Black Garden : Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War

Author’s Note 
The research done for this book is based on around 120 original inter-
views 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 Azer/
baijanis 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 con/
sistent 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 lin/
guistic distinction between the ethnic group of Azerbaijanis and the cit/
izens 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. 
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AU T H O R ’ S   N OT E  
The book was made possible because of a generous one-year re-
search 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 proj/
ect with an agenda focused on “peace,” but I finished it with a deep con/
viction 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 Ab/
dullayeva; 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; Ke/
rim 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 or/
ganizer and researcher. My thanks go also to Larisa Alaverdian; Mi/
chael Bagratuni; Alla Bakunts for much help and advice; Mark Grigo/
rian 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; Ar/
mine Alexanian; Ani Azizian and family; Ashot Gulian; and Simon 
Porter. 
Elsewhere, my thanks go to Behrouz Afagh, Famil Ismailov, Ste/
phen 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 material and comments; Tony Borden and the Insti/
tute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR); Bruce Clark; Alan Cooper-

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AU T H O R ’ S   N OT E  
xi 
man and Martina Vandenburg; Felix Corley; Sasha Deryabin; Madalena 
Fricova and Lawrence Sheets; Thomas Goltz; Edmund Herzig; Robert 
Hewsen; Lee Hockstader; Scott Horton; Alik Iskandarian; Nev Jefferies; 
Jon Jones; Jan Koehler; Brady Kiesling; Edward Kline; Marina Kurk/
chian; Laura Le Cornu; Steve Levine; Gerard Libaridian; Anatol Lieven; 
Dov Lynch; Andrew Martin and Dennis Sammut of LINKS; Wayne 
Merry; David Michelmore; Boris Nefyodov; Michael Ochs; Craig Oli/
phant; Arkady Ostrovsky; Paul Quinn-Judge; Razmik Panosian; Philip 
Remler; Peter Rosenblatt; Laurent Ruseckas; Leonora Soroka of the 
Hoover Archives; Nina Sovich; Ronald Suny; Len Taylor; Hratch Tchil/
ingirian; Valery Tishkov; Effie Voutira; Christopher Walker; and Ed-
ward W. Walker. 
My agent, David Miller, was helpful from first to last; at NYU Press 
Niko Pfund commissioned the book and Stephen Magro saw it through 
to publication; Brenda Shaffer gave exceptionally useful comments and 
insights on several chapters; my mother, Esther de Waal, was hugely 
supportive for several crucial weeks of writing; it would not have been 
half so much fun without the company and hospitality of my Caucasian 
kindred spirits Wendell Steavenson and David Stern. Finally, the love, 
humor, patience, fine editing skills, and constant support of my wife, 
Georgina Wilson, have been beyond measure and it is to her this book 
is dedicated. 

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