Armenia-Azerbaijan: Garlic Wars
As Armenia and Turkey come to blows over a UNESCO decision to enter a meal eaten in both countries into its list of Intangible Heritage, the dispute over food now appears to have spread to once again include Azerbaijan.
Locked into a bitter stalemate over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, around 25,000 died in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s and a million forced to flee their homes. A lasting peace remains elusive.
As a result, Armenians and Azerbaijanis naturally prefer to overlook the many similarities they share, but inter-ethnic rivalry over culture and tradition is perhaps most fiercest over food. Kebabistan sets the scene.
Feeling burned by UNESCO's decision, another group of Armenians is now taking steps to safeguard what they believe to be the Armenian lineage of tolma, stuffed grape leaves or other vegetables, which are frequently also served in Turkey, where they are known as dolma.
[…]
The Azeris, meanwhile, appear even more focussed on protecting their cuisine from what they believe are Armenian efforts to encroach on their culinary territory. Azerbaijan has its own culinary watchdog, an organization called the National Cuisine Center, whose director, Tahir Amiraslanov, appears to spend most of his time on an effort to teach the world that Armenian cuisine is actually Azeri cuisine. […]
Stay tuned. In this food fight, there is clearly more to come.
Arthur Chapman on Flickr
And it wasn't long before more did come, albeit in an unlikely form after one local historian in Armenia reportedly discovered that garlic from Azerbaijan was on sale in his local supermarket. Despite one local trader saying that the garlic was the tastiest as well as cheapest available, some local media responded hysterically.
Tamada Tales explains.
Armenians are constantly on the ball for possible attacks from implacable foe Azerbaijan, but who would have expected an enemy infiltration so unspeakably vile in nature? Garlic, grown on Azerbaijan’s hostile soil, apparently has found a way to penetrate the two countries’ sealed border, and then had the effrontery to appear on vegetable stands in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
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A concerned citizen, Karapetian sounded the alarm, and reporters hurried to the scene. “Garlic of the company based on [President Heydar] Aliyev Street in Baku is gleefully sold in… an Armenian supermarket,” the puzzled historian said.
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Apparently, some fear that the garlic could be an early sign of more deadly forms of warfare. Investigators have already whisked off the offending bulbs, but did they act in time before unsuspecting citizens added the Azerbaijani garlic to dolma or khorovatz sauce? Wrote one publication ominously: “Today it’s garlic, tomorrow it will be something else.”
Ironically, however, this isn't the first time that Azerbaijani produce has been available to Armenians. At the end of November, for example, Ianyan blogger and Global Voices author Liana Aghajanian discovered another example in an Armenian Supermarket in the United States.
Unlike the Armenian media, however, her Tumblr blog was more enthusiastic about the unexpected find.
Pomegranate diplomacy: Pomegranate juice, product of Azerbaijan, bought at my local Armenian market that is probably in many Los Angeles-area Armenian homes right now. Also, you can’t see it but the juice brand is called “Real Deal.” Too good.
Meanwhile, in Nagorno Karabakh itself, Armenians still have a fondness for Azerbaijani cuisine while there is also a demand for Armenian products in Azerbaijan too, as one Karabakh journalist explains on the Caucasus Circle of Peace Journalism.
Azerbaijani dishes are still in high demanded at the restaurants of Karabakh. All over the region people speak about the Azerbaijani cuisine with respect. Despite a conflict that is ongoing between the two nations for more than twenty years, in many restaurants patrons can taste typical Azerbaijani dishes alongside the rich offerings of Karabakh cuisne.
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Despite a great choice on offer at stores nowadays, Igor Davtian does not change his habits: he definitely drinks only Azerbaijani tea, which is sent to him by his relatives from Russia.
“I brew tea in a very particular way. I do not trust my wife in this matter at all. She just cannot brew it to the same taste. I order tea and my relatives send it to me from Russia – but they themselves order it from Baku. At the same time, and my relatives told me that their neighbors in Russia are sending Armenian cognac to Baku. What can we do, that’s just what our lives came to,” Igor Davtian says.
