By Նաիրի Հոխիկյան
In the spring of 1992, Azerbaijan was a chaos of power struggle, and Armenians of Artsakh were liberating new settlements one after another. On May 8, 1992, Shushi was liberated, and 10 days later, on May 18, Lachin. Armenians opened the way for Karabakh to have a land connection with Armenia.
On the day, when under the pressure of Abulfaz Elchibey and Heidar Aliev, President Mutalibov finally left the post of Azerbaijan, the same day the father of 6-year-old Nairi, who followed the flames of war, entered the house with wet eyes from Sevan, and hugging him, said: “Did you know that our people took Lachin?”
At that time this Armenian historical settlement had not yet been named Berdzor. Then Berdzor was sealed after Berdadzor.
The next day, on May 19, at Vienna’s historic Hofburg Palace, European “justice” institutions launched a special session discussion on the capture of Lachin, blaming Armenians. Since there was no normal president nor functioning government in Azerbaijan, the Turkish authorities took upon themselves the role of representative of Azerbaijani interests in the Council of Europe.
“Yesterday Armenian troops captured Lachin,” the statement of the main reporter of the session sounded.
The session was translated into 6 languages. The French translator solemnly delivered the French version: “Hier l’armée de l’Arménie a occupée la Chine (Yesterday the Armenian army occupied China… )”.
Seconds later, the fight broke out in the hall. The Chinese representative began to approach and worriedly asked how it happened. The scandal was escalating, the Chinese diplomat got up and ran to the door. The session had to be interrupted. In the aisle, the officials rushed to call their countries. International stock exchange prices began to rise rapidly, within seconds Oil prices reached astronomical highs. China doesn’t exist, a new world order is being formed. A small country, whose place is not yet known, has suddenly been able to capture China, which seeks world domination.
Weidun Zhou, an experienced diplomat who left for Europe as deputy head of the Chinese delegation from Beijing, could hardly breathe, it became dark before his eyes. Walking down the aisle, for a moment, he even grabbed the wall to prevent it from falling down. He could not imagine that his homeland, which had finally declared its independence, had lost it again. How could he? it happened and so fast.
With these thoughts, somehow he reached the office, asked the assistant to contact Beijing quickly. And while on the other side of the phone, they managed to take the hearing aid, Weydun was thinking, how to save the family, where to go? He managed to think about options. need to organize self-defense battles quickly, probably guerrilla wars will break out all over China… maybe he will approach the Armenian representative and try to understand how it will be possible to settle disputes peacefully… and what dispute? What dispute can giant China have with small Armenia… How was it possible to conquer all of China in a few hours? Didn’t notice in these thoughts that they answered the call from Beijing.
Weidun Zhou’s voice was trembling. He couldn’t formulate the question to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Finally, he found the strength to say the terrible news in the form of a question. “How China was conquered?”
There was a few seconds of silence on the other side of the telephone. Then the Deputy Minister briefly said that he had guests and couldn’t spend time on every joke. Weydoon also advised not to make such stupid jokes in Europe.
With weak legs, Weydun entered the room of the head of representatives. The man with a wide forehead and bald hair quickly arranged the papers. The papers spilled here and there in the room showed that the diplomat-chief had nervous experiences. He quickly said that they had to go to the hall, as if something had become clear.
Something had already been revealed. The diplomats returned to the hall and tried to continue the session with artificial smiles, but nervous tension was stamped on everyone’s faces. The French translator was changed. It turned out that he had misunderstood the verbal text of the declaration and had translated it wrong, making a global noise because of his one word. People say slip of language, The deep end of life. A young French girl translator was fired. Now, behind the glasses, sat an experienced woman with a sharp gaze and unsecured figure.
The host of the session announced that the French side had a statement to make, stressing that the new translator would make the corrections. The woman solemnly stood up. All the delegates in the hall turned on the French translation channel to listen to the Paris clarification. “Excuse me, please, it’s not the Armenian army that occupied China, it’s the Nagorno Karabakh army that occupied China… Excuse me, please. The Armenian army has not conquered China. It is the Nagorno-Karabakh army that conquered China).
In fact, the pronunciation of the word “Lachin” is very similar to the French word “China”, la Chine. This also put the translators in a misunderstanding. This tragicomic touch of the Council of Europe stayed for a long time in the memory of the present.
Lachin’s liberation was also printed in Nairi’s memory as a way of life for Karabakh.
A few weeks later, Abulfaz Elchibey became the main presidential candidate of Azerbaijan. The unbalanced man with a crumbling voice could speak convincingly and unite the crowd around him. “I love you all, you are my pride.” these sentences on his lips Abulfaz passed through the settlements and captured the hearts of ordinary Azerbaijanis.