Azerbaijan: Cultural Destruction
This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
Another year has passed since the 1994 ceasefire put the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh on hold, but a lasting peace remains elusive. However, both countries continue to accuse the other of destroying cultural and historical monuments.
But, while the issue of the destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetery in the exclave of Nakhichevan is frequently raised, less is known about the cultural loss suffered by Azerbaijan. Gələcək Gün [AZ] details some of the destruction.
In Shusha alone, 8 museums, 31 libraries, and 8 cultural houses were destroyed. More than 300 items at the Hajibayov museum, 400 at the Bulbul Museum, 100 from Navvab, 2,000 from the Agdam museum, 3,000 from the Gubadli history museum, 6,000 from the Zengilan museum as well as 1,000 exhibits from the Karabakh History and Carpet museums were destroyed or sent to Armenia.
ƏN SON XƏBƏRLƏR, MƏQALƏLƏR [AZ] provides its readers with a list of Azerbaijani soldiers captured by Armenians during the war who were forced to participate in the destruction of monuments and graveyards in Shusha.
Mammadov Vugar […]: We were forced to destroy the Muslim graveyards, carrying [stone] by car to sell. All Muslim graveyards were destroyed. They wanted to destroy Shusha.
Kazimov Karim […]: Along with other captured soldiers, I was forced to destroy Ibrahim Khan's grave, Molla Vagifs graves […] and the Bulbuls and Hajibayov monuments and graveyards.
Gafarov Rauf: All the graveyards are destroyed. Probably they intended to take the gold teeth from the dead. They also put a church sign on the mosque.
Bagirov Sahib […]: The materials from the destruction were used to build a house for Samvel Babayan [formely imprisoned Karabakh Armenian military leader].
Mehdiyev Nazim: The materials were used to make a monument for [Armenian] General Andranik. In her interview to the Azartamartik newspaper, Nagorno Karabakh's Cultural Ministry Department Director, Janna Aleksanyan, said “we will destroy all the monuments belonging to Azerbaijanis during their occupation of Shusha.”
Salam, Xoş Gəlmisiniz [AZ} also comments on archeological digs conducted in the Azix cave, one of the earliest proto-human habitations in the region. The blog notes that the site is situated on Azerbaijan's territory.
“In 2003, on the Arminfo news site it was written that “archeological diggings continue in the Azix Cave.” It is one of the most ancient findings in Azerbaijan that dates back 1.5 million years. Armenians digging with other country scientists from Britain, Ireland and Spain violate national and international law with their unauthorized excavation.”
A Facebook page has been set up to protest the work while the Council of Europe's Secretary General, Terry Davis, visited the capitals of both countries in December 2008. However, an international mission to investigate the state of historical and cultural monuments in the region has been delayed.
“I am very disappointed by the losses,” Davis is reported as saying. “Both Azerbaijan and Armenia suffered, and it is not only yours, [but also European] cultural heritage. […] They are our common values and we should protect them.“
This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
31 comments
i realized the lack of information so here is the link about the international law about monuments with the recent amendments.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001386/138645e.pdf
here are some fotos od Shusha
http://www.load.az/maraqli_resmler/3487-shushanin-son-veziyyeti.html
Cultural monuments dont have to locate in big cities.Even little village can contain many monuments.The whole list of monuments are in European Council.I dont know about Armenia but Azerbaijan presented 1890.I can give the links bu they are in Azeri so you guys will not understand them.I want to keep this discussion only about monuments and dont want to turn it into another forum where Azerbaijanis and Armenians accuse each other passionately for the right to Karabagh,who started first,killed more.If you guys want ask me about the state of Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan i would be glad to investigate.I feel sad about Djulfa cemetry i havent heard about it in Azeri media as well as you havent heard the reverse.I know Armenians lived in Djulfa.They were invited by Iranian king and moved to settle new district there(correct me if im wrong)
Onnik:
I wonder – did you actually read the comments to the book? Did you actually tried to get the points? Or you dismissed them from the start as “narrow-minded Armenian nationalism”?…
I agree – all facts (regardless if someone likes it or not) are to be presented, however, “forced balancing” them does little to present the true picture. I always wonder how the truth is getting obfuscated in “on the other hand” methodology. “Turkish republic supports Azerbaijan, but on the other hand Russia supports Armenia” (huh? can ANYBODY in his right mind compare the significance, scale and persistence of two pairs of relationships?). “Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 mln. of their own citizens – Armenians – and deprived Armenians from their homeland of 4 thousands of years, but on the other hand Armenian terrorists (damn them!) killed 120 Turkish diplomats in 70-ies”. And so on… the truth is – the situation is far from being symmetrical, and if Turks/Azeris threaten our existence, we do not threaten theirs. Do you think Sakharov was a narrow-minded Armenian nationalist, too, when he said “Karabakh is a matter on honor for Azris, but a matter of survival for Armenians”? Or he lacked the deep insight, or the high moral ground you and Tom share? (sorry for being sarcastic)
Being criticized from both sides doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a “good book”, or that it presents an objective picture. Imagine I write a book about Holocaust where I state that not 6, but 1 mln Jews were killed by Nazis. I’d, of course, come under fire from both Jews and Ahmadinejad. Would that mean I did a good job?
