Tragedy on the Araxes	June 30, 2006
by Sarah Pickman

A place of memory is wiped off the face of the Earth.

Khachkars of the Djulfa cemetery, c.1987 (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

On the banks of the River Araxes, in the remote, windswept region of Nakhichevan, is a small area of land known as Djulfa, named for the ethnic Armenian town that flourished there centuries ago. Today, Nakhichevan is an enclave of Azerbaijan. Surrounding it on three sides is Armenia, and on the fourth, across the Araxes, is Iran.

Hundreds of years ago, almost all of Djulfa's residents were forced to leave when the conquering Shah Abbas relocated them to Isfahan in Persia. But Djulfa was not left completely empty: its cemetery, said to be the largest Armenian graveyard in the world, survived. Inside it were 10,000 or so headstones, most of them the intricately carved stone slabs known as khachkars. Long after the town was emptied, the khachkars, which are unique to Armenian burials, stood like "regiments of troops drawn up in close order," according to nineteenth-century British traveler William Ouseley.

Those stone regiments are gone now; broken down, all of the headstones have either been removed from Djulfa or buried under the soil. No formal archaeological studies were ever carried out at the cemetery--the last traces of a community long gone--and its full historical significance will never be known.

The region of Nakhichevan, situated between Armenia and Iraq. "NKR" indicates the contested region of Nagorny-Karabakh. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

A History of Violence

The oldest burials in the Djulfa (Jugha in Armenian) cemetery date to the sixth century A.D., but most of the famed khachkars are from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the town was at its most prosperous as a stop on the silk and spice trade routes between Asia and the Mediterranean. After the forced resettlement of 1604, the graveyard endured, and was visited by travelers from within and outside of the Caucasus over the next few centuries. They saw slabs of pink and yellowish stone, between six and eight feet high, intricately carved in relief. Most khachkars, which were believed to aid in the salvation of the soul, were decorated with crosses and representations of Christian holy figures, as well as depictions of plants, scenes of daily life, geometric designs, and epitaphs in Armenian.

By the twentieth century, the carved stones that had survived the forces of time and nature faced a human threat. In 1903 and 1904, part of a railroad line connecting Djulfa to the Armenian city of Yerevan was laid through the cemetery, and a number of khachkars were demolished to make room for the tracks. In 1921, the newly established Soviet government, which had recently gained control over the Caucasus, gave the regions of Nakhichevan and Nagorny-Karabakh, historically part of southern Armenia, to Azerbaijan as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy for controlling the Caucasus. After the new borders were drawn, Nakhichevan was separated from the ruling government of Azerbaijan by Armenian territory. Over the next 70 years, the Azeri population in Nakhichevan grew and almost all of the remaining Armenians emigrated because of political pressure and economic hardship. The Azeris often broke down the stone memorials of Djulfa for use as building material, and by 1998, according to the nonprofit organization Reserch on Armenian Architecture (RAA), there were only 2,000 khachkars left.

RAA, an Armenia-based awareness organization which documents Armenian architectural monuments located outside the borders of the modern republic of Armenia, has studied and published material on the recent history of the Djulfa cemetery. According to RAA, the destruction continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, and local vandals were no longer the only group accused of contributing to the demolition. In 1998, the Armenian government claimed that Nakhichevan's Azeri authorities were deliberately wrecking the cemetery in an act of symbolic violence and had destroyed 800 khackhars. The Armenians appealed to UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), trying to get "the entire international community up in arms," according to deputy culture minister Gagik Gyurdjian. UNESCO responded by ordering an end to all destructive activity in Djulfa. However, the demolition began again in 2002, according to RAA and local witnesses. The last remains of the cemetery were obliterated this past December. Over a period of three days beginning on December 14, 2005, a large group of Azeri soldiers destroyed the remaining grave markers with sledgehammers, loaded the broken stones onto trucks, and dumped them into the waters of the Araxes. That is what witnesses who watched the devastation from across the river in Iran say happened. Among them were representatives from the Armenian Apostolic Church Diocesan Council in the Iranian city of Tabriz, who were able to take photographs, and an Armenian film crew, which captured a significant amount of the event on camera. The video footage from this has been broadcast online through the Armenian community news service,Hairenik.

Intricate designs on a broken khachkar. Photo by Zaven Sargissian, 1987. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

The Djulfa episode is only the latest in a string of controversies and tragedies that have marred the relationship between the modern nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Tensions have run high between the two countries since soon after the fall of the Soviet Union, when, as they asserted their independence, the nations laid competing claims to the Nagorny-Karabakh region, which was under Azeri authority but whose population had remained largely Armenian. The region's local parliament voted to secede and join with Armenia, and fighting erupted between the secessionists and Azeri authorities. The conflict escalated into a full-scale war that involved both armies and unofficial citizen militias from Armenia and Azerbaijan and left thousands dead on both sides. Precariously positioned, Nakhichevan escaped being engulfed in the violence largely because its Armenian population had dwindled to less than 4,000 people and thus was not viewed as a threat by Azeri authorities.

Though a ceasefire was declared in 1994, Armenia and Azerbaijan have not yet reached a permanent agreement regarding Nagorny-Karabakh, and the hostility between the two countries makes the Djulfa destruction even more contentious. There can be little doubt that historical grievances and political land claims have played a part in this attempt to eradicate the historical Armenian presence in Nakhichevan.

