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Author’s Note The research done for this book is based on around 120 original interviews done in 2000–2001, supplemented by eyewitness reporting and secondary sources. Personal testimony is of course subjective, so I have tried to balance my reconstruction of events from as many sources as possible. The problem is that the written record on the subject is also frequently unreliable, partisan, and incomplete. It will take many years for a full picture of what happened in Armenia and Azerbaijan after 1988 to be assembled. This is intended as a beginning in a field that has very few accounts interested in both sides. Many Armenians and Azerbaijanis will take an interest in what is written here, and I would make a plea for them not to quote some of the information here selectively, to suit their own political agendas. The book stands or falls as an entire whole. The use of names is problematic. Written Azeri has two alphabets, Armenian has a Western and Eastern version, and most of the written material I have drawn on is in Russian anyway. I have tried to be as consistent as possible. One of the more disputed things about the disputed province in the middle is what to call it. I have chosen not to use the Russianized form, which has become prevalent in most of the outside world, but to use the more grammatically correct Nagorny (rather than Nagorno) Karabakh. Where a town has two names, one Armenian and one Azerbaijani, I use the one that was in currency when the dispute started in 1988. So I say Shusha, rather than Shushi, and Stepanakert, rather than Khankendi. In an ideal world there would be an agreed linguistic distinction between the ethnic group of Azerbaijanis and the citizens of the state of Azerbaijan; because there is not an ideal world, I have forgone using the word “Azeri” (apart from when referring to the language) and stuck to the word “Azerbaijani” throughout. Dozens of people helped me in the research and writing of this book. Some of them knew they would not like all the things I say, which makes me appreciate their generosity all the more. ix The book was made possible because of a generous one-year research grant from the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. In London, I received valuable administrative and moral support from Juliet Williams and above all Jonathan Cohen of Conciliation Resources (CR). CR also helped me make my trip across the front line in May 2001. I am deeply grateful to both organizations. I did not set out on this project with an agenda focused on “peace,” but I finished it with a deep conviction that compromise from both sides is the only fair and feasible way out of this impasse. In Azerbaijan, my special thanks go to Zaur Aliev, who fixed up the majority of the interviews in Baku; to Azad Isazade for his practical help, detailed knowledge, and humanity; and to Arif Yunusov, whose in-depth knowledge, objectivity, and fair judgment on the Karabakh issue are unrivaled in the Caucasus. I would also like to thank Arzu Abdullayeva ; Vugar Abdusalimov and Ulvi Ismail of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Fuad Akhundov; Sabina Alieva; Halid Askerov and Oleg Litvin for their photographs; the staff of the BBC office in Baku; Craig Dicker; Rauf Husseinov; Tahir Jafarov; Kerim Kerimli; Vahid Mustafiev and the staff of ANS Television; Shahin Rzayev; Hikmet Sabioglu; Rauf Talyshinsky; Roger Thomas; Anne Thompson; Peter Van Praagh; and Leila Yunusova. In Armenia, Tigran Kzmalian and family were the warmest of hosts and friends; Alyosha Manvelian and Karen Topchyan of the BBC were always exceptionally helpful, and Suzanna Pogosian was a brilliant organizer and researcher. My thanks go also to Larisa Alaverdian; Michael Bagratuni; Alla Bakunts for much help and advice; Mark Grigorian for sharing thoughts and old newspapers; Tim Jones; Onnik and Gohar Krikorian for friendship, contacts, and photographs; Eduard Kzmalian; Leonid Mirzoyan for good company on many long trips to Karabakh; Asya Mirzoyan; Grigory Mosesov; and David Petrosian. In Karabakh, I would like to thank Iosif Adamian and family; Armine Alexanian; Ani Azizian and family; Ashot Gulian; and Simon Porter. Elsewhere, my thanks go to Behrouz Afagh, Famil Ismailov, Stephen Mulvey, and Jenny Norton of the BBC; everyone in the BBC office in Moscow; Jonathan Rowell of CARIS at the BBC World Service; Terry Adams; Kenan Aliev; Jonathan Aves; Robin Bhatty for supplying large amounts of useful...

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