[…]
Armenia and Azerbaijan do not only have territorial disputes: there is also much argument about music, patterns of carpet weaving – and surely about the origins of dishes as well. Armenians and Azerbaijanis still discuss who of them came up with the song “Sari Gelin” and who invented tolma. As of the “ethnic origins” of shashlik [GV Note: Barbecue], even Georgians enter the debate. But that is a different story…
With tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan the highest they've been in years, the heated debate over cuisine will likely continue to overshadow any possibility for a sometimes shared culture, or even trade, to bring the two sides together. Certainly that seems to be the case for some media outlets in the region.
22 comments
haha hilarious are Obama, Hilary’s and Mc Cain heads made in Hummus, in the same page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hummus-Wars/119228271433813?sk=info#!/photo.php?fbid=142567489099891&set=a.142567229099917.18875.119228271433813&type=1&theater
I hope whenever there is to be a war ( i keep my fingers crossed it wont) people from both sides will throw @ each other, hummus, garlic, or whatever, instead of bombs !!!
Dear Onnik,
I’ve been reading your blogs for a long time now. Of course, I would as not often can you meet an Armenian who desires to keep away from propaganda and call things their names! You and people like you would be the bridge between our nations. There are people like that in Azerbaijan as well.
I’ve been reading the comments from Armenian fellow-humans here and I am perplexed (but not surprised) that indeed there is a belief amongst Armenians that Azerbajanis are made up nation which came from Mongolia proper few hundred years ago (or maybe even only 100 years ago) with Asiatic traditions which were ditched and replaced by Armenian traditions and we stole your heritage… Khmmmm…. The nation name is new, corect. Before we were simply Turks. But nothing is simple in Caucasus. The region of Azerbaijan was known for many centuries and before that it was known as Atropatena and Caucasian Albania. How can we be mongol invaders if we have ZILCH east asiatic genes??? In fact, turks (those who never mixed with mongols) lived in Caucasus for last 8000-10000 years. Turkic people were part of Caucasian Albania as well. There is a debate who Scythians were – turkic or iranic. There is many who believe they were turkic people (Russians mainly as they are the world’s number 1 turkologists, Europeans are new to the subject as they only recently got access to Caucasus, their opinion should not be trusted as much as Russian’s). Genetic research by modern Russian scientists (Klyosov and Shvaryov) indicate that Scythians were turkic; they go on to state even more “controversial” things which would be hard for the West to digest.. But the DNA genealogy science being new (10 years) continues develipoing and gatjering genetic evidence and more and more evidence coupled with linguists, archeologists and historian’ evidences and research will come to prove what these 2 scientist are saying…or disporove.. I’m not holding breath but there is a huge evidence that Scythians were indeed Turkic. This would refute the theory that the Azeri lands were inhabited by iranic people or that Azeris are turkisised iranic people. These lands were inhabited for thousands of years by prototurkic, turkic and caucasian people, and in the south there was also iranics (Medes). But today the whole of the west turkic population known as Azerbaijanis is one genetically and culturally, with Northerners having more Caucasian and Southerners having some Iranic (not Persian though). Otherwise, how can one explain the overwhelming power of the Azeri language in the region? How not Persian but Turkish took over? How? There was no population replacement, there could be no elite dominance mechanism as all turkic dynasties (Sefevids, Gadjars, Timurids, Eldezids, Gara and Ag Goyunlu) had Persian as their state, court and literary language and turkic was the language of commoners, the language of oral folk tradition (why would common iranic people prefer to sing lullubies and love songs in invading minority savages’ language!!!???). Azeri language in a normal process of ethnogenesis did absorb caucasian tribes who became united under the turkic language (otherwise they would remain fractioned as they are in Dagestan now, for exampple, as Russians stopped the Azerification process in Dagestan in 1930, if not they’d merge with the Azeris – the Caucasian Turk nation and at good will, nobody forced Lezgins, Armenians, Georgians to speak Azeri (or Turkish). How can a language of primitive