A standing row of khachkars. Photo by Zaven Sargissian,1987. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

Reacting to the Ruins

Outraged at the destruction of the historic site, Armenians and members of the international Armenian community launched a public and political campaign to bring the issue to the eyes of the world. RAA published print materials and created online exhibits to raise awareness of the incident and its repercussions for Armenians. One RAA brochure states that, "Following the example of the Taliban who destroyed the statues of Buddha in Bamian, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan is obliterating Nakhichevan's centuries-old historical monuments, thus hoping to prove that the region was never an Armenian territory." Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian protested in a letter to UNESCO dated December 16, 2005, calling the destruction "tantamount to ethnic cleansing." The Armenian National Committee of America led a fax campaign to American secretary of state Condoleeza Rice, demanding the United States condemn the devastation.

Azeri authorities wasted no time in firing back. After U.S. Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chairmen Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) condemned the Djulfa incident in letters to Azeri officials, Azerbaijan's ambassador to the United States Hafez Pashayev responded with his own letter, dated January 9, 2006. In it, he asserted that it was impossible to identify either the cemetery as Armenian or the perpetrators as Azeri based on the videos shown on Hairenik. "Any accusation can be made against anybody based on that footage," he wrote, adding that the Azeri Ministry of Defense confirmed that none of its personnel had been involved with the Djulfa incident. He affirmed his nation's commitment to protecting the cultural heritage of all peoples. Pashayev then concluded that the Armenian accusations are "groundless" and meant to divert attention from Armenian destruction of Azeri heritage sites, destruction that includes, according to his count, 1,585 mosques, 20 museums, and 969 libraries. A few Azeri cultural and political organizations do list names of mosques and other sites allegedly destroyed by Armenians on their websites (see for example, this site), with a large portion of the destruction said to have happened during the Nagorny-Karabakh war. However, these claims have not yet been verified by international news services.

Khachkars and a carved ram's head stone. Photo by Zaven Sargissian,1987. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

Adding to the contrversy over Djulfa is the widespread belief in Azerbaijan, whose population is majority Muslim, that the Christian burial monuments were the work of the Caucasian Albanians (unrelated to the Albanians of the Balkans), and not the Armenians. Speaking to the BBC last December, Hasan Zeynalov, the permanent representative of Nakhichevan in the Azeri capital of Baku, strongly dismissed all concerns over Djulfa. "Armenians have never lived in Nakhichevan, which has been Azerbaijani land from time immemorial, and that's why there are no Armenian cemeteries and monuments and have never been any," he explained.

Despite this dramatic war of words and the best efforts of Armenian organizations, the coverage of, and response to, the incident by international news services, organizations, and Western governments has largely been tepid. The European Parliament issued a resolution condemning the events at Djulfa in February 2006. As for the United States, deputy assistant secretary of state Matthew Bryza called the incident a "tragedy" at a press conference in Armenia the following month, but added "the United States cannot take steps to stop it as it is happening on foreign soil." American ambassador designate to Azerbaijan Anne Derse, at her confirmation hearing in May 2006, responded to questions concerning Djulfa by saying that she "encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan to work with UNESCO to investigate this incident." Not surprisingly, these statements have created little increase in concrete action or major news coverage, with articles from the London Times and The Independent being the lone exceptions. Clearly, the international community would rather sacrifice cultural heritage for stability, however temporary and precarious, in a region that has seen so much violence recently.

Khachkars broken down, probably for use as building material. Photo by Zaven Sargissian, 1987. (Courtesy ofResearch on Armenian Architecture)

Beyond the Armenian community, many archaeologists and scholars have also decried both the razing of the cemetery and the lack of response from the international community. The destruction of the cemetery at Djulfa is "a shameful episode in humanity's relation to its past, a deplorable act on the part of the government of Azerbaijan which requires both explanation and repair," says anthropologist Adam T. Smith of the University of Chicago, who has excavated in Armenia.

Smith, along with other archaeologists and students from six Western nations, sent a letter to Armenian cultural associations and sent copies to American and international archaeological and preservation organizations, members of the United States Congress and UNESCO. In it, they expressed their anger over the destruction of the historic cemetery, calling it "a violation of the memories of ancestors and an assault upon the common cultural heritage of humanity." At the same time, the signers condemned the Armenian government for decrying the loss of the cemetery while failing to protect cultural heritage sites within its own borders that are threatened by industry, development, and the weak authority of its ministry of culture. As of mid-June 2006, the scholars have received no responses to their letter.

One section of the cemetery, cleared of its khachkars. Other stone monuments remain standing higher on the hill. 1998. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

Searching for the Truth

Four months after the last of the khachkars were broken up and removed from the cemetery, according to observers in Iran, outsiders finally traveled to Djulfa to investigate. In April 2006, an unamed staff reporter from the nonprofit, London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the first outside journalist to investigate the issue on site, traveled to the Djulfa area. Accompanied at all times by Azeri security officers, and not permitted to visit the actual site of the cemetery, he was close enough to see that the landscape had been entirely stripped of any monuments. Where earlier photos had indicated that there were magnificent stone grave markers, there was only bare ground.

Later that month, ten European Union Members of Parliament (MEPs) were denied access to Djulfa by Azeri authorities after they traveled to Nakhichevan to investigate the eyewitness reports. Azerbaijan insists that it will not allow such a delegation to view the sites unless it also visits alleged sites of Armenian destruction of Azeri cultural heritage. This refusal aroused suspicion among many Armenian and international observers of Azerbaijan's claims of non-involvement. Said Hannes Swoboda, an Austrian MEP and member of the barred delegation, in The Independent, "If something is hidden we want to ask why. It can only be because some of the allegations are true."

