!504
In the new Azerbaijani society with its warped set of values, children are brought up in line with the new patriotic philosophy translated into the maxim: “If you love your motherland, hate Armenians”.
The groundwork for socialization is laid in early childhood starting from the moment of forging relationships with peers, developing the perception and sense of self.
Sevinj Parvana, A Conversation in Passing:
(a rhymed story in the form of a dialog for children aged 5-12)
– Don’t cry, my little daughter. Let Armenian infants cry.
– Mummy, and where are Armenian infants?
– On the very bottom of hell.
– Why to let them cry? Shouldn’t we pity them?
– No, no pity. Let the snake bite them, if I lie.
– The infants???
…
– Mother, I want to play with Armenian children, ha…
…
– No, no… I want to play with Armenian children
– No, you can’t, my little daughter. They are far from us.
– How far? In the hell?
– Yes, in the hell.
…
– Where are the children themselves? Mother, can I play with them?
– No, my little daughter. They are bad children. We can’t go to them. They will take your toys away and break them.
– Why is that? Don’t they have their own toys?
– They do, but they will want your toys. That’s why they are so bad.
– I will give my toys to them to play. They will give them back later.
– They won’t give them back. They won’t want to. They never give back what they’ve taken.
– Then, I will not give them.
Baku, 2009505
The socialization encompasses the process of indoctrinating mindsets, precepts and dictates setting up a lifetime program.
G. Ibragimova: I’ll tell my son the whole truth without holding anything back. I’ll tell him: “Son, learn to distinguish good from bad. And remember that every nation has both good and bad people; Armenians are the only nation which doesn’t have good people, or there are too few of them. The great poet A. S. Pushkin venerated worldwide used the obscene word ‘Armenian’ whenever he disliked the person!”
And my main third covenant is the following:
“My son, listen and remember, Armenians are our deadly enemies. Don’t leave your enemy unavenged! If you meet an Armenian even in the most civilized country of the world, treat him as a creature that sucked the blood of your people! Never forgive the enemy! If you forgive, then let the bread of your motherland, your father’s blood and your mother’s milk be cursed!!!”.506
It is amazing how the author of these lines genuinely believes herself to be a conscientious and tolerant person.
<…> You call me chauvinist and accuse me of insulting the entire Armenian nation. A writer accusing an entire nation would just belittle himself/herself. A conscientious person would never venture to accuse an entire nation. All I do in my writings is to exhort the children of my people to be vigilant and to keep away from Armenians.507
The next stage of building armenophobia in Azerbaijan targets the young people and hinges on natural fears already inculcated in childhood. The main message goes along these lines: “Armenians take our places”, “they bewitch our men”, “Armenians are deformed and depraved”. In other words, this represents a classical form of demonization and dehumanization of Armenians.
Chinara Vugar: The mother who had financed Armenians in her time was now marrying off her daughter, but burst into tears in apprehension: “Heaven save us, if the fiancé finds out about it”. <…> I was horrified and wondered how many are those in Azerbaijan, whose manly blood mix with that that of dogs508<…> Ramil Safarov axed an Armenian officer.509 In the beginning, the people supported him, but then they forgot about him. When Eynulla Fatullayev510 was in prison, there were more people grieving at him than at Ramil Safarov who had killed the Armenian serf. <…> So, for example, the entire property of the former mayor of Baku Rafael Allahverdiyev went to an Armenian woman, and what is left of it will go to a daughter he sired with her, right? <…> The school subject of the Azerbaijani Language and Literature is taught by 2 teachers of Armenian descent. They say that the headmaster of the aforesaid school is also of Armenian origin, and although newspapers and the Internet contain reports of this, we can’t do anything about it. In fact, we only know that the school is being destroyed because of the headmaster’s position. Many massage parlors located near the subway station May 28 are owned by mistresses of Armenian origin. These Armenian women pull the Azerbaijani girls into depravity. <…> There is much talk about Armenian women. The daughter of an Armenian senator leads a dissolute life. The daughter of the Armenian singer Sher changed her gender, but that’s not all. Armenians who live in Azerbaijan undergo plastic operations on their noses. Plastic surgeons excise the Armenian noses and turn them into Muslims. Also, the Armenian Constitution does not prohibit prostitution. In fact, the women of this nation are prostitutes, while the men are just “good-looking”.
A special structure must be created within the Ministry of National Security to scrutinize the population for the presence of Armenian blood. For instance, the parents who want to marry their children should be able to file an inquiry with this structure to find out if their future in-laws are related to Armenians by blood. Maybe then we will be able to cleanse our blood from its mixing with the filthy Armenian blood.511
The statement of the people’s artist of Azerbaijan and Armenia, singer Zeynab Khanlarova in her commentary of the ethnically motivated gruesome murder by Ramil Safarov512 is a glaring example of dehumanization, i.e. unabashed expression of contempt and readiness to back and commit atrocities.
“He (Ramil Safarov) is a hero of not only Azerbaijan but the entire world. Monuments must be erected in his honor. Not every man is capable of accomplishing what he did. There are 2 heroes: one is Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and the other is Ramil Safarov. If I were in Ramil’s place, I would do the same. He took an Armenian’s life and rightfully did so”.513