The state of the historically important cultural monuments of Azerbaijan in the territory of Armenia

The state of the historically important cultural monuments of Azerbaijan in the territory of Armenia

Until the deportations were carried out during the 20^th century, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis had been living in the territory of present day Armenia and creating a rich cultural heritage in this area. In his book, “New danger to the Russian cause in the Caucasus” published in 1911,
Mr N. Shavrov, a Russian researcher who had carried out research on the process of the settling of Armenians in the South Caucasus by studying the official archive sources of the Tsarist era, indicated that in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, out of 1,300,000 Armenians living in the Caucasus, 1,000.000 Armenians were not indigenous to this region and were settled in the Caucasus by the Russians.

The Russian clerk, Mr I. Shopen, who conducted the first population census in the territory of present day Armenia in 1829 – 1832, noted that the Armenian population in Irvan province numbered, 20,073 (3,498 families) and there were eight times as many Azerbaijanis in this territory. In the map of the Trans-Caucuses edited in 1931 in Moscow 78,1% of the geographical names in the territory of Armenia were Azerbaijani and just 3,45% were of Armenian origin. So in the territories where Azerbaijanis prevailed as a majority, the Azerbaijani cultural heritage was much richer and this fact was reflected in historical sources and documents. Twelve mosques, over thirty sacred places and hundreds of historically important cemeteries, described in detail by the travellers of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and which were considered to be masterpieces of oriental architecture, have been raised to the ground. The Akhi Tavakkul Temple of the 11^th century in the Yeghegnadzor district of Armenia, the Gipchag Temple of the early 13^th century in Artic district, all towers, bridges, inns, palaces and hundreds of other monuments of Azerbaijani origin located in various parts of the territory of Armenia have been completely destroyed or claimed as Armenian.

This is probably not the most terrible aspect of the matter, as scriptures written in ancient Turkish or Arabic alphabets as well as Moslem ornaments on the monuments of Azerbaijani origin have been erased and fake additions “proving” an Armenian origin of these monuments appeared in their place. The worst thing is that the world-wide famous rare art masterpieces described as Azerbaijani monuments in the catalogues and scientific works have been totally destroyed. Two thousand year old human monuments (as has been described in many photos and chronicles during 1970 – 1980; in Boyahmadli village of the occupied Agdam region of Azerbaijan; Azikh cave, one of the earliest human settlements in Europe which is located in the occupied Fuzuli region of Azerbaijan; Nuvadi Azerbaijani inscriptions dating back to the first millennium BC in the Meghri region of present day Armenia; stone monuments and statuettes in the ancient Azerbaijani settlement Urud in the Sisian region of present day Armenia inhabited until 1988 only by Azerbaijanis all became pieces of world heritage long ago. These monuments belong to the masterpieces of human civilization and unfortunately the Armenians have not refrained from humiliating them so far.

Though the overwhelming majority of the above-mentioned historical and cultural monuments have been destroyed, some monuments are supposed to have survived to the present day. It is vital to save the remaining monuments and to restore the damaged ones. These monuments should not only be considered on a national level but also on a European and worldwide scale. Therefore an appropriate monitoring procedure should be carried out to study in depth the present state of the monuments, sacred places and masterpieces of Azerbaijani origin across the whole territory of Armenia.

Taking into account all the aforesaid, the Assembly considers it important to take the necessary measures in order to ensure:

HUSEYNOV, Rafael, Azerbaijan, ALDE
AÇIKGÖZ Ruhi, Turkey, EDG
de PUIG, Lluís Maria, Spain, SOC
HURSKAINEN, Sinikka, Finland, SOC
ILAŞCU, Ilie, Romania, NR
ILICALI, Mustafa, Turkey, EPP/CD
ISLAMI, Kastriot, Albania, SOC
KLYMPUSH, Orest, Ukraine, ALDE
LOUTFI, Younal, Bulgaria, ALDE
ØSTERGAARD, Morten, Denmark, ALDE
ÖZAL, İbrahim, Turkey, EPP/CD
PASHAYEVA, Ganira, Azerbaijan, EDG
RANDEGGER, Johannes, Switzerland, ALDE
SEYIDOV, Samad, Azerbaijan, EDG
TEKELİOĞLU, Mehmet, Turkey, EPP/CD

¹     SOC: Socialist Group
       EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
       ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
       EDG: European Democratic Group
       UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
       NR: not registered in a group