The cemetery, partially cleared of khachkars. According to eyewitnesses, railroad cars like the one in this photo were used to cart away broken stones. Photo by Arpiar Petrossian, 1998. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

Regardless of any conclusions drawn from the video footage and eyewitness accounts, Djulfa sits just across the Araxes from Iran. As it is a border zone, Azeri government forces patrol the area heavily, and it is unlikely that such an incident could have occured without their knowledge, if not complicity or involvement. As the European Parliament noted in its February declaration, Azerbaijan ratified the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1993. By failing to safeguard the khachkars and other headstones it has violated its agreement under that convention to preserve and protect cultural heritage. Azerbaijan, a member of the Council of Europe, is also held to the statutes of the Valetta Conventionof 1992, which requires member states to protect archaeological heritage within their borders. Thus, regardless of the identity of the perpetrators, the events of December 2005 represent Azerbaijan's violation of, or failure to live up to, the international agreements it has signed. Even if, as Pashayev asserts, the Azeri government did not commit the desecration at Djulfa, it was still responsible for protecting the khachkars.

Khachkars knocked to the ground. 2002. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

Breaking the Pattern

The politically motivated desecration of cultural sites, including cemeteries, is not unique to the southern Caucasus. During the recent war in Kosovo, Muslim Albanian extremists destroyed numerous Serbian Christian cemeteries and accompanying churches. In several instances, remains were disinterred from graves and scattered around the cemeteries, in a powerful message to discourage the ethnic Serbs from returning to their villages.

In March 2003, graffiti was discovered on a large memorial at the Etaples Military Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais, France, where 11,000 British soldiers, most of whom died during World War I, are buried. Messages spray-painted on the monument attacked England and its ally in the war in Iraq, the United States, and included the phrases "Dig up your rubbish, it's contaminating our soil," "Rosbeefs [a derogatory slang term for the British] go home," and "Sadam [sic] will win and spill your blood." A majority of French citizens oppose the war in which England and the United States are engaged, and the vandals attempted to air their political grievances against modern people by attacking their opponents' sacred past.

Last year in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, the local government strongly condemned the vandalism of a colonial-era cemetery, where the bodies of more than 700 Italian expatriates were exhumed and scattered. Regional governor Abdullah Hassan Firimbi, speaking with the online daily Arab News, said that the vandals who committed these acts were anti-government rebels, and the desecration was a protest against the new Somali government, which is dependent on foreign aid from Italy.

Another field of broken, scattered khachkars. 2002. (Courtesy of Research on Armenian Architecture)

The recent destruction in Djulfa is one example of many where symbolic violence against the dead is used as an expression of modern enmity. In the southern Caucasus, a bizarre Soviet geopolitical relic has fueled animosity, violence, and cultural devastation. But is there a way forward from the events at the Djulfa cemetery?

In their letter, Smith and his fellow scholars called for the Azeri government to immediately commission an international team of conservators and archaeologists to restore the cemetery as much as possible. They also called for a conference on heritage management in the south Caucasus that would write and enforce guidelines for the preservation of historic sites and materials in the region, thus "bring[ing] a positive commitment to heritage preservation from a tragic event." The damage to the Djulfa cemetery is irreversible, but it could mark the end of such tragedies and be the starting point of a fresh commitment to preservation here and elsewhere.

Despite the back-and-forth blaming between the Armenians and Azeris, and questions surrounding the ultimate perpetrators, the graveyard at Djulfa, a place of unique beauty and cultural importance to the Armenian community, has been erased. It is important that the perpetrators are brought to justice, but it may be more important that this event receive much greater attention from the international community than it has. It is a cautionary tale, and the destruction of priceless cultural sites, like this cemetery on the Araxes, must not be allowed to happen again.

• For more photos from the Djulfa cemetery, including photos from the final destruction of December 2005, please visit www.armenica.org.
• For larger photos of the khachkars prior to the destruction, please visit international.icomos.org.

Sarah Pickman, an intern at ARCHAEOLOGY, is an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago pursuing a major in anthropology and a minor in art history.

© 2006 by the Archaeological Institute of America www.archaeology.org/online/features/djulfa/

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/djulfa/index.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7dx36_history-of-turkish-tribes-djulfa-ju_webcam

Links to Cultural Genocide

Raphael Lemkin
Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum Documenting Cultural Genocide in Azerbaijan
Tibetan cultural genocide
Cultural genocide of Armenian monuments continues
Aboriginal cultural genocide
Spiritual and cultural genocide of the Native Americans
Bloodless Genocide of the Pitcairn People in Norfolk Island
Cornish cultural genocide
Canada Cultural Genocide: Forced Removal of Native Children

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Cultural_genocide

Միջազգային տեղեկագիրը անդրադարձել է Նոր Ջուղայի խաչքարերի ոչնչացմանը

25.02.2004

Գայանե Դանիելյան, Երեւան

Հուշարձանների եւ պատմական վայրերի համաշխարհային խորհրդի (ԻԿՈՄՈՍ) ամենամյա «Վտանգված ժառանգություն» տեղեկագրքի վերջին թողարկման մեջ ուշադրություն է սրվում ներկայումս Նախիջեւանի տարածքում գտնվող Ջուղայի հայկական գերեզմանատան հազարավոր խաչքարերի ոչնչացման վրա՝ դա որակելով «բարբարոսական» քրեական գործողություն, որի համար պատասխանատուն Ադրբեջանի կառավարությունն է:

«Համաշխարհային մատենաշարի» այս՝ երրորդ հրատարակության կազմի վերջին էջը ներկայացնում է հազարավոր հայկական խաչքարերի բարբարոսական ոչնչացումը՝ քրեական մի գործողություն, որը համարյա անծանոթ է հասարակությանը, եւ որի համար Ադրբեջանի կառավարությունը պետք է պատասխանատվություն կրի»,- ասված է տեղեկագրում: Այստեղ տպագրված է նաեւ Հայկական մշակույթն ուսումնասիրող հասարակական կազմակերպության (RAA) նախագահ Արմեն Հախնազարյանի եւ Դիթեր Վիքմանի՝ Ջուղայի գերեզմանատան եւ խաչքարերի պատմամշակութային արժեքին եւ հիշյալ ոճրագործության պատմական ու աշխարհաքաղաքական դրդապառճառներին անդրադարձող հոդվածը:

