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/
Monday, May 31, 2010
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
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
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, May 24, 2010
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
Sunday, May 23, 2010
JUGHA THE ANNIHILATION OF THE ARMENIAN CEMETERY
BY NAKHIJEVAN'S AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES
BETWEEN 1998 AND 2006
BY NAKHIJEVAN'S AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES
BETWEEN 1998 AND 2006
NAKHIJEVAN A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. Nakhijevan is situated in the area between the mountain range of Zangezur and the river Arax. It borders on the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1931 Turkey exchanged some territory with Iran and acquired a common frontier with Nakhijevan.
Nakhijevan was located within the borders of Urartian (Ayraratian) Armenia (9th to 7th centuries B.C.), as well as the Armenian kingdoms of the Orontids (6th to 2nd centuries B.C.), the Artashessians (189 B.C. to the early 1st century A.D.) and the Arshakids (66 to 428). In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Nakhijevan included the following districts of Metz Hayk (Armenia Maior): Sharur District, Ayrarat Province; Yernjak and Jahuk Districts of Syunik Province; as well as Nakhijevan and Goghtan Districts of Vaspurakan Province. Goghtan was the district where Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, first introduced the Armenian letters.
Due to its geographical position and location on a transit trade route, Nakhijevan was repeatedly invaded and devastated by the Arabs, Seljuk-Turks, Tatar-Mongols, Ak-Koyunlus (White Sheep Turkomans), Kara Koyunlus (Black Sheep Turkomans), as well as the Persians and Turks.
The treaty of Turkmenchay, signed between Russia and Persia after the Russo-Persian war of 1826 to 1828, shifted Northeastern Armenia, including Nakhijevan, into Russian domination. Nakhijevan was included in the Armenian Province (Armianskaya Oblast) until 1840. It was then part of Yerevan District between 1840 and 1846, and of Yerevan Province from 1849 till May 1918.
During the period between World War I and 1921, Nakhijevan was situated within the borders of the first Republic of Armenia.
Between 1919 and 1920, Turkey, under the auspices of its allies, perpetrated the slaughter of thousands of Nakhijevan Armenians. That carnage was actually the continuation of the Great Armenian Genocide, that had been committed in Turkey since 1915 for the purpose of removing the obstacle the Armenians posed to Turkey's unification with the Turkic tribes inhabiting what is present-day Azerbaijan. A long-pursued dream of Pan-Turkism, which is still a top priority for that country...
In compliance with an illegal agreement Soviet Russia and Turkey signed after World War I, on 16 March 1921 without the participation of the Armenian side, Nakhijevan was placed under the "auspices" of Azerbaijan as an autonomous territory; in fact, it was annexed to that country after having formed an inseparable part of Armenia over many centuries.
Throughout the 70 years of Soviet rule, the Azerbaijani authorities consistently implemented a policy of national discrimination against the indigenous Armenian populations of Nakhijevan and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), another Armenian territory annexed to Azerbaijan in 1923 as a result of Lenin's and Stalin's policy of dividing nations to facilitate control and domination.
On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh started a peaceful movement for self-determination. Azerbaijan attempted to suppress it, by mobilizing all its military and civilian forces. Alternately organizing and allowing pogroms against the Armenians living in the Azerbaijani cities of Baku, Sumgait and Gandzak, the Azerbaijani authorities intended to intimidate the Armenians into abandoning Karabakh and Nakhijevan. During the years of armed conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Northern Karabakh (Northern Artsakh) and Nakhijevan were totally stripped of their indigenous Armenian populations. The last remaining 2,000 Armenians were deported from Nakhijevan in 1989. As a result, Nakhijevan's centuries-old Armenian cultural heritage was reduced to a state of captivity, and its planned annihilation loomed large.
The State of the Armenian Monuments in Nakhijevan. The centuries-old cultural monuments the Armenian people created both in Nakhijevan and other territories of Historical Armenia are of universal value. At various periods, they were studied by different foreign scholars.
In recent years, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities have been perpetrating the premeditated annihilation of a wide variety of Armenian monuments which are reminders of the Armenian presence in the region. In August 2005, European researcher Stephen Sim became witness to the barbarities committed against the Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan.
The Armenian Cemetery of Julfa, Nakhijevan. The violence against the memory and history of the Armenian people reached its climax with the total destruction of the historical cemetery of Julfa (known as Jugha' in Armenian) located in Yernjak District.
Julfa Cemetery used to extend over three hills on the left bank of the river Arax. Boasting a special place in the treasury of world heritage, this extensive depository of spiritual and artistic monuments aroused the admiration of both Armenian and foreign travellers and art historians for many centuries. French traveller Alexandre de Rhodes, who visited the cemetery in 1648, saw 10,000 standing khachkars and ram-shaped tombstones there. By 1904, however, their number had been reduced to 5,000.
The khachkars of Julfa Cemetery fall into three groups. The first group dates from the period between the 9th and 13th centuries; the second group from the 14th to 15th centuries, and the third covers the time span between the early 16th century and the year 1605.