Now, “there’s some speculation” is one of the favorite ways of spreading disinformation – used even by allegedly reputable news channels. If you think scores of civilians being killed every day from Grad shelling is not a good reason in itself, I am afraid I can’t help you here. And no, I don’t accept your point about Jugha maybe being destroyed because Azeirs didn’t have building materials, moreover I consider it as an insult and highly immoral statement… which is below any further criticism.
Please try to understand me, this type of “relativism” is extremely destructive – and destructive (for the above reasons of inherent inequality b/w the sides) for Armenian side first/most of all.
R.
PS. “largest Home Depot in the Caucasus” – the author was Carey Cavanaugh – ex-US rep to Minsk Group.
PS2. Destruction of the medieval cemetery in Nachichevan (which incidentally was never involved in the war, and the cemetery was never used as a firepoint to shell Azeri villages) there was lots of fuss about sending an international commission to the region to inspect “both sides”. To the best of my knowledge, Armenian side was VERY supportive of the initiative, but it nevertheless never happened.. Do you have any independent information why?
Emil,
Thanks for the links.
I have one straightforward question for you. I’ve read many times – in Azeri newspapers, or “scientific researches”, that the ancient Christian churches in Karabakh are not, in fact, Armenian, but Albanian. And that the Armenian inscriptions were added to them later on (in XIX-XX century). What’s your opinion on this?
And, naturally, your questions are welcome, too.
R.
well its hard to say how Albanian alphabet looked like as not so many scripts survived.And as far as i know that alphabet resembled to Armenian alphabet.In Karabagh Albanians and Armenians lived and created together and formed a strong christian center together against the external forces.It is also possible that some inscriptions be added to original ones.But its true that in Azerbaijan everyhting refered to Albanian even Armenian monuments.
Emil,
Interesting story – I actually did some research myself – on wikipedia (where else?) there’s tons of info on Caucasian Albanians:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_Albania
and their alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_Albanian_alphabet
It has an interesting introduction:
“During the ancient and medieval eras the Caucasian Albanians were assimilated and played a role in the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis, the Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabagh, the Georgians of Kakhetia and the Laks, the Lezgins and the Tsakhurs of Daghestan.”
I know Azeri scientists claim that today’s Azeris are direct descendants (not just “played a role in the ethnogenesis”) of Albanians. Do you know if it’s being corroborated by credible independent Western scientists? BTW, does Azeri language resemble Udi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udi_language)?
As to Karabakh population’s national affinity, and the origin of the Christian monuments on the Karabakh territory… I am not a historian, all I can say is – I saw two most beautiful khachkars I had ever seen in my life in Karabakh ( I wish you could see yourself!), and XIIIth century Gandzasar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandzasar) which served as the HQ of Armenian church for centuries is also as Armenian as it gets. What can I say… even Thomas de Waal (in the book we talked so much about already) – despite his sincere urge to “balance everything with everything” – couldn’t find a credible source in independent Western scientific community which would support the Christian Albanian theory, and (I can almost imagine the pain he went through) had to write in his book that Karabakh meliks “considered themselves Armenian” (too lazy to find the exact quote in the book, but if you are interested, I can do that for you).
In any case, sometimes (e.g. when I read a “scientific research” of yet another Azeri academician) I feel Armenians are being a victim of some “grand identity theft”, and the history is used as a political leverage to finally squeeze us out of the region, and appropriate our history and culture. I wish it wasn’t true…
R.
Bobby, I know where the quote came from. Remember, I was with Tom for many months during the research for the book. And yes, I did read the links, mainly from Armenians who don’t like the fact that Black Garden wasn’t some black and white book only from the Armenian perspective.
I don’t think any wars or ethnic conflicts are. While Armenians and Azerbaijanis have lived together longer in peace, and continue to do so in Russia or Georgia, there are enough cases of expulsions, massacres on both sides which means that depending on how far you take it back, history can be used selectively.
Anyway, my point is this. Armenians and Azerbaijanis like to push the idea that they are the only ones who suffered losses. Actually, both sides did. To what extent, that’s another matter, but I stand by my initial comment which is that both sides will always have an excuse.