Չորեքշաբթի օրը հրավիրած ասուլիսում ներկայացնելով հրապարակումը, Հայաստանի մշակույթի փոխնախարար, ԻԿՈՄՈՍ-ի Հայաստանի ազգային հանձնաժողովի նախագահ Գագիկ Գյուրջյանը տեղեկացրեց, որ նշված հրատարակությունը իրականություն է դարձել նաեւ ԻԿՈՄՈՍ-ի նախագահ Մայքլ Պեցետի ջանքերի շնորհիվ:

«Երբեւէ չի եղել, որ միջազգային նման հեղինակավոր կազմակերպությունը նման գնահատական տա, նման կերպ բնորոշի ադրբեջանցիների արածները»,- ասաց Գյուրջյանը:

20-րդ դարասկզբին Հին Ջուղային գերեզմանատանը կար շուրջ 10 հազար հայկական խաչքար: Այսօր գերեզմանատունը ամբողջությամբ ոչնչացված է (մնացել են եզակի խաչքարեր՝ զառիթափ լանջերին):

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1573152.html

Խաչքար՝ նահատակված խաչքարերին
ՀՈՎՀԱՆՆԵՍ ՍԱՐԴԱՐՅԱՆ, 2010-06-11

Վանաձորցի քանդակագործ Բոգդան Հովհաննիսյանը յուրօրինակ նախաձեռնությամբ է հանդես եկել. նա նույնությամբ վերականգնել է Ջուղայում ադրբեջանցիների կողմից ոչնչացրած 10 հազար խաչքարերից մեկը:
«Ջուղայի խաչքարագործության արվեստը լրիվ տարբերվում է մեր խաչքարագործությունից: Առաջին հայացքից թվում է՝ նույնն է, բայց հենց գործիքը վերցնում ու փորձում են աշխատել, անմիջապես ի հայտ են գալիս տարբերությունները»,- Ջուղայի հայկական գերեզմանատան խաչքարերից Ծատուրին նվիրվածի վերականգնման առիթով ասում է Բ. Հովհաննիսյանը:
Խաչքարը կերտվել է շուրջ 10 ամսվա ընթացքում: «Ավելի շուտ կավարտեի, բայց նախ ամեն նախշը կոթողի վրա էի նկարում, հետո փոխադրում քարին,- պատմում է քանդակագործն ու հավելում զարմանալի մի իրողություն,- գուցե խորհրդանշական է, բայց մինչեւ զինվորականի հագուստ չհագա, ոչինչ չստացվեց: Առաջին մի ամսվա ընթացքում այդ համազգեստով էի աշխատում»:
Խաչքարի կերտման գործում Բոգդան Հովհաննիսյանին օժանդակել է «Ջուղաքար» գրքի հեղինակ Արգամ Այվազյանը՝ տրամադրելով ինչպես այդ գրքի օրինակը, այնպես էլ այն խաչքարի բնօրինակի լուսանկարը, որը վերականգնել է քանդակագործը: Խաչքարը փորագրման հինգ մակարդակ-հարթություն ունի, ինչպես նաեւ զգալիորեն բարդ զարդանախշեր: Քանդակագործը հենց այս խաչքարը վերակերտելն էլ նախախնամություն է համարում: Աստվածատուրը եւ Բոգդանը նույն իմաստն ունեն՝ Աստծո կողմից: «Մեկ խաչքարը քիչ է, պետք է էլի կերտել ու Ջուղայի զոհված խաչքարերին նվիրված հուշարձանախումբ ստեղծել, որ Գուգարաց թեմի առաջնորդ գերաշնորհ տեր Սեպուհ եպիսկոպոս Չուլջյանի համաձայնությամբ կտեղադրվի Վանաձորի Սուրբ Գրիգոր Նարեկացի եկեղեցու կանաչ պուրակում: Մնում է հովանավոր գտնել, ով պատրաստ լինի օժանդակել այս կարեւոր նախաձեռնությանը»,- ասում է Բոգդան Հովհաննիսյանը ու հույսով սպասում մեկենասի հայտնվելուն: Նա պատրաստ է անգամ նվիրել հայոց խաչքարագործության մեջ առաջին կրկնօրինակ նմուշը, որի Ջուղայում եղած տարբերակը 16-րդ դարի (1602 թ.) կոթող է եղել:

http://www.aravot.am/am/articles/culture/79903/view

http://www.armeniaforeignministry.com/jugha/

Иван Кондратьев
2008-11-12 20:50:00

Кладбище Джульфы
Азербайджанские власти на протяжении всего советского периода старались уничтожить этот некрополь, поскольку для них он был всего лишь свидетельством о том, что именно армяне были хозяевами этой территории на протяжении веков, вопреки тому, что говорилось в азербайджанских советских мифах о собственной “древности”… Это кладбище, вполне достойное названия чуда, было даже не внесено в реестр архитектурных памятников Азербайджана… После распада СССР, во время карабахского конфликта, продолжалось разорение кладбища, и, наконец, оно было окончательно уничтожено….
The Azeri authorities throughout all Soviet period tried to destroy this necropolis as for them it was only a testament that Armenians were owners of this territory throughout centuries in spite of Azerbaijan’s Soviet myths about own “antiquity”… This cemetery, quite worthy to be called a wonder, was not even placed on the register of architectural monuments of Azerbaijan… After USSR’s collapse, during the Karabakh conflict, the cemetery’s demolition continued, and, at last, definitively destroyed….

http://1970-e.livejournal.com/98135.html

Bloggers Commemorate Djulfa’s Third Anniversary
Blogian on 16 Dec 2008

Three years after a cemetery dating back to the 9th Century was deliberately destroyed in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan, bloggers recall an ancient culture annihilated and condemn the world for closing its eyes to what many consider to be an official attempt to rewrite history.
NoThingfjord, a Turkish blog, writes:
Today is the commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of Djulfa’s destruction. …This [is] not only a crime against Armenian culture, but against our collective cultural heritage as humankind. Don’t let it go unnoticed.
Between 10-16 December 2005 over a hundred uniformed men were videotaped destroying the Djulfa cemetery using sledgehammers, cranes, and trucks. The video was taken from across the border in Iran.