All the khachkars were carved of pink and yellowish stone. Having equal width from top to bottom, they were between two and two and a half metres high. Their central parts were more deeply-engraved, the crosses and double-layer reliefs creating a peculiar contrast of light and shade. The khachkars were adorned with fine rosettes, as well as reliefs of plants, geometrical figures and scenes of daily life. Their upper parts often bore the representations of Christ, the Evangelists and the Holy Virgin. Most of the khachkars and grave-stones of the cemetery had embossed or engraved Armenian epitaphs.
The Final Destruction of the Armenian Cemetery of Julfa. In the Soviet years, Julfa Cemetery was absolutely neglected by Azerbaijan's Monuments Preservation Department; moreover, under state auspices, its khachkars were continually broken to pieces and used as building material.
In November 1998, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities started destroying the cemetery with bulldozers. UNESCO's intercession was able to stop that unprecedented vandalism only temporarily.
The annihilation of the cemetery resumed on 9 November 2002. The photographs some eye-witnesses took from the Iranian bank of the river Arax revealed that none of the cemetery's khachkars remained standing.
Between 10 and 14 December 2005, the Azeri vandals, who had not been held accountable for their previous crimes, finally succeeded in purging the three hills of Julfa Cemetery of all the remnants of khachkars. Using heavy hammers and pickaxes, about 200 soldiers of the Azerbaijani army reduced the displaced khachkars to a heap of crushed pieces which were loaded onto lorries and emptied into the river Arax.
In early March 2006, Nakhijevan's authorities stationed a shooting-ground on the site of Julfa Cemetery. Lying over thousands of human remains, that firing-ground is an eloquent manifestation of Azerbaijan's moral values. Situated very close to the Iranian border, it can never serve soldiers in need of shooting practice. In fact, it was hurriedly established to conceal Azerbaijan's criminal actions: the Azerbaijani authorities turned the site of the former cemetery into a "military zone" so that they could ban foreign missions and observers from entering it.
The Political Consequences of the Taliban-like Actions of the Azerbaijani Authorities. A country can gain entry to UNESCO and ICOMOS only if it complies with the laws and principles established in their statutes. Is a member country not to be expelled from these organizations if it later infringes its commitments?
Violating the 1948 UN Convention on Cultural Heritage, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities demolished thousands of Armenian monuments (churches, monasteries, cemeteries, etc.) in peaceful times, with the complicity of their army.
Following the example of the Talibans who destroyed the statues of Buddha in Bamian, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan is obliterating Nakhijevan's centuries-old historical monuments, thus hoping to prove that the region was never an Armenian territory...
The destruction of Nakhijevan's Armenian cultural heritage at state level is a crime not only against the Armenian nation but against all civilization. The annihilation of such monuments as the cemetery of Julfa is defilement of sacred tenets of all religions. Does a country having committed such vile desecration have any right to remain a member of the Council of Europe?
Nakhijevan was located within the borders of Urartian (Ayraratian) Armenia (9th to 7th centuries B.C.), as well as the Armenian kingdoms of the Orontids (6th to 2nd centuries B.C.), the Artashessians (189 B.C. to the early 1st century A.D.) and the Arshakids (66 to 428). In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Nakhijevan included the following districts of Metz Hayk (Armenia Maior): Sharur District, Ayrarat Province; Yernjak and Jahuk Districts of Syunik Province; as well as Nakhijevan and Goghtan Districts of Vaspurakan Province. Goghtan was the district where Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, first introduced the Armenian letters.
Due to its geographical position and location on a transit trade route, Nakhijevan was repeatedly invaded and devastated by the Arabs, Seljuk-Turks, Tatar-Mongols, Ak-Koyunlus (White Sheep Turkomans), Kara Koyunlus (Black Sheep Turkomans), as well as the Persians and Turks.
The treaty of Turkmenchay, signed between Russia and Persia after the Russo-Persian war of 1826 to 1828, shifted Northeastern Armenia, including Nakhijevan, into Russian domination. Nakhijevan was included in the Armenian Province (Armianskaya Oblast) until 1840. It was then part of Yerevan District between 1840 and 1846, and of Yerevan Province from 1849 till May 1918.
During the period between World War I and 1921, Nakhijevan was situated within the borders of the first Republic of Armenia.
Between 1919 and 1920, Turkey, under the auspices of its allies, perpetrated the slaughter of thousands of Nakhijevan Armenians. That carnage was actually the continuation of the Great Armenian Genocide, that had been committed in Turkey since 1915 for the purpose of removing the obstacle the Armenians posed to Turkey's unification with the Turkic tribes inhabiting what is present-day Azerbaijan. A long-pursued dream of Pan-Turkism, which is still a top priority for that country...
In compliance with an illegal agreement Soviet Russia and Turkey signed after World War I, on 16 March 1921 without the participation of the Armenian side, Nakhijevan was placed under the "auspices" of Azerbaijan as an autonomous territory; in fact, it was annexed to that country after having formed an inseparable part of Armenia over many centuries.
Throughout the 70 years of Soviet rule, the Azerbaijani authorities consistently implemented a policy of national discrimination against the indigenous Armenian populations of Nakhijevan and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), another Armenian territory annexed to Azerbaijan in 1923 as a result of Lenin's and Stalin's policy of dividing nations to facilitate control and domination.
