The All-Caucasus Public-Political Newspaper "Kavkaz PLUS" of 27.09.2023, signed by George Mazniashvili, through its Internet resource published a material under the title: "Does Akhalkalaki need additional "Artsakh" separatists for settlement?
https://kavkazplus.com/news.php?id=41274

The material published a link to the telegram channel of Hay separatists: https://t.me/jvkhk1/1427,
A message of provocative nature has been published in this telegram channel. Through his Instagram account, a certain Harutyun Hakobyan invites his Hayes tribesmen from Karabakh, who are leaving the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from the occupation, to Tashkent to accommodate them with their families in Uzbekistan:

"People of Artsakh, our compatriots are ready to receive 20 families in Uzbekistan (Tashkent), several families in Akhalkalaki and provide them with all necessary. If there are those who are willing - write in the direct!

A well-known expert in international relations, historian Shukhrat Barlas gave his assessment of the information published by "Caucasus Plus" about the resettlement of Karabakh Hayes families to Uzbekistan. His article was published on the website of the EDNEWS news agency.
https://ednews.net/ru/news/analytical-wing/622467-zatchem-priqlashat-okkupantov

"...Uzbek readers immediately became interested in the announcement of "Harutyun Hakobyan", but the "invitation" posted for a few hours in Instagram suddenly disappeared, leaving traces, but as it turned out, in the telegram channel of the separatists still hangs a link and a copy of the announcement.

Uzbek users in social networks became curious about the purpose of this invitation, and many still have concerns. In particular, a part of the Uzbek youth is very eager to know the details about the person who decided to shelter and populate the bread city of Tashkent with the so-called separatists who have been rampaging in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan for 30 years.

Why are you trying to push into Uzbekistan those who only yesterday were engaged in barbarism and vandalism in the occupied towns and villages of the brotherly Republic of Azerbaijan?

It is well known that information wars are being waged against Uzbekistan in order to undermine the authority of the principles of inter-ethnic and inter-religious tolerance, the basic theses of the national idea of independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the state that always and everywhere proposes to solve political and national problems peacefully and at the negotiating table, not at the point of a gun. But there are also hotheads in Uzbekistan, so why and who needs to irritate the public of Uzbekistan? Why is it necessary to make an Armenian "romantic victim" out of yesterday's separatists - terrorists and invite them to Uzbekistan?

A colleague from "Caucasus PLUS", the author of the article "Do Akhalkalaki need additional "Artsakh" separatists to settle?

"That is why, first of all, "for the sake of distraction", the announcement also writes about the capital of Uzbekistan - Tashkent, and even indicates the number of families that the Hayyis of Uzbekistan are allegedly ready to accept - 20. It is clear that the Uzbeks do not need such "happiness" in the form of settlement of "additional" Khai extremists in their capital for nothing. Uzbekistan has not yet forgotten the atrocities of the Dashnaks, who together with the communists carried out the "Red Terror".

I fully agree with the author of these lines. As a matter of fact, one cannot disagree with the author of the article, Mr. Giorgi Mazniashvili, who has stated quite logically and given a clear assessment of the historical memory of the people of Uzbekistan.

Indeed, the people of Uzbekistan remember the Dashnak massacres and the Bolshevik bacchanalia in historical Turkestan, but the Armenians living in Uzbekistan today who do not support the Dashnak ideology - simple teachers, engineers, workers, working for their families, advocating peaceful coexistence, friendship among nations and simple human goodness - these are not Tsarist colonizers, not Bolsheviks, and especially not Dashnak terrorists, but human beings. Such people are simply humanly worthy of respect, love, and kindness, regardless of nation.

In fact, for a normal person there is no bad nation, not even a bad person, these are well-known aspects of the human psyche, but there are destructive ideas, criminal thoughts and dirty thoughts.

Of course, people are not judged for their thoughts, but people in every country in the world are judged for the concrete actions that come from these criminal and dirty thoughts.

