Heydar Aliyev Helped Me Get an Apartment in Moscow: Interview with Dzigarkhanyan

“The Karabakh conflict is a serious problem, and you and I are not going to solve it. Why? Because from the beginning it’s been tied up with religion. Some people pray like this; other people, like that,” said People’s Artist of the USSR, actor, direct Armen Dzigarkhanyan in an interview with Vesti.az.

Speaking about the causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the actor said those who are guilty are the leaders.

“It doesn’t matter whether these leaders are presidents or heads of different communities. When the well-known events began in Yerevan, Baku and Karabakh, not a single leader came forth and stopped the people. When famous Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan saw conflict arising between Armenian and Azerbaijani villages, for example, due to putting in a water line, he immediately got on a horse and went into these villages to reconcile the parties, finding a compromise.

“Why didn’t anyone do that in the late 80s? It’s this that’s not clear. It’s this that’s the most painful,” explained Dzigarkhanyan.

“A few illiterate people were able to light a fire on religious grounds. We don’t always love neighbors like ourselves. We like to live with those who are not like us. That’s why Armenians and Azerbaijanis found it interesting to live side by side. All my life I have lived side by side with Azerbaijanis. We often went on tour in Azerbaijan and everything was wonderful. There was no friction and there could not have been.

“Besides, as you know, everything isn’t right in relations between Armenia and Turkey. But I remember when ordinary people were well-disposed towards each other. For example, during Soviet times, we shot a film along the Armenia-Turkey border. Suddenly, we heard shouts from the Turkish side. It turned out that a cow from a village on the Turkish side had crossed the river which actually forms the border and was on the Armenian side.

“And what do you think, what happened? No one took [the cow] for himself, though he could have. No one did anything [like that]. They turned the cow around and sent him back. And it was ordinary Armenians who did that. That means if we both want to create an intolerable situation, we will…

“I’m afraid to be harsh, but it seems to me some people are warming their hands on this conflict. Let me cite an example from the works of Tumanyan. He wrote a fairy tale called ‘A Drop of Honey’ [that tells how a spilled drop of honey caused bloodshed between two people who lived in neighboring villages, then between those two villages, and then between states]. I am convinced that those who are fueling the conflict between Armenians and Azeris have vested interests.

“Once, when I was in Baku during the Soviet years, I met with Heydar Aliyev. At the time, we were shooting the famous film Teheran 43. I was in his office. He received me very warmly.

“Moreover, Heydar Aliyev helped me get an apartment in Moscow. And I always say, thanks to Heydar Aliyev, I got an apartment,” concluded the People’s Artist of the USSR.