More than just a loss to global culture, Ivan Kondratiev [RU] says that Djulfa’s destruction was meant to change the story of Nakhichevan’s indigenous heritage.

http://blogian.hayastan.com/category/cultural-genocide/

THE CULTURAL GENOCIDE OF ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS IN GEORGIA

Please visit the following site: http://www.ancestralstones.com/cultural_genocide_en.pdf

Djulfa: Sacred Stones Reduced to Dust
“There are thousands of khatchkars (cross-stones) here. Each khatchkar could very easily become a rare exhibit in any of the most famous European museums… If all of Europe’s millionaires were to enter the old Djulfa forest of khatchkars and come out bankrupt, the forest would not be endangered in any way.” – A European scholar on the Djulfa cemetery before the destruction
“A medieval cemetery regarded as one of the wonders of the Caucasus has been erased from the Earth in an act of cultural vandalism likened to the Taleban blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in 2001.” - The Times, London
The Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum is dedicated to documenting and raising awareness about the intentional destruction of the largest medieval Armenian cemetery – located in Djulfa (Jugha) – and the entire Armenian cultural heritage in the region of Nakhichevan, Republic of Azerbaijan.

http://www.djulfa.com/

Facts Speak For Themselves





http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n266/zzirk/Destruction-jugha-azeri-beasts-det.jpg

Jugha Cemetery

The April 21, 2006 Times of London reported on the "disappearance" of one of the medieval wonders of the Caucasus as an act of "cultural vandalism". An Armenian cemetery at Jugha near the southern boarder of Azerbaijan containing thousands of carved stone crosses dating from the 9th to 16th centuries has vanished apparently destroyed by the Azerbaijanis.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly dismissed Armenia's allegations as scaremongering and in turn accused Armenia of destroying hundreds of Muslim sites.

The Armenian foreign minister, Vartan Oskanian stated that "The irony is that this destruction has taken place not during a time of war but at a time of peace."

The Azerbaijanis contend that there was never an Armenian cemetery or any other Armenian cultural relics on the site.

My thanks to John Doherty who sent a copy of the times article.

Go to Armeniapedia: the online Armenia Encyclopedia for information on Jugha cemetery and PARTIAL VIEWS OF CEMETERY There are other sites as well.

http://maggieblanck.com/Azarian/Connection.html

News. TWO RECENTLY- REVEALED ACTS OF VANDALISM COMMITTED BY THE AZERBAIJANIAN AUTHORITIES

The photographs taken by Frederic Berlaimont in March 2007 expose two new acts of vandalism perpetrated against the Armenian churches of the Villages of Azat and Kamo (Khanlar District) that have been held annexed by the Republic of Azerbaijan since 1990:

1 St. Hovhannes (St. John) Church of Azat (17th century) has been exploded;

2 Sourb Amenaprkich (Holy Saviour) Church (17th century) of Kamo has been totally annihilated. To illustrate the extent of this barbarism, we are presenting some photographs of the aforementioned monuments taken in November 1989 by the members of RAA Organisation and in March 2007 by Frederic Berlaimont.

http://www.raa.am/Teghekagir/azat_kamo_e.html

By Mohamed Mohamed
BBC Somali Service
Monday, 8 June 2009 08:00 UK

Somali rage at grave desecration

Since they began to capture large swathes of southern Somalia, radical Islamists have been undertaking a programme of destroying mosques and the graves of revered religious leaders from the Sufi branch of Islam.
The destruction of non-approved religious sites started last year when they began to knock down an old colonial era church in the town of Kismayo.
Most Somalis are Sufi Muslims, who do not share the strict Saudi Arabian-inspired Wahhabi interpretation of Islam with the hardline al-Shabab group.

"The living person can at least defend himself, but the dead cannot... destroying graves is despicable"

Mohamed Sheikh

They embrace music, dancing and meditation and are appalled at the desecration of the graves.
But al-Shabab sees things differently.
The group's spokesman in the town of Kismayo, Sheikh Hassan Yaquub, told the BBC Somali Service that his movement considered that the memorials were being worshipped and that this was idolatry - banned by Islam.
"The destruction of graves is not something new: we target graves that are overdecorated and ones used for misleading people.
"We are not aiming at the sheikhs [religious leaders] and their standing in the society, but it is forbidden to make graves into shrines," Mr Yaquub said.
Mosques closed
Grave are being desecrated wherever al-Shabab is in control.
The town of Brave is home to a number of minority groups.

