A damning new report details an attempted erasure by Azerbaijan of its Armenian cultural heritage, including the destruction of tens of thousands of Unesco-protected ancient stone carvings
Fri 1 Mar 2019 13.29 GMTLast modified on Fri 1 Mar 2019 15.58 GMT
The 21st centuryթ§Չ-Չ§s most extensive campaign of cultural cleansing to date may not have happened in Syria, as you might assume, but a largely ignored part of the Transcaucasian plateau.
EnligtթԹ en lթԹ(ng rapport som offentliggjordes թԹ iթԹ kontexten Hyperallergi c թԹ i februari har den azerbajdzjanska regeringen under de senaste 30 թԹ(ren engagerat sig i en systematisk radering av landets historiska armeniska arv. Denna tjթԹ)nsteman, om թԹ)n hemlig, fթԹԳrstթԹԳrelse av kulturella och religiթԹԳsa artefakter թԹԳverstiger den islamiska statens sjթԹ)lvpromotionsdynamik avթԹ Palmy ra, enligt rapportens fթԹԳrfattare, Simon Maghakyan och Sarah Pickman.
Maghakyan, a Denver-based analyst, activist and lecturer in political science, labels it թ§Չ-ժthe greatest cultural genocide of the 21st centuryթ§Չ-Թ. He grew up with stories about his father visiting a beautiful, mysterious place called Djulfa. Located in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, on the banks of the Araxes river, it was the site of a medieval necropolis, the largest ancient Armenian cemetery in the world. Visitors through the centuries, from Alexandre de Rhodes to William Ouseley, had noted the remote locationթ§Չ-Չ§s splendour.
At its height, the graveyard counted around 10,000 khachkars, or cross stones, standing to attention, the earliest dating back to the 6th century. Unique to Armenian burial traditions, these distinctive tall steles of pinkish red and yellow stone feature crosses, figurative scenes and symbols, and highly decorative relief patterning. By the time the Soviets formalised the autonomous regions of Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan in 1920, after decades of plunder, less than 3,000 khachkars remained. Subsequent episodic vandalism led Unesco in 2000 to order that the monuments be preserved.
Men det hade liten effekt. Den 15 december 2005 filmade den nordamerikanska armeniska kyrkans nordkoreanska biskop, biskop Nshan Topouzian, frթԹ(n թԹԳver floden i Iran den aserbajdsjanska militթԹ)ren som metodiskt slog avfall med slթԹ)thammare till alla som var kvar av Djulfa. Soldaterna lastade skrթԹ)pet pթԹ( lastbilsթԹ)ngar och dumpade det i Araxes.
The footage can be found in a 2006 film entitled The New Tears of Araxes posted on YouTube, edited by Maghakyan and scripted by Pickman. It is chilling. Satellite research shows that, in 2003, the uneven, textured landscape was dotted with multiple small structures. By 2009, it is flattened and empty.
The Azerbaijani government has repeatedly refused international inspectors entry to the site, it has not responded to requests for comment թ§Չ-Չ including for this article թ§Չ-Չ and it has denied Armenians ever lived in Nakhichevan. Such stonewalling renders independent verification difficult, but the sheer amount of forensic evidence that Maghakyan and Pickman present makes a rock-solid case for at least not being deterred. Their contention is that the dramatic events at Djulfa marked the final stage of a broader campaign to denude Nakhichevan of its indigenous Armenian Christian past.
Underlining quite how little international attention has been paid to this story, most of the material on which this report is based was gathered not by official bodies but by individuals, who, like Maghakyan and Pickman, have operated on their own dime.
Local researcher Argam Ayvazyan, now exiled in Armenia, photographed 89 Armenian churches, 5,840 khachkars, and 22,000 tombstones between 1964 and 1987 թ§Չ-Չ which the report states have all disappeared. A Scotsman named Steven Sim travelled on a whim to eastern Turkey in 1984 and has taken in excess of 80,000 slides and photographs over the past 35 years documenting ancient Armenian heritage across the region: թ§Չ-ժIt was the nearest faraway place to Britain, at the time, that was cheap to go to,թ§Չ-Թ he says. Heթ§Չ-Չ§s been regularly returning ever since, amassing a 1,000-tome library թ§Չ-Չ with many books by Ayvazyan թ§Չ-Չ mostly on Armenian architecture.
Azerbaijanթ§Չ-Չ§s erstwhile national treasure Akram Aylisli, meanwhile, has lived under virtual house arrest since 2013, when he published writing critical of his governmentթ§Չ-Չ§s actions. He first protested what he termed թ§Չ-ժevil vandalismթ§Չ-Թ in a 1997 telegram to the countryթ§Չ-Չ§s president. թ§Չ-ժSuch senseless action,թ§Չ-Թ he wrote, թ§Չ-ժwill be perceived by the world community as a manifestation of disrespect for religious and moral values.թ§Չ-ԹAdvertisement
Sim points out that the Hyperallergic report fails to adequately explain the artistic value of what has been lost. Armenian architecture is unique, he says թ§Չ-Չ deceptively minimal in appearance but highly sophisticated structurally and built to withstand the landscapeթ§Չ-Չ§s seismic volatility. He describes the diminutive churches as more sculpture than building; single-volume dome-topped structures that look like theyթ§Չ-Չ§ve been cast in stone. The khachkars, meanwhile, are regional, the meaning of the iconography and symbolism they display largely lost to time. That loss is most keenly felt with the destruction of the Djulfa cross stones, which featured scenes of daily medieval life թ§Չ-Չ people riding horses, carrying water jugs, or picnicking in gardens, the food laid out on carpets թ§Չ-Չ and strange mythical creatures including a four-legged hooved beast with two bodies, a single head and wings. թ§Չ-ժIթ§Չ-Չ§ve looked at thousands of khachkars throughout Armenia,թ§Չ-Թ Sim says, թ§Չ-ժand Iթ§Չ-Չ§ve only ever seen one which has this twin-bodied single-headed animal. But they all had them in Djulfa.թ§Չ-Թ
VթԹ)rlden erkթԹ)nde rթԹ)ttvist Isis sթԹԳnderfall av Palmyra som ett krigsfթԹԳrbrytande, en enorm fթԹԳrlust fթԹԳr det syriska folket och mթԹ)nskligheten som helhet. Maghakyan hoppas att armenier och azerbajdzjan kommer att se vad som har hթԹ)nt i Nakhichevan som ett brott mot alla, begթԹ(tt av en hթԹ)nsynslթԹԳs regim. Azerbajdzjansk historiker som agerade som peer reviewer fթԹԳr artikeln, men ville vara anonym pթԹ( grund av rթԹ)dsla fթԹԳr deras sթԹ)kerhet, berթԹ)ttade fթԹԳr Maghakyan att rapporten var “fթԹԳr oss alla, oavsett etnicitet och religion”, men sթԹ)rskilt fթԹԳr Azerbajdzjan som inte hade fթԹԳrlorade eller թԹԳverlթԹ)mnade sitt samvete.
theguardian.com
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