A reasonable person understands very well that an ordinary Armenian or Russian, or the same representative of the old guard of communards, who is in favor of peace and good relations, is certainly not guilty and not responsible for the events that took place in history.

Besides, ordinary people are far from the Bolshevik evil empire, the colonial policy of the Russian Empire, and certainly have nothing to do with the universally recognized terrorist party "Dashnaktsutyun", but there is another side to the problem, and it should be noted.
The author of the Caucasus PLUS article predictably emphasizes:

"But those who made the announcement know very well that so far as Uzbekistan, a Muslim Turkic country, few of the "Artsakh" separatists will want to go. And immediately after Tashkent they offer to settle in the Georgian city of Akhalkalaki. And it is said that "several families" are ready to settle there - i.e. much more than the 20 families supposedly ready to settle in Tashkent.
Guests are always welcome in Uzbekistan, no one should doubt that. Uzbek hospitality is legendary. Despite the tragic moments in history, which caused irreparable moral and spiritual damage during the colonial period and Bolshevik obscurantism, the Uzbek people have managed to preserve and restore brotherly feelings and kindness towards all peoples of the world and to pass them on to their children.

Citizens of Uzbek nationality are alarmed by another thing. If you do not identify yourself and your nation with the criminals who committed inhuman acts in the history of the Turkic peoples, if you are not a separatist terrorist and if you are not involved in criminal collusion with the present followers of such ideas, why do you invite to Uzbekistan the followers of those who were responsible for the misfortunes of the common people, and how will it all look when the yesterday's enemy of the brotherly people of Azerbaijan turns out to be a guest in the land of the Uzbek people? It is absurd.
The inexcusable, careless attitude of those who persistently try to visit Uzbekistan without paying attention to the spiritual state of the Uzbek people based on the national historical memory, may provoke negative events with unpleasant consequences in the future.

For example, on September 6, 2023 with a three-day pastoral visit to participate in the events dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Samarkand, Uzbekistan was visited by: Head of the Russian and New Nakhchivan Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Ezras Nersisyan and his companions, Priest Garnik Loretsyan (Kaliningrad), Priest Gevorg Vardanyan, Priest Abgar Soghomonyan and Deacon Hovhannes Pakhlevanyan (Moscow).

Some Uzbek officials were present among the welcoming guests. Everything was neat and orderly. Although the Armenian Church systematically shows unfriendly, even in some cases hostile feelings towards Turkic peoples because of Turkey, the Uzbek people to this day remains committed to universal human values and a devoted supporter of the ideals of kindness and love among peoples. Therefore, the Uzbeks remained tolerant towards these "uninvited" guests.

The entire religious procession passed by quietly and peacefully, but there was a stir in social networks. Those who heard about the arrival of Armenian religious figures in Uzbekistan were outraged that they were walking freely in Uzbekistan without asking the Uzbek people for forgiveness for the crimes committed by Armenian terrorists, whom the Armenian Church considers heroes.

To this day, many people wonder why the Armenian Church and the spiritual leaders of the Armenian people do not want to ask the Uzbek people for forgiveness for the crimes committed by the Dashnaks in Uzbekistan, or they do not recognize it!

It is well known that the Armenian Church, propagandizing and supporting the national chauvinists, with constant persistence continues to spread the theme of the events that allegedly took place in the distant 1915 in Eastern Anatolia.

Provocative attacks by Armenian authors appear systematically in the media, who want to direct the historically formed anti-Ottoman animosity and hatred against all Turks, just because all Turks are related peoples. This is no longer a cycle of hostile relations between Armenians and Turks, which was formed in the times of the Ottoman Empire, but a systematic multi-pronged action to incite hatred and dislike between modern Turkish peoples and Armenians.

At the same time, despite the hostile attacks on everything Turkic, the churchmen visiting Uzbekistan, brazenly disregarding the historical memory of the Uzbek people, not considering what their tribesmen had done against the peaceful people of historical Turkestan, dared to organize some religious events in the holy cities of Uzbekistan.