Among them are the Sufi Bravenese, a Bantu group who speak a language unique to their town called Chimbalazi, similar to Swahili.
Many of the graves of their religious leaders have been attacked.
Graveyard caretakers have been arrested and told not to go back to work.
The disappointment and sadness of this community has reached beyond Somalia.
"The people of Brave feel the desecrations of graves are actions against humanity," said Mohamed Sheikh, a Bravenese community leader in Manchester in the north-west of England.
"The Islamists closed the mosques and said no-one could pray at the ones near graveyards - arguing that the prayers performed there could not be proper prayers and would amount to worshiping the graves themselves.
"These people [he avoids mentioning al-Shabab by name] cannot teach us about Islam. Islam reached Brave and all the coastal areas when the religion arrived in East Africa 1,250 to 1,300 years ago.
"The living person can at least defend himself, but the dead cannot. The spirits of the dead deserve respect. Even when we walk near graves we walk slowly, because while the bodies are dead, the spirit is not. Destroying graves is despicable."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8077725.stm

Somali militias target cemetery

19 January, 2005, 10:54 GMT

Militias from the Islamic courts set up in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, are destroying a colonial Italian cemetery.
They are digging up the graves and dumping human remains near the airport.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan says he was horrified to see a large number of abandoned human skulls. Young boys were playing with one as a toy.
Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991 and rival militias have divided it into a patchwork of rival fiefdoms.
There are thousands of graves at the cemetery, of which some 700 have been destroyed.
The militias refused to let our correspondent enter the cemetery in dangerous north Mogadishu but locals say the gunmen want to turn it into a base.
Hundreds of people have gone to the former air force base, near the ruined international airport to see the dumped human remains.
Local resident Geedow Awaale Ali said the remains had been dumped overnight and he was worried about the spread of disease.
Law and order
Mogadishu was under Italian colonial control until World War Two and many of the graves belong to Italian soldiers and expatriates.
The Islamic courts were set up by businessmen in Mogadishu to bring some semblance of law and order to a city without a police force.
A new Somali government has been named in neighbouring Kenya and it is due to start relocating to Mogadishu on 1 February.
During the 14 years of anarchy, much of the city has been destroyed by looters, who recycle and sell anything they can find - even the metal rods used to reinforce concrete.
The looters mostly work for one of the warlords who takes a cut of their profit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4187097.stm

Cultural Vandalism or Raping History?
Where is the civilized Europe? Where is UNESCO? Why does no one intervene?This movie clip, dated December 14-16, 2005, shows how Azerbaijani soldiers, with heavy machinery, destroy the last evidence of Armenian presence in Nakhichevan, the historical Armenian province which together with Nagorno Karabakh was given away to the neighbouring Azerbaijani Republic. As a result of the implemented Soviet policy, Nakhichevan was at last depleted of its entire Armenian population. The clip confirms firmly the fact that the organiser of this cultural genocide is none other than the Azerbaijani government. Obviously, Azerbaijan is firmly determined to prevent “another Karabakh” by erasing the slightest indication of Armenian existence in Nakhichevan. The living Armenians have since long time ago forced to leave the region, but apparently there is also a fear of the dead and buried Armenians and their cries beyond the grave.Nakhichevan is an exclave which belongs to Azerbaijan but Armenia’s territory separates them apart. Nakhichevan borders, however, on Armenia, Turkey, and Iran. It was from this area that the Persian King Shah Abbas, during the Persian-Ottoman war, forcibly relocated about 150,000 Armenians year 1620 and resettled them in the outskirts of his capital, Isfahan.The place for this barbarian action caught on tape is a cemetery with thousands of Khatchkars, “Cross stones”, invaluable historical and cultural monuments from the period between 15th and 16th centuries.Several Armenian organisations and authorities, among other the Foreign Ministry, have handed in official protests to UNESCO and other international organisation, but also to the US embassy in Azerbaijan.This action makes one to recall the recent desecrations of Jewish cemeteries in different European cities. But unlike the immediate media coverage and attention given to these criminal acts it seems that no one bothers to care about this last act of cleansing the last evidence of Armenians in Nakhichevan.Will the world and Europe just stand by and watch while this rape of history takes place?

Movie clip part 1, part 2, part 3.
A better quality video segment can be viewed at www.julfa.cjb.net.
© 2006 by the Archaeological Institute of America
www.archaeology.org/online/features/djulfa/

Tragedy on the Araxes
June 30, 2006
by Sarah Pickman

A place of memory is wiped off the face of the Earth.

On the banks of the River Araxes, in the remote, windswept region of Nakhichevan, is a small area of land known as Djulfa, named for the ethnic Armenian town that flourished there centuries ago. Today, Nakhichevan is an enclave of Azerbaijan. Surrounding it on three sides is Armenia, and on the fourth, across the Araxes, is Iran.
Hundreds of years ago, almost all of Djulfa's residents were forced to leave when the conquering Shah Abbas relocated them to Isfahan in Persia. But Djulfa was not left completely empty: its cemetery, said to be the largest Armenian graveyard in the world, survived. Inside it were 10,000 or so headstones, most of them the intricately carved stone slabs known as khachkars. Long after the town was emptied, the khachkars, which are unique to Armenian burials, stood like "regiments of troops drawn up in close order," according to nineteenth-century British traveler William Ouseley.
Those stone regiments are gone now; broken down, all of the headstones have either been removed from Djulfa or buried under the soil. No formal archaeological studies were ever carried out at the cemetery--the last traces of a community long gone--and its full historical significance will never be known.
A History of Violence
The oldest burials in the Djulfa (Jugha in Armenian) cemetery date to the sixth century A.D., but most of the famed khachkars are from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the town was at its most prosperous as a stop on the silk and spice trade routes between Asia and the Mediterranean. After the forced resettlement of 1604, the graveyard endured, and was visited by travelers from within and outside of the Caucasus over the next few centuries. They saw slabs of pink and yellowish stone, between six and eight feet high, intricately carved in relief. Most khachkars, which were believed to aid in the salvation of the soul, were decorated with crosses and representations of Christian holy figures, as well as depictions of plants, scenes of daily life, geometric designs, and epitaphs in Armenian.
By the twentieth century, the carved stones that had survived the forces of time and nature faced a human threat. In 1903 and 1904, part of a railroad line connecting Djulfa to the Armenian city of Yerevan was laid through the cemetery, and a number of khachkars were demolished to make room for the tracks. In 1921, the newly established Soviet government, which had recently gained control over the Caucasus, gave the regions of Nakhichevan and Nagorny-Karabakh, historically part of southern Armenia, to Azerbaijan as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy for controlling the Caucasus. After the new borders were drawn, Nakhichevan was separated from the ruling government of Azerbaijan by Armenian territory. Over the next 70 years, the Azeri population in Nakhichevan grew and almost all of the remaining Armenians emigrated because of political pressure and economic hardship. The Azeris often broke down the stone memorials of Djulfa for use as building material, and by 1998, according to the nonprofit organization Reserch on Armenian Architecture (RAA), there were only 2,000 khachkars left.

