The "Khojaly Accusation" of Thomas Goltz

Russell Pollard

 

I was intrigued by Shaunt Oozoonian’s report  from the presentation at University of California, Irvine (UCI) called the “Khojaly Accusation of 1992”. This presentation included a viewing of the film by Thomas Goltz called “Azerbaijan through Foreign Eyes.” During the Karabakh war Goltz was a journalist working from the Azeri side, and now he is a professor at Montana State University. In his book, “Azerbaijan Diary,”  he comes across as a very brash self-assured individual and proclaims himself as being the journalist who  “broke the Khojaly story” to the US media in February 1992. Given this accolade I was surprised to read that his performance at this meeting was unconvincing and disappointing.

Thomas Goltz: The Godfather of the Legend of the “Khojaly Genocide”

Vahram Atanesyan
Translated by Vartan Matiossian

Thomas Goltz. Born in Japan. Graduate of New York University, majoring in Near Eastern issues. He has been a journalist for fifteen years in Turkey and then in the former Soviet republics. He is the author of three books: “Azerbaijan Diary,” “Chechnya Diary,” “Georgia Diary.” He cooperates closely with Azerbaijani organizations of the U.S. and Canada (see http://ru.wikipedia.org)
He authored the first publication about the events of Khojaly in the international press. The Washington Post printed an article with his signature on February 27, 1992. Here it is: