NEW BOOK REVIEW. "WAR AGAINST AZERBAIJAN – TARGETING CULTURAL HERITAGE", PART OF THE SERIES "THE TRUE FACTS ABOUT GARABAGH"
AZG Armenian Daily
03/06/2008
Armenia-Azerbaijan
Published by Heydar Aliyev Foundation and The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of The Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku, 2007
This handsomely prepared book is clearly aimed to appeal the
prospective browser. However, the real aim of the book is somewhat
different. Books of this ilk can only serve a propaganda purpose by
aiming to create and instigate animosity between neighbouring peoples
by direct geopolitical agitation, disinformation and outright reversal
of the truth.
This can help the ruling elite, who are interested merely in their
own financial and political gains and status, at the cost of the
lives of their own citizens, as well as others.
The book begins with a brief history of Azerbaijan, so as to convince
the layman that this country had been established in the present
region for millennia. It completely overlooks the fact that the real
and historic Azerbaijan has been and remains a north-western province
of Iran, and the erstwhile country of Lesser Media. During Alexander
the Great’s expeditions, one of the patriotic Median generals named
Atropat fiercely defended his homeland and in his honour the province
was named Atropatene, in time evolving into Adharabadgan, Adharbigan
and Azerbaijan.1 When using the name Azerbaijan, one must be careful
to qualify what is indicated by this name, since for two millennia
Azerbaijan has been the north-western province of Iran, located
south of the Araxes river, while The Republic of Azerbaijan is the
name given to the territory across the river since 1918 only. After
becoming independent in 1918 this country was first named "Eastern and
Southern Transcaucasia" renamed "The Republic of Azerbaijan" by the
ruling nationalist Musavat party it, thus reclassifying the local Tatar
population as "Azeris".2 This very same territory was for centuries
divided into various khanates such as Shirvan, Shamakhi, Talish,
Ganja (Elizavetpol) Qarabagh etc., parts of which were semi-autonomous
under Persian or Russian suzerainty (see map of Fig. 1).
According to Toumanoff, after the demise of the kingdom of Caucasian
Albania in 1166 the power was transferred into the hands of the
Armenian Khachen family, whose Meliks (Lords) ruled their territories
and later shared power with various Muslim Khans until the 19th
century.3 In the Russian translation of the 9th century geographical
work by Ibn Khurdadhbeh, published in Azerbaijan, there is a map
of the area, which confirms the above statement. It shows Armenia
reaching lake Sevan, while Azerbaijan is denoted as the territory
south of the Araxes River as one of the regions of Iran. To the
north of this are the regions of Arran, Shirvan, Mughan, Shaki and
Tabarsaran.4 The famous Russian Orientalist Academician V. Bartold
in one of his lectures given during November and December of 1924 in
the Oriental Faculty of Azerbaijan State University stated "… the
territory that is now known as The Republic of Azerbaijan, which
in the past was named Arran [Caucasian Albania], was given the name
Azerbaijan thinking that when this country is established, the Persian
1 Prof. Enayatollah Reza’s article in the Ettelaat periodical
"Siasi va Eghtesadi" (Politics and Economics), Arran [Albania] wa
Azerbaijan. Chegune name Azerbaijan bar Arran nahadeh shod?, Tehran,
2002, Vol. 181-182, pp. 4-25.
2 Richard G Hovannisian, Armenia on the road to Independence, 1918,
University of Southern California 1967, p. 189.
3 Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian history, Georgetown
University Press, 1963, pp. 216-7.
4 Ibn Khurdadhbeh, Êíèãa Ïoòåè è Ñòðaí, Azerbaijan National Academy
of Sciences, Baku 1986, p. 290 map.
10. and this Azerbaijan will become a united country …".
5 This political game was analogous to the case of one of the
constituent republics of Yugoslavia, Macedonia, adopting the name of
an existing Greek province of Macedonia. The tensions engendered by
this move still rumble on. As described in the Introduction of this
volume, the region was in days of old entitled [Caucasian] Albania,
populated by Albanians, Christian since the 4th century. After the
onslaught of the Turkic tribes of Tatars, Mongols and Seljuks were
overrun and assimilated with the ruling newcomers. The resulting
mixture of races later converted to Islam, changing its language
to Turkish, spoken by the new rulers. It must be added that on the
other hand the Armenians living in the isolated mountainous regions
stubbornly adhered to their language and religion.
The population of the Iranian province of Azerbaijan, the true Azeris,
spoke an old Pahlavi dialect – referred to as the Azeri language,
which during the reign of Mongols and Seljuks in the 13-15th centuries
gradually changed into Turkish, the language spoken by the overlords.6
It is noteworthy that in Iranian Azerbaijan there remain certain
villages, where the remnants of the old Azeri dialects, such as Tati
and Harzani are spoken.7 Fig. 1 – Senex’s map of the Caspian Sea, 1742.
The map shows various regional khanates as well as Armenia (yellow)
and Georgia (red). The area known today as The Republic of Azerbaijan
consists of the khanates of Daghestan, Derbend, Shamakhi and Shirwan
(all green). Adherbijan (purple) is shown inside the territory of Iran,
south of the Araxes River.
5 Vassily Vladimirovich.Bartold Ðaaîòû ïî èñòîðèè Êaâeaca è Âîñòî÷íî&# xE8;
Åâðîïû, Vol.2, Oriental Literature
Press, Moscow, 1963, p. 703.
6 Abdolali Karang, Tati wa Harzani,do lahjeh as zabane’ bastane’
Azerbaijan, Va’ezpour publications, Tabriz 1954.
7 Dr. Saeed Oryan’s website CAIS, at SOAS, London.
2
The anonymous author of the book goes on to claim that the Central
Asian Turkic Oguz tribes ofAghkoyunlus and Karakoyunlus were
Azerbaijanis, and furthermore, that the Persian Safavids, who were of
mixed Iranian and Iranian-Azerbaijani heritage, were in fact from their
country too. Here the author has inferred that Central Asian tribes
are Azeris, while simultaneously confirming that Azeris are descendents
of the Caucasian Albanians. Which of these two contradictory theories
are we to believe?
In spite of the evidence presented by Strabo that "the river Araxes
runs through Armenia" and "the border of Armenia and Albania is the
river Kura", the present book claims that no Armenians lived in the
area of present day Armenia and Qarabagh, adding that the Armenians
were settled in the territory of Azerbaijan by the Russians only after
the 1813 and 1828 treaties with Persia, forgetting that since the early
ages the area of The Republic of Azerbaijan was populated by peoples
speaking Persian, Albanian, Taleshi, Armenian etc. and much later also
Turkish.8 The Armenian Meliks, the Landlords, lived in the mountainous
region of Qarabagh and due to their strategically invincible positions
generally remained autonomous, even when the rest of the region had
fallen under Russian and Persian rule. If the book is to be believed,
the famous Armenian patriot Davit Bek, one of the political leaders
of neighbouring Zangezur, is also of Albanian-Azerbaijani origin. So
allegedly are all the Christians living in the vicinity of Qarabagh and
The Republic of Azerbaijan, who are considered by the author to be the
remnants of Christian Albanians. In addition to many other travellers
who visited the region, Johann Schiltenberger9 and Joseph Emin10 have
written about the Qarabagh Armenians in their travel narratives,
dating from the 15th and 18th centuries respectively. Furthermore,
the Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin, just west of Yerevan, established in
301-303 AD, has for centuries been the central and important religious
centre for Armenians. It should be remembered that around 1603 the
Safavid king Shah Abbas the Great forcefully relocated over 300,000
(supposedly "non-existent") Armenians from Nakhijevan and Julfa to
New-Julfa, a town built near Isfahan for the resettled Armenians,
who were brought for their skills as craftsmen and international
merchants to help the Shah in his ambitious improvement projects,
where their descendants still thrive.
Even the famous Qarabagh historian Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi
(1773-1853) in his Tarikh-e Qarabagh (The History of Qarabagh)
written in Persian between 1840 and 1844 states "In ancient time
the town [Barada in Qarabagh] was populated by Armenians and other
non-Muslims"11 and adds "During Safavid sultans of Iran the Vilayet
of Qarabagh, its tribes, khamsa [five] Armenian mahals [districts]
of Dizaq, Varandeh, Khachin, Chalaberd and Talish were subordinates
of beglarbegi of Ganja".12 The book spares no effort to eradicate the
presence of the Armenians from these territories, even claiming that
the Armenian religious leaders, the various Catholicoi were Albanian.
The Albanian people had a script, invented by Mesrop Mashtotz, which,
due the scarcity of its surviving samples, are still in the process
of being deciphered.13 Evidence shows that all the inscriptions on
the Christian monuments in the territory of Mountainous Qarabagh and
The Republic of Azerbaijan are in the Armenian script and language,
yet the book tries to convince the reader that somehow the local
churches, where everything written is in Armenian, are not of Armenian
but Albanian origin. To this end, the images of the churches and
monuments are taken from a distance and are depicted in such a way
that Armenian language inscriptions present, are indiscernible.
8 Strabo, Geography, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, 1928. Book 11,
Ch. 1,5-6 and Ch. 4,1-2.
9 Johann Schiltenberger, Bondage and Travels – 1396 to 1427, Hakluyt
Society, London, 1879, Chapters 62-64.
10 Joseph Emin, My Life and Adventures, London, 1792.
Chapters 17 to 26.
11 Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi, Tarikh-e Qarabakh, Manuscript
B-712/11603, Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, p. 4.
12 Ibid, p. 6.
13 Koriun, Varq Mashtotzi (Life of Mashtotz), Yerevan State University,
Yerevan, 1981, p.288-9.
3
The conflict between The Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan is put
squarely on the shoulders of Armenia, conveniently omitting that it
was the Azerbaijani army who started the conflict with the bombing of
Stepanakert, the capital of Qarabagh, using aircraft and Grad missiles,
destroying most of the town and killing hundreds of civilians.
The author then laments the destruction of monuments and buildings,
citing 1891 such instances (about which later). The ninth paragraph
starts with naming the "Aghoghlan" (allegedly Albanian) cloister,
whose faith is unknown to the author. This is in fact the famous 4-5th
century church of Tzitzernavank, whose roof had collapsed in 1986 and
which, since the liberation has been restored by the Armenians and is
now an active church (see Fig. 2). It then goes on naming Amaras (4th
century, built by Gregory the Illuminator), Gandzasar (built in the
10th century, extended during 12th and 13th centuries and later) and
Dadivank (Khutavank – churches built during 12th and 13th centuries)
monasteries as being Albanian, while all the historic documentation,
founding and dedicating inscriptions and carvings in these complexes
bear witness to their Armenian origin.
Fig. 2 -The church of Tzitzernavank. Restored by the
Armenians. 2004. Prior to coming under the control of Qarabagh
Armenians, none of the Christian monuments, Monasteries or tombs in
that territory was protected.
In fact most were systematically and intentionally damaged and
destroyed and it is only after 1995 that the local Armenians started to
restore them. One example is the monastery of Dadivank (Khudavank),
whose importance is mentioned in page 8 of the book, yet as seen
in the photo on page 80, under Azeri rule, it was left to decay and
Armenian specialists have only recently restored some of the churches
in this monastery to their original state (see Fig. 3 and 4).
Yet the author includes Dadivank in the list and claims its fate to be
"unknown"!
4
The Monastery of Gandzasar (in the book entitled "Ganjasar cloister")
is treated in the same manner.
The photograph depicted (page 16) shows the monastery as it was
prior to 1993, that is, while under the control of the Government
of Azerbaijan. This important and supposedly "Albanian-Azerbaijani"
historic monastery was left to decay even though, if we believe
the book, it is part of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage. When the
control of the territory came into the hands of the Armenians, the
complex was cleaned and restored, once again becoming an active and
important religious centre (see photographs of Fig. 5 and 6) .
It must be mentioned that during the war the Azerbaijani army bombarded
the church with missiles, as a result of which one of the periphery
walls was knocked down, revealing many hidden medieval Khachkars
(Cross-stones). Fig. 5 -The Monastery of Gandzasar as shown in the
book, prior to 1993, while in Azeri hands. Fig. 6 – Gandzasar as it
looks today, after being restored and used as a religious centre.
The list continues in the same vein. This persists re-naming and
re-attributing all the major monuments and religious historic
buildings, into the chapter on the "Religious architectural legacy
of the Caucasian Albanians". Subsequent chapters are dedicated to
each "occupied" district, with some satellite imagery of the sites,
small photos of the objects and a table of various monuments etc.,
with columns for their names, date, location, coordinates and present
status. The lists include the following categories
– Castles and towers
– Churches and cloisters [monasteries]
– Temples and pre Islamic monuments
– Mosques
– Caravanserais
– Ancient and modern cemeteries
– Bridges, springs and mills
– Archaeological artefacts & Museums
– Residential houses
– Schools and theatres
– Libraries
– Social clubs
– Houses of Culture
– Other buildings
The sum of the objects in the tables of various districts adds up
to 1891 items, listing everything from Cloisters [Monasteries]
and Churches to Mosques and Houses, claiming that 1421 of these
have been destroyed by the Armenians, the fate of the rest being
unknown. Detailed study of the list reveals that 1189 of these
allegedly "destroyed" objects fall in the category of Residential
House, Library, Social club and House of Culture, few of them
being identifiable, in the absence of names, coordinates or any
photographs. For further clarification the chapters of the books were
scrutinised with the following results.
5
1 – Shusha (or Shushi) District
>From the 167 allegedly "destroyed" Houses, Libraries, Social clubs and
houses of Culture, only 67 have photographic representations. Curiously
thirteen of these images show them as intact buildings with no apparent
damage, such as those numbered 134, 187, 191, 231, 256 and others.
2 – Kalbajar district
The condition of the Gandzasar monastery is shown as "unknown". This
complex has been restored and is once again the focal point of the
Armenian Church in the district. Given the publicity it has received,
this fact could hardly have escaped the author’s attention.
>From the 44 historic monuments and buildings listed, only seven
are claimed to have been destroyed and the rest are classified as
"unknown". Out of 208 Houses, Libraries, Social clubs and Houses of
Culture only five are shown on satellite photos. Moreover item 207
(listed as "destroyed") appears standing.
3 – Lachyn District (Berzor)
Out of the 137 listed Artefacts, Temples, Churches, Tombs, Springs
etc. only 9 are claimed as "destroyed" and the rest are classified as
"unknown". Out of the 196 Houses, Libraries, Social clubs and Houses of
Culture the status of only one is "unknown" and the rest are allegedly
"destroyed". Yet the satellite photos include only four of the listed
buildings, object numbers 150, 151, 266 and 299. Item 299 of these four
while being classified as "unknown" appears to be an intact structure
on the photograph. The list pertaining to the remaining ten districts
continue predictably in the same vein. Suffice it to say that from
the 615 Houses, Libraries, Social clubs and Houses of Culture listed
none have names or specific coordinates and only 25 have attendant
satellite imagery and/or photographs, leaving the fate of the 590 in
the hands of the anonymous author, who has chosen to classify them as
"destroyed". Some of the bridges shown as "destroyed" are most probably
war casualties. It is not unusual for a retreating army to destroy
bridges left behind, such that they are useless to the enemy. The
retreating Azerbaijani army in all probability destroyed many bridges
which are now claimed to be the "proofs of Armenian atrocities" and
"war on culture"! It also lists a number of Mosques, especially in
Armenia, which have been destroyed, conveniently forgetting that during
the early Soviet era the Communists indiscriminately obliterated most
of the churches and mosques in both countries.
The book has four folding and one single page maps inserted in the
last chapter of the book.
1. Map No 1 is a Russian map dated 1823, where Armenia and Georgia
are shown divided between Iran and Russia.
The territory that is now The Republic of Azerbaijan is shown as the
Khanates of Mughan, Qarabagh, Elizavetpol, Shaki, Shirvan etc. As in
every map of up to 1918, Adherbijan (Azerbaijan) is shown as part
of Iran located south of the Araxes River, confirming our earlier
comments.
2. Map No.2 is another Russian map dating from 1834, which shows the
Russian Oblasts (Districts) of Armenia and Qarabagh. This map has no
relevance to the book.
3. Map No.3 shows the immigration of Diaspora Armenians into Soviet
Armenia between 1921 and 1958.
This is an irrelevant map, since the immigration claimed by the author
supposedly took place during the first quarter of the 19th century.
4. Map No. 4 dates from 1847, where the modern day borders of Armenia
have been drawn on the old map.
This is to show the changes of toponyms, but was it not the Soviet
communists who had already changed almost all the toponyms in the USSR?
5. Map No.5 is a map of the modern day Republic of Armenia.
6
Fig. 7 – Armenian Medieval Cemetery of Julfa/Jugha in Nakhijevan
during 1998, before being destroyed.
Fig. 8 – The same cemetery being destroyed by the Azerbaijani
army. December 2005.
Fig. 9 – The site of the old cemetery "converted" into a military
target shooting range, Spring 2006.
7
Finally, what is perplexing to the writer is the following. During
Soviet rule and after independence thousands of Christian monuments
and artefacts in the territories of Qarabagh and The Republic of
Azerbaijan were at best neglected and at worst destroyed, while after
independence many mosques were rebuilt or restored. These acts of
vandalism have not been witnessed or recorded by outsiders, since
the borders were closed except in the case of the medieval Armenian
Cemetery of Julfa (Jugha in Nakhijevan), where over 10,000 imposing
carved tombstones (Khachkars) with Armenian inscriptions stood. In
November 1999 observers from the Iranian side across the river Araxes
noticed that some of the Khachkars were dislodged and broken up. Soon
all were lying flat on the ground. The last phase of the destruction
was completed in December 2005, when the regular Azeri army broke
the Khachkars into pieces and dumped them in the river, building a
military target practice field in its place (see Fig. 7, 8 and 9).14
The question is the following: if these Christian tombstones were
the cultural heritage left by the Albanian forefathers of the
Azerbaijanis, why were they not preserved but destroyed? The very
same question applies to the hundreds of well-documented churches and
other Christian monuments that once dotted the territory of Nakhijevan
(or Nachchyvan), as well as that of The Republic of Azerbaijan, which
have now disappeared completely? Were they not Albanian-Christian
monuments, the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijanis? Does one destroy
one’s own heritage?
Finally, the CD-ROM insert is a rehashing of the abovementioned
tables. Each district has an accompanying map, and a field, which
should include the details and photographs of each building. The first
section covers Shusha city, where 45% of the photographs are taken.
However, even then, as regards Houses, Libraries, Social clubs and
Houses of Culture, the information and photograph fields are mostly
blank. For the following chapters, there are very few photographs
and virtually no backup information to prove the claimed "destruction".
The DVD is again a repetition of the claims with some low quality
images of the previous status of the towns and cities, once again
putting the blame for starting the war and destruction on Armenia. It
mentions that during the pre Soviet and early Soviet days, the
territory of Armenia was expanded at the cost of Azerbaijani land –
an "interesting" observation, since it was during those days that
the Soviets annexed the territories of Qarabagh to Azerbaijan,
while in 1922 the districts of Kars, Igdir, Ardahan, Mount Ararat
and other areas were ceded to Turkey and Nakhijevan was given to
Azerbaijan. During 1931 more territories east and west of Zangezur
were ceded to Azerbaijan, cutting off Mountainous Qarabagh from
Armenia and further shrinking the area of Armenia to the fraction of
its previously expanse.
Rouben Galichian, Author of "Historic maps of Armenia.
The cartographic heritage" (2004) and "Countries south of the Caucasus
in medieval maps" (2007)., London, April 2008
14 Photographs were taken by concerned Iranians from across the Arax
River forming the border between Iran and The Republic of Azerbaijan.
–Boundary_(ID_OmVfkX98ofJiGWfDNRToJA )–