mongolic people as we are portayed here take over the civilised, cultured majorities and without any poluation replacement and no mongolic admixtures in the genetic pool? How??? Those Armenians who think as the fellow earlier, are misled by the Iranic theory of Scythians which makes everything what Azeris say and beleive in really impossible but then hard facts, the genes, the strength and the natural unimposed dominance of the Azeri language prove the opposite. Why and how would Turkish be so powerful in Persia to make Persian Armenians call their food by turkic names? Why not Persian? Azerification occured in 9-11 century. The tribes who were earlier iranicised (turks and caucasian alike) went back to Turkic when the local turkic base became prevailing unexpectedly supported by the arriving Eastern Turkic invaders – the Turkomans and Timurids! This is when the Turkic tipped the scale and overtook the region (mistook for the time when Turkic was first introduced in Caucasus and Anatolia!). Now, Mongols have similarities with Turkic because Turks influenced them – gave them grammar and lexicon. We all must have read that the official tree of languages is but a political trick, not refelcting the true correlations between people! Until DNA science Europe believed Russians were mixed with mongols and emerged from dark wood in 10 century! Now not only russians are considered 100% europaan, but that there was no such thing as mongol-tatar invasion but there was peaceful coexistence of slavs and turks (similar ppl anthropologically) with short episodes of warfare (like happened in Europe or between different turkic people). Slaves are believed to be the original aryans and came about 20000 years ago (turks antropologically europeoid came about 16000 years ago) and shared the Eurasian stepps for many thousands of years, confusing historians today who slavs, scythian, iranic people were as their migration paths crossed on many place in Eurasia from western Europe to Mongolia!. So, orignally turks were light skinned, blond, ginger, blue, green eyed europeoids. very ancient and came not from Altai, but from South Siberia (same place were they say Aryans came). Some went to the East (Altai – refer caucasian mummies in Uighurustan), mixed with mongols and became present day turanoids of Central Asia, many of them (Kazakhs and Kyrgyzs) are ratehr turkified mongols as their genetic composition shows, than mongolified turks. Those who went westwards through Caucasus and Anatolia remained europeoid. Thise who stayed in Caucasus and Anatolia (this is 8000-4500 years ago) mixed with the Middle Eastern and anatolian lineages, resulting in todays Turks, Azeris and Crimean Tatars. Going back to the cousine. all names are not just nouns but refelct the method of cooking – buglama (steamed), sarma, dolma (stuffed), ashlama (boiled), basdurma (marinated), bozartma (fried).. etc. etc… why, why Armenians used those words? Persian foods of similar composition (but not identical, as Persian and Azeri food are different) have different names. Why Eastern and Western Armenians have differences? Why didn’t Armenians adopt the food names from Persian who are lingusitically closer to Armenians? How can one disregard such huge impact of an ethnic group which shows all signs being ancient and native in Caucasus? Yes Azeris are not pure turks. We are 70% of caucasian lineages, but imagine how the small turkic element had such huge effect and somehow without showing any signs of mongolic invasion? Who are turks? What is their Haplogroup Klyosov and Shvaryov give this answer, I can give reference if needed)? Why anatolians and Caucasians chose to speak a language of primitive, subhuman turks without any bloodshed (genetic evidence shows there was no population replacement of admixture of asiatic lineages).. I call on to the intelligent people to think and analyse – these and many other facts available out there for those who choose not to ignore them to understand that in Caucasus, all people are brothers, regardless of their language. Georgians (89% Caucasian), Azeris (70% Caucasian) and Armenians (42% Caucasian) are all of the same roots, plus/minus variations. Western armenians are closer to anatolian turks, eastern armenians are closer to Azeris (Caucasian Turks). We all belong where we are, but probably the language – the Armenian belongs more in Anatolia (after it arrived there as grabar from Balkans) than to Caucasus which make it seem as if Armenians are aliens in Caucasus. The language maybe. But not the people. Turkic has been in Caucasus for 8000 years minimum. Can be considred native in Caucasus (in the end of the day, caucasian