After all, many people in Uzbekistan remember the Dashnak massacre in the Fergana Valley and Gdlyanov's crimes, and this cannot be erased from the people's memory.

Inadequate conclusions, unjustified interpretations of history, in turn, lead uneducated and uninformed, but well aware of the inscription in the fifth column of the passport of persons, to aggressive attacks against those who do not even know what happened in history a hundred or a thousand years ago. As always, for such people, lying, falsifying, and distorting facts is a way of proving their point, because they are convinced that they are doing it in the name of a good and noble cause.
Rash and provocative actions do not contribute to the solution of the Armenian-Turkish confrontation and ethnic antagonism, but to its further escalation in a region where different ethno-confessional groups of people live.

Traditional cultural and linguistic identification and citizenship are completely different concepts. It is simply necessary to understand and agree that states, not nations, are the creators and subjects of international law.

For example, if a citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan is a Papuan, Armenian or Russian, then the political position of such states as Papua New Guinea, Armenia and the Russian Federation must be alien to him; what have these states got to do with it? After all, his homeland is Uzbekistan. This fertile land was home to representatives of various faiths and more than 130 nationalities.

As of January 1, 2021, the number of permanent residents of Uzbekistan was 34.6 million people, population growth - from 500 to 600 thousand per year.
According to the official statistical data, the ethnic composition of the permanent population is as follows, but the number of Armenians in Uzbekistan is not 30 thousand, as they like to emphasize everywhere, it does not correspond to reality. In this list there are fewer Armenians than Belarusians, and they belong to other ethnic groups. According to unofficial data they number from 4 to 5 thousand.

National composition of the permanent population of Uzbekistan: 

Uzbeks - 29.2 million people;
Tajiks - 1.7 million people;
Kazakhs - 821.2 thousand people;
Karakalpaks - 752.7 thousand people;
Russians - 720.3 thousand people
Kyrgyz - 291.6 thousand people;
Turkmen - 206,2 thousand people;
Tatars - 187.3 thousand people;
Koreans - 174.2 thousand people;
Ukrainians - 67.9 thousand people
Azerbaijanis - 41.2 thousand people;
Belarusians - 18.5 thousand people;
Other nationalities - 426.4 thousand people.

These are the official figures of the State Statistics Committee, but for an ordinary Uzbek, the person who is close to him in life, regardless of his nationality, in sorrow and happiness, is close to him. As a matter of fact, it is pleasant and important for everyone to have a friend and a spiritual person at his side.

In Uzbekistan, respect, the level of a person's importance and human intelligence are not measured by race, nationality and confession. The Uzbek mentality does not accept ethnic antagonism!

The basis of the Uzbek national mentality is the feeling of love and compassion for a person, not for a nation.
Therefore, we will not hate a German because of Hitler, we will not grovel before an Arab because of the Prophet Muhammad, we will not idolize a Persian because of the poems of Omar Khayyam.

The idea of Uzbek national independence is firmly based on the principles of inter-ethnic and inter-religious tolerance.

In Uzbekistan, every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, has the moral and legal right to call the inhabitants of his homeland "my people and our people".

The principle of a single homeland for all nations and nationalities living in Uzbekistan is unambiguous; Uzbekistan is the homeland of all those living on Uzbek soil, therefore, since 1991, all nations living in Uzbekistan have become one people.

The Uzbek people were and are faithful to the ideological and spiritual values of their ancestors and stand firmly on their historical roots.

After the restoration of state independence, new tasks have appeared before our people, now each of us in his own sphere of activity is working to establish the ideals of our own security, freedom and independence of the motherland.

That is why we should not try to push yesterday's enemies of Azerbaijan into Uzbekistan in the form of "romantic victims", who suffered at the hands of a soldier of the Azerbaijani army.

There is a strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan at the highest level; friendly brotherly relations between Uzbeks and Azerbaijanis have always been a highly spiritual example for the rest of the Turkic peoples.

Special Correspondent for Central Asia of the International News Agency EDNEWS

Shukhrat Barlas