During the years of the Soviet Union as well as now, it is hard for
children to go and relax at the best camp for kids-“Artek”. In order to
spend the vacation at the “Artek” international children’s center,
children must have special skills in music, theatre, dance and sports
so that they can participate in the contests and represent their
countries. This summer, from July 20-August 4, children from Moldavia,
Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Germany,
Hungary, Belarus, Macedonia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Rumania, and Turkey
all spent their vacation at the “Artek” camp in Ghrim.
It was a time when the children of different ethnic and religious
backgrounds had the chance to meet new friends and have a great time
being “away from politics”. However, despite all of this,
the Azerbaijani children participating in the “Make a better world”
festival had caused many problems for the Armenians. Based on the
Armenian children’s stories, the Azeri children had come to “Artek”
with a negative attitude towards Armenians.
Thirteen year old saxophone player Edward Nersisyan was one of the
twenty Armenian children. According to Edward, who has participated in
many contests and international festivals since the age of nine, this
was the first time since he had had “ethnic” conflicts. Even though he
had befriended both Christian and Muslim children at “Artek”, however,
the Azeri had made it clear from the first day at camp that they were
against Armenians. One day, some Azeri children went up to Edward,
pulled his cross necklace and said to him: “Don’t ever dare wearing
this again.” Obviously, this had started a dispute.
Although there were security guards supervising the camp area, that had
no significant importance because there were still disputes going on.
Judging from the children’s explanations, the person responsible for
causing disputes was the leader of the Azeri children group whose
husband had died during the Karabagh war.
The Armenian children claim that it was the second year that the woman
was bringing her group to the camp. Last year, the same conflicts had
taken place between Armenians and the Azeri. According to the Armenian
children, the Azeri were telling everyone that Armenians are murderers,
terrorists, and how they have barbarously killed many women and
children in Karabagh.
From time to time, the Azeri children were coming up to the Armenians
and asking if Karabagh belonged to them or the Armenians. This was a
cause for disputes. They had even spread some news that the Armenian
children have burned the Azeri flag.
One time at the diner, some Azeri children had approached one of the
Armenians, stolen his bread and thrown it on the floor. Then they had
said: “You have to eat from the ground” and after that remark there had
been a huge argument. In addition, Armenian children claim that they
have not had such problems with the Turkish or other Muslim children at
the camp. Despite the intervening of Ukrainian group leaders, the
Armenians and Azeri have had “long talks” from time to time. During
that time, other children, including those from Morocco, had joined in.
Fortunately, there have been no serious events besides the “childplay”
between the Armenians and the Azeri. However, it is well-known that the
causes for the disputes are the anti-Armenian articles in the
Azerbaijan media with their fake interpretations of the history The
purpose of this is to inform the Azeri children with these lies so that
they grow up and turn into “national heroes” like Ramil Safarov.