RAA, an Armenia-based awareness organization which documents Armenian architectural monuments located outside the borders of the modern republic of Armenia, has studied and published material on the recent history of the Djulfa cemetery. According to RAA, the destruction continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, and local vandals were no longer the only group accused of contributing to the demolition. In 1998, the Armenian government claimed that Nakhichevan's Azeri authorities were deliberately wrecking the cemetery in an act of symbolic violence and had destroyed 800 khackhars. The Armenians appealed to UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), trying to get "the entire international community up in arms," according to deputy culture minister Gagik Gyurdjian. UNESCO responded by ordering an end to all destructive activity in Djulfa. However, the demolition began again in 2002, according to RAA and local witnesses. The last remains of the cemetery were obliterated this past December. Over a period of three days beginning on December 14, 2005, a large group of Azeri soldiers destroyed the remaining grave markers with sledgehammers, loaded the broken stones onto trucks, and dumped them into the waters of the Araxes. That is what witnesses who watched the devastation from across the river in Iran say happened. Among them were representatives from the Armenian Apostolic Church Diocesan Council in the Iranian city of Tabriz, who were able to take photographs, and an Armenian film crew, which captured a significant amount of the event on camera. The video footage from this has been broadcast online through the Armenian community news service, Hairenik.

The Djulfa episode is only the latest in a string of controversies and tragedies that have marred the relationship between the modern nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Tensions have run high between the two countries since soon after the fall of the Soviet Union, when, as they asserted their independence, the nations laid competing claims to the Nagorny-Karabakh region, which was under Azeri authority but whose population had remained largely Armenian. The region's local parliament voted to secede and join with Armenia, and fighting erupted between the secessionists and Azeri authorities. The conflict escalated into a full-scale war that involved both armies and unofficial citizen militias from Armenia and Azerbaijan and left thousands dead on both sides. Precariously positioned, Nakhichevan escaped being engulfed in the violence largely because its Armenian population had dwindled to less than 4,000 people and thus was not viewed as a threat by Azeri authorities.
Though a ceasefire was declared in 1994, Armenia and Azerbaijan have not yet reached a permanent agreement regarding Nagorny-Karabakh, and the hostility between the two countries makes the Djulfa destruction even more contentious. There can be little doubt that historical grievances and political land claims have played a part in this attempt to eradicate the historical Armenian presence in Nakhichevan. (to be continued)
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/djulfa/index.html

Historic graveyard is victim of war

Azerbaijan is being blamed for the destruction of a unique cemetery

From Jeremy Page in Moscow
April 21, 2006

A MEDIEVAL cemetery regarded as one of the wonders of the Caucasus has been erased from the Earth in an act of cultural vandalism likened to the Taleban blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in 2001.

The Jugha cemetery was a unique collection of several thousand carved stone crosses on Azerbaijan’s southern border with Iran. But after 18 years of conflict between Azerbaijan and its western neighbour, Armenia, it has been confirmed that the cemetery has vanished.

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a London-based non-governmental organisation that supports independent journalism, said that one of its staff had recently been to the highly restricted site.

Where once stood between 2,700 and 10,000 intricately carved headstones — khachkars — dating from the 9th to the 16th centuries, there was only a dry patch of earth, said the institute (www.iwpr.net). It was the first independent confirmation of what Armenia has long alleged — that Azerbaijani authorities have razed the cemetery since the two former Soviet republics began a bloody border war in 1988.

The war ended in a ceasefire in 1994, with 30,000 dead and a million displaced, but still simmers over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is held by Armenia but internationally recognised as Azerbaijan. Foreign organisations had been unable to visit the cemetery because it is in Nakhichevan, a tiny enclave of Azerbaijan cut off by Armenia and Iran and accessible only by air.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly dismissed Armenia’s allegations as scaremongering and in turn accused Armenia of destroying hundreds of Muslim sites. President Aliyev of Azerbaijan angrily dismissed reports about the cemetery’s destruction as “a lie and a provocation” last week.

The institute’s revelation now threatens to embarrass him and further cloud the prospects for a lasting peace with Armenia.

Vartan Oskanian, the Armenian Foreign Minister, welcomed the report. “The irony is that this destruction has taken place not during a time of war but at a time of peace,” he told The Times. There has been clear intent by the Azerbaijanis to eliminate all evidence of Armenian presence on those lands. To do that, unspeakable, irreversible destruction has been wrought and 10,000 tombstones which hold immense religious and artistic significance are simply gone.”

Tahir Tagizade, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, said that there had never been an Armenian cemetery or any other Armenian cultural relics in the area visited by the institute. “As a multi- ethnic society, we are proud of our diverse cultural heritage,” he said. “I don’t see any reason for destroying Armenian property, even though we are at war with the Armenians.”

