Armenian National Institute
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March 15, 1988
Editor's Note
The Karabagh File is a compilation of documents and data relavant to the dispute surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. It was published as a single volume by the Zoryan Institute."[EXCERPT] Armenians in Mountainous Karabagh, a small enclave in the southern corner of the Soviet Union, take the word of the country's new leader seriously, and petition for redress of grievances. A people, with little experience with democratic institutions as understood in the West, turn the mechanisms of Soviet structures into forums for debate and articulation of long standing claims. Then, they back their demands with peaceful demonstrations. Glasnost, they argue, gives them the right to air grievances and petition their government; perestroika gives them the right to expect a radical change in their legal status sanctioned by Stalin. Isn't, after all, Mikhail Gorbachev himself challenging Stalin's assumptions and system?"