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Akram Aylisli: â€œI also thought that Armenians might have put forward the initiative to nominate me for Nobel Peace Prize

14 March 2014 11:20 (UTC +04:00)

I was surprised when I heard this,” writer Akram Aylisli said in his interview to APA after a number of public figures around the world requested the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 to him.

Aylisli said he also thought that one of the organizations might be interested in it.

“I even thought that Armenians might have done it. Then I looked at the signatures, read about these persons’ biography and activity on the Internet. All of those who signed the request probably know Russian. I believe in the prestige of these persons,” he said.

The writer said he could not forecast whether he would get the prize or not.

“200-300 people are nominated for this prize every year. I am glad that the persons, who signed the request, share my opinion. It means that it was necessary to do it,” he said.

Akram Aylisli said his scandalous “Stone Dreams” made the world community think much better of Azerbaijan.
“My book has contributed to making a step towards the peace. An Armenian author wrote: If we had known that there is such an approach in Azerbaijan, we would not have raised Nagorno Karabakh issue. Recently, I have read that Zori Balayan cried when speaking about Khojaly tragedy. I was surprised,” he said.

Commenting on the protests against his book in Azerbaijan, he attributed it to the complicacy of the society.
“Irrespective of nationality I do not believe pseudo-nationalists. For example, if Hrant Matevosyan had spoken about my book, I would have been glad. The relations should be normalized. I remember they shouted in the square We will take Karabakh back within three days. I asked Elchibey to declare ceasefire, instead of waging war. I have said in media, too. But for strong politician, mighty diplomat Heydar Aliyev, it would have been very difficult to achieve ceasefire,” he said.

Aylisli also commented on the reports that some of those mentioned in the list are related with the Armenian lobby: “Those saying that scientists mentioned in the list were instigated by the Armenian lobby are rascals. The Armenian lobby has nothing to do with them.”

Akram Aylisli dedicated “Stone Dreams” to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The book writes that the Armenians were allegedly killed in of the Azerbaijani villages at the beginning of the century. The book has caused serious protests of the Azerbaijani people. He was stripped of the titles, protests were held against him.

A number of public figures have recently requested the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 to Akram Aylisli.

The request was signed by Sergey Abashin, Andrei Bitov, Craig Calhoun, Georgi Derluguian, Alexander Dobrokhotov, Gasan Guseinov, Kevan Harris, Rouslan Khestanov, Michail Maiatsky, Vladimir Malakhov, Nikolaj Plotnikov, Teodor Shanin, Andrew Wachtel and Immanuel Wallerstein.

Initial investigation revealed that Andrei Bitov who signed the request is the author of "Armenian lessons" books about "Armenian genocide" published in 1996. Georgi Derluguian is Armenian and is considered one of the major figures of "Armenian genocide" propaganda.