languages came to caucasus 12000-15000 years ago from Anatolia as well!) We all have strong Mesopatamian lineages. We must understand that we are more similar than different and this similarity is the reason we are having the war as we are split by languages (disregard religion as religion is not decisive factor to decide who is caucasian and who is not – example – Gerogians, Ingushs, Chechens, Lezgis, Ossetins etc.). Instead we could be living and prospering in peace and celebrate our uniqness – similar cultures with different languages! Turks did not just come here from Mongolia few centuries ago. Nation (not place) self-name Azerbaijanians is relatively new but people are not. Before 1918, we called ourselves Turk or Musalman. Russia played role in splitting Turks into Turks and Azeris but we are one same ethnic band in the region. Turks have anatolian influences (naturally, as anatolians fused into the turkic nation) and Azeris have caucasian influences. In Azerbaijan there was no violent assimilation to say Caucasians had no choice not to speak turkish, They chose this language as it was beautiful (still is), strong, rich in oral literary tradition (dastans, bayatis, mugams – Azeri invention during Persian empire times, hence iranic name.. by the way, why not armenian, we could have adopted the mane in Persia from you as some armenians say they adopted tukic names in Persia!), easy, harmonious, structured, regular, melodic, just how people were choosing to use it linga franca in Caucasus in the last few hundred years. Azeri language was enriched with persian and arabic and lately russian words, but strangely we do not have any armenian or georgian influence which indicates we did not chosoe to spek those languages but the latter 2 chose to speak Turkish. In Anatolia events were probably more dramatic, more bloody as there was a clash of Bysantian empire with the invading Seljuks. The turkic took over due to the presence of the native anatolian turkic base, so Seljuks strengthened that turkic base and it prevailed. Interestingly, from history it’s known that Seljuks did not stay in Caucasus for too long, they went on to Anatolia that’s why we see more Asiatic lineages there (10%) and none in Azerbaijanis. Also, Azerbaijan territory was part of Ottoman empire only for a very short period of time hence the two turkic nations emerged – ottomans and azeris. The latter were mainly with Persians and ruled Persian Empire alternating with Perisan dynasties. This synergy continued and can be seen even in modern day Iran. Hence the iranic/persian influence and our influence on Persians (like we or turks in general influenced all our neighbours, including Russians). Azeris are not turkicised iranians. In fact even our Talysh and tat people are not iranic by genes – they are caucasian! They are the iranisised Caucasians! Not turkisised iranians! Anyhow, I hope I could convey my mesage to those who think Azeris fell off the different planet to caucasus 100 years ago or came straight from Mongolia (I wonder where did we hide our yurts and the mouth piece musical instrument – forgot the name?). Azeris are ancestors of Scythians (turkic people) and Caucasian Albanians. Very little iranic in North, a bit more in South. We don’t want to anhiliate anyone. We want to live in peace as we did before Russains arrived! We want Armenians to relax and enjoy our similarites, stop antogonising themselves by their Armeian ideology, making themselves enemy to every other Caucasian (including Christian Georgians). let us all relax, celebrate our simialrity and try to understand why we all love Irevan, Zangezur, Garabagh and Nakhchivan. The armenian LANGUAGE fully came to Cuacasus in 17 century (first recorded in Nakhchivan) but started penetrating here from 12 century (to Caucasian Albania). Maybe first incursiions happenned in 7-8 century, not earleir. Language that is. But those who call themselves “armenians” today actually came to Caucasus many thousand years ago with Scythians (turkic), nakhs (urartian), Lezgic ppl (mesopatamia), mannaeans (caucasian ppl), and medes (iranic) – same as the Azeri’s ancestors (and Georgian, and Lezgi etc etc). DNA genealogy, unlike history, archeology, linguistics which are humanitarian sciences and hence can be biased depending on the political need and notions, is a precise science that cannot be flawed or ignored (but can be incorrectly interpreted base don official line of history) – look to see we are all similar (but not the same as we have diffent histories). Azeris’ roots go deep into Caucasian soil for many thousands of years. Let’s understand and accept our similarity and live in peace! PEACE!