On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh started a peaceful movement for self-determination. Azerbaijan attempted to suppress it, by mobilizing all its military and civilian forces. Alternately organizing and allowing pogroms against the Armenians living in the Azerbaijani cities of Baku, Sumgait and Gandzak, the Azerbaijani authorities intended to intimidate the Armenians into abandoning Karabakh and Nakhijevan. During the years of armed conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Northern Karabakh (Northern Artsakh) and Nakhijevan were totally stripped of their indigenous Armenian populations. The last remaining 2,000 Armenians were deported from Nakhijevan in 1989. As a result, Nakhijevan's centuries-old Armenian cultural heritage was reduced to a state of captivity, and its planned annihilation loomed large.
The State of the Armenian Monuments in Nakhijevan. The centuries-old cultural monuments the Armenian people created both in Nakhijevan and other territories of Historical Armenia are of universal value. At various periods, they were studied by different foreign scholars.
In recent years, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities have been perpetrating the premeditated annihilation of a wide variety of Armenian monuments which are reminders of the Armenian presence in the region. In August 2005, European researcher Stephen Sim became witness to the barbarities committed against the Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan.
The Armenian Cemetery of Julfa, Nakhijevan. The violence against the memory and history of the Armenian people reached its climax with the total destruction of the historical cemetery of Julfa (known as Jugha' in Armenian) located in Yernjak District.
Julfa Cemetery used to extend over three hills on the left bank of the river Arax. Boasting a special place in the treasury of world heritage, this extensive depository of spiritual and artistic monuments aroused the admiration of both Armenian and foreign travellers and art historians for many centuries. French traveller Alexandre de Rhodes, who visited the cemetery in 1648, saw 10,000 standing khachkars and ram-shaped tombstones there. By 1904, however, their number had been reduced to 5,000.
The khachkars of Julfa Cemetery fall into three groups. The first group dates from the period between the 9th and 13th centuries; the second group from the 14th to 15th centuries, and the third covers the time span between the early 16th century and the year 1605.
All the khachkars were carved of pink and yellowish stone. Having equal width from top to bottom, they were between two and two and a half metres high. Their central parts were more deeply-engraved, the crosses and double-layer reliefs creating a peculiar contrast of light and shade. The khachkars were adorned with fine rosettes, as well as reliefs of plants, geometrical figures and scenes of daily life. Their upper parts often bore the representations of Christ, the Evangelists and the Holy Virgin. Most of the khachkars and grave-stones of the cemetery had embossed or engraved Armenian epitaphs.
The Final Destruction of the Armenian Cemetery of Julfa. In the Soviet years, Julfa Cemetery was absolutely neglected by Azerbaijan's Monuments Preservation Department; moreover, under state auspices, its khachkars were continually broken to pieces and used as building material.
In November 1998, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities started destroying the cemetery with bulldozers. UNESCO's intercession was able to stop that unprecedented vandalism only temporarily.
The annihilation of the cemetery resumed on 9 November 2002. The photographs some eye-witnesses took from the Iranian bank of the river Arax revealed that none of the cemetery's khachkars remained standing.
Between 10 and 14 December 2005, the Azeri vandals, who had not been held accountable for their previous crimes, finally succeeded in purging the three hills of Julfa Cemetery of all the remnants of khachkars. Using heavy hammers and pickaxes, about 200 soldiers of the Azerbaijani army reduced the displaced khachkars to a heap of crushed pieces which were loaded onto lorries and emptied into the river Arax.
In early March 2006, Nakhijevan's authorities stationed a shooting-ground on the site of Julfa Cemetery. Lying over thousands of human remains, that firing-ground is an eloquent manifestation of Azerbaijan's moral values. Situated very close to the Iranian border, it can never serve soldiers in need of shooting practice. In fact, it was hurriedly established to conceal Azerbaijan's criminal actions: the Azerbaijani authorities turned the site of the former cemetery into a "military zone" so that they could ban foreign missions and observers from entering it.
The Political Consequences of the Taliban-like Actions of the Azerbaijani Authorities. A country can gain entry to UNESCO and ICOMOS only if it complies with the laws and principles established in their statutes. Is a member country not to be expelled from these organizations if it later infringes its commitments?
Violating the 1948 UN Convention on Cultural Heritage, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities demolished thousands of Armenian monuments (churches, monasteries, cemeteries, etc.) in peaceful times, with the complicity of their army.
Following the example of the Talibans who destroyed the statues of Buddha in Bamian, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan is obliterating Nakhijevan's centuries-old historical monuments, thus hoping to prove that the region was never an Armenian territory...
The destruction of Nakhijevan's Armenian cultural heritage at state level is a crime not only against the Armenian nation but against all civilization. The annihilation of such monuments as the cemetery of Julfa is defilement of sacred tenets of all religions. Does a country having committed such vile desecration have any right to remain a member of the Council of Europe?
REAL CULTURAL GENOCIDE
We condemn all kinds of cultural genocides!
http://hellektor.blogspot.com/2008/06/nakhijevan-destruction-part-ii.html
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