Yesterday the petition of Oleg Kuznetsov, addressed to Russian parliamentarians, which demands to recognize the genocide of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly in February 1992, collected 50,000 signatures.
Eurasia Diary: What do you relate to the growing interest of people to your petition?
Oleg Kuznetsov: Almost the whole May I spent on trips to Azerbaijan - I visited Lankaran, Ganja, Mingachevir, Sumgayit, where I gave lectures to students and teachers of local universities, and talked about the petition and in general about my activities. I have no doubt that these meetings predetermined the rapid growth in the number of signatures.Another factor that largely expanded the petition was personnel changes in the structure of the presidential apparatus of Azerbaijan, as a result of which a much larger amount of political influence in the country was obtained by those elites who are less helpful to Russia and intended to more resolutely solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The consequence of this redistribution of power was the abolition of administrative obstacles in collecting signatures, after which the question of why the Azerbaijani people are so passive in supporting the petition demanding recognition of the Khojaly genocide was no longer relevant. Of course, one should not forget the enormous work that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation carried out for several years implementing the "Justice for Khojaly" program.
Eurasia Diary: How do you see the continuation of this campaign?
Oleg Kuznetsov: We have a new height ahead, which needs to be overcome - 75,000 signatures. Judging by the dynamics of collecting signatures in the last week and a half, this is an achievable goal, and this milestone can be reached before the end of this month.
I am sure that it will also be easy to collect at least 100,000 signatures for the petition to gain an international character and significance.
Eurasia Diary: In conclusion, I want to ask you about the reaction of Armenians to your actions and the success of the petition. Are threats still going on?
Threats and attempts to discredit, insults in my address are pretty observable, but I can handle it. Each of us loves his own country in his own way, and Armenians in this case are no exception. They just protect themselves, their people and their country with any means available.
You can sign petition here.