The report comes as a European Parliament delegation is visiting both countries to look into allegations of attacks on cultural sites. It had hoped to visit the Jugha site, but has yet to be granted permission.Unesco said that it was also ready to send a fact-finding mission but needed permission from the Azeri and Armenian governments. The institute said that there was now a village of about 500 people by the cemetery site. Some of those there said it had been destroyed much earlier, while others disputed that it was Armenian.

The report quoted two witnesses as saying that the cemetery had been deliberately destroyed between 1989 and 2002. Argam Aivazian, the leading expert on Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan, said that Jugha had been the largest Armenian cemetery in existence, and a unique example of medieval art. “On the entire territory of Nakhichevan there existed 27,000 monasteries, churches, khachkars, tombstones and other Armenian monuments,” he said.

They were mostly intact when he visited in 1987. “Today they have all been destroyed.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article707673.ece

http://www.raa.am/Juga/Jugha_Galery_E.htm

Cultural heritage in Azerbaijan
Dr Charles Tannock
Member of the European Parliament for London

Delivered in Plenary - 16th February 2006
Mr President
The alleged demolition in December 2005 of the mediaeval Julfa – also known historically as Jugha – Armenian burial grounds, with the breaking-up of the khachkars, or beautifully engraved headstones, is a serious desecration of European Christian heritage.
The Azerbaijani Government claimed the video footage documenting this is fraudulent Armenian propaganda. But I have received independent verification that the footage is genuine from a British architect, Steven Sim, an expert in the region. Furthermore, if there has been no destruction, why are on-site visits refused by the Azerbaijanis, who also, rather bizarrely, state that this could have been done by looters needing the stone for local building work?
Once more Mr Sim has stated that passage into the cemetery requires passing through Azerbaijani army-controlled territory, making such a thing almost impossible without official support and in clear breach of their duty of care to protect the site.
I have also been informed by the Azerbaijani Embassy that this destruction is nothing compared to the destruction of Azerbaijani mosques. I was indeed sent photos of destroyed mosques. That mosques in the war zone were destroyed in 1991 is undeniable and to be condemned without reservation, but the photos I was sent I believe represent destruction that took place 15 years ago, not 3 months ago. Furthermore, the Julfa site in Nakhichevan was never part of the war zone. Also, it is worth pointing out that I have been informed that the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have recently agreed to a project for the reconstruction of mosques destroyed on their territory.
We are now at a critical juncture in the talks between the two Presidents, Kocharyan and Aliyev, in Rambouillet, France, on finding a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. I therefore believe that any further planned destruction of Armenian heritage will not be conducive to lasting peace in the region.

http://www.charlestannock.com/speech.asp?id-1130

Azerbaijan 'flattened' sacred Armenian site

By Stephen Castle in Brussels
Tuesday, 30 May 2006

Fears that Azerbaijan has systematically destroyed hundreds of 500-year-old Christian artefacts have exploded into a diplomatic row, after Euro MPs were barred from inspecting an ancient Armenian burial site.
The predominantly Muslim country's government has been accused of "flagrant vandalism" similar to the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.
The claims centre on the fate of rare "khachkars", stone crosses carved with intricate floral designs, at the burial ground of Djulfa in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan, an enclave separated from the rest of the country by Armenia.
The works - some of the most important examples of Armenian heritage - are said to have been smashed with sledgehammers last December as the site was concreted over.
The Azerbaijan government, which denies the claims, is now at the centre of a row with MEPs, some of whom it accused of a "biased and hysterical approach". Its ambassador to the EU also says the European Parliament has ignored damage to Muslim sites in Armenia. Azerbaijan has refused to allow a delegation of Euro MPs permission to visit the 1,500-year-old Djulfa cemetery during their trip to the region last month.
Most of original 10,000 khachkars, most of which date from the 15th and 16th century, were destroyed by the early 20th century, leaving probably fewer than 3,000 by the late 1970s.
According to the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos), the Azerbaijan government removed 800 khachkars in 1998. Though the destruction was halted following protests from Unesco, it resumed four years later. By January 2003 "the 1,500-year-old cemetery had completely been flattened," Icomos says.
Witnesses, quoted in the Armenian press, say the final round of vandalism was unleashed in December last year by Azerbaijani soldiers wielding sledgehammers.
The president of Icomos, Michael Petzet, said: "Now that all traces of this highly important historic site seem to have been extinguished all we can do is mourn the loss and protest against this totally senseless destruction."
Some MEPs believe that, boosted by its oil revenues, Azerbaijan is adopting an increasingly assertive stance in the region. Charles Tannock, Conservative foreign affairs spokesman in the European parliament, argued: "This is very similar to the Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban. They have concreted the area over and turned it into a military camp. If they have nothing to hide then we should be allowed to inspect the terrain."
When MEPs passed a critical resolution in February, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, made a formal protest. Then, when the parliament's delegation for relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, asked to combine a mission to Armenia with a visit to the Djulfa archaeological site, their request was refused.
The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly hopes to visit the site and its secretary general has offered to set up an expert group to examine cultural sites in Azerbaijan and Armenia. MEPs insist that the authorities in Azerbaijan should open their doors if they have nothing to hide.
Hannes Swoboda, an Austrian socialist MEP and member of the committee barred from examining the site, said he hopes a visit can be arranged in the autumn. He added: "If they do not allow us to go, we have a clear hint that something bad has happened. If something is hidden we want to ask why. It can only be because some of the allegations are true."
And he warned: "One of the major elements of any country that wants to come close to Europe is that the cultural heritage of neighbours is respected."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/azerbaijan-flattened-sacred-armenian-site-480272.html