“What they did was wrong, what we did was right, or we didn’t do it at all,” kind of thing. Meanwhile, just as Emil admits he was saddened by the loss of Djulfa and the lack of concern by the Azerbaijani media, I am also saddened by the destruction of Shushi.
Anyway, this is now starting to turn into a discussion on the war itself and the origins of the people living in the region. This is when everything gets too nationalistic for me and so I’m out of this conversation and moving on to other things.
However, I will commend everyone from keeping the discussion civil. That’s what we need more than anything else. It’s also what we actually need the media in both sides to do as well. That’s the only way we can perhaps find a solution to everything. Meanwhile, about your point on building materials.
True in the case of Aghdam, not true in the case of every other village and town in the territories surrounding Karabakh under Armenian control. This was the razing of towns and villages to prevent ethnic Azeris and Kurds from returning.
Back to Tom’s book and I’ve already told you that there are one or two parts (i.e. paragraphs or sentences) I didn’t like. You mention one, but one sentence is not enough to devalue an entire book. Indeed, one of the most relevant parts of Tom’s book looks at the nationalist aims of historians in both countries.
Indeed, they’re not historians, and distort and subjectively deal with history with nationalist goals in mind. Everyone wants to be seen as the innocent victim, but it’s not as simple as that. And again, you either decry the destruction of cultural monuments and massacres or deportation of civilians, or you don’t.
Onnik,
I never said I wasn’t sad about destroyed Shushi, just as I am sad for killed Turkish diplomats or displaced Azeri population from the security belt around Karabakh. And I never said Armenians are the only victim of this conflict. That’s not my point.
Let me try one more time. In each “dispute” there are not two, but three extremes. First two are “black & white” perspectives from each of the sides. Here everything is clear – we are victims, they are villains. But there is also the “third extreme”, which is sth. like monotonic “dull gray”. That extreme pursues “objectivity” by painting both sides in one color (“the same shit” kind of approach). Now, it’s assumed for some reason that the “third extreme” is *by definition* always closer to the truth than the first two, which I claim is *not* true. There are many, many examples (starting from Armenian Genocide, Holocaust, Nazis to more recent examples such as Yugoslavia events). So all I am saying is that – despite the book having tons of original and unique information, by pursuing the “third extreme” it may further obfuscate the true picture and the real nature of the conflict.
Call me a nationalist, chauvinist, or whatever but I still firmly hold a position (which I am ready to defend with *facts*) that in Karabakh conflict Armenians are “whiter” than Azeris, and as a consequence “third extreme” approach (pursued by TdW book) is far more damaging for the Armenian side than the Azeri (and despite “some” on Azeri side protesting the book).
R.
Bobby,
Azeri language doesnt resemble Udi language its turkish language with lots of Arabic and Persian words included.
I read many Azeri And Armenian posts with facts they represent from inner and outer sources as well.We can dig deep and find something but i think we can forward our efforts to something more valuable.Thanks for representing some beautiful monuments,we will pass away but they can live longer if be taken care of.Its my point of view that Azerbaijanis are Turkish fleed to Caucases later with the Albanians assimilated.Arab invaders treated local people very bad who practised local religions so christian Albanians assimilated with Armenians and Georgians while eastern were forced to assimilate with muslims.Our modern understanding of worlds is diffirent,during that time there existed too many tribes with different kind of border management.
when you consider genetic evidence, Armenians and Azerbajanis of Caucasus are closer to each other than any ethnic relatives. So the only difference is cultural and not ancestoral. Gene’s do show that both Armenians and Azerbaijanis share the same ancestors… jus tone formed a collective identity of Armenians and the other of Azerbaijanis.
You know it surprizes how everytime there is anarticle by Azerbaijani side there is always an agree Armenain accusing the author of Turkish propaganda. What does Turkey have to do with this? I know Azerbaijan and Turkey are allies but I seriousle doubt this is Turkish propaganda.
Bobby, if you fail to see Azeris that take “truth above everything”, maybe it is because you are not willing to challange the “truth” you know? It is not an easy thing to do. And i am still struggling with it, but the more I educate myself while tryign to maintain an open mind the more objectivity (or third party point of view) I gain about this conflict.
Babby, do you really, think that there were no wrong doing on Armenian side against Azerbaijan? Are you that naive to think that pogroms in Azerbaijan and Operaciya Kolco in Azerbaijan were only acts of violance against civilians? Do you believe that there we re no hate crimes against Azeris? And the 100,000s displaced and refugies from Azerbaijan left their home slow and comfortably, while the Armenian population of Azerbaijan was just beaten all the way to the border? Really?