ARMENIA: AN OPEN-AIR MUSEUM OF VANDALISM

The policy of the total destruction of Azerbaijan's historical and cultural monuments, which were in abundance in the historic lands of the Erivan khanate, was decreed by the leaders of the present-day Republic of Armenia in the face of a complete absence of any architectural heritage which would enable them to cover up the lie about Yerevan's status as one of the world's earliest cities. 

Azerbaijan's constant reminders that the former mediaeval stratum of Muslim, Azerbaijani architecture had been destroyed in Armenia and the vigorous debate on this subject in Armenian society forced the Armenian authorities to take action.

The latest attempt to alter history found expression in a project entitled "Old Yerevan", the purpose of which is to falsify the true appearance of the city which grew on the site of the Erivan Fortress built 500 years ago in the Muslim Azerbaijani architectural style on a mound by the Zanga (Razdan) River.

The implementation of this project was entrusted to the LV Architect company which had no other choice than to create in the place of the authentic mediaeval centre of Yerevan, which was gradually destroyed by the Armenian authorities in Soviet times and now during the period of Armenia's independence, something akin to the architecture of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. There was nothing else they could do, because attempts to recreate the old, authentic appearance of historic Yerevan (Erivan) were consigned to the need to restore buildings relating to Muslim Azerbaijani architecture. And this, evidently, sticks in the throat of the postulates of Armenian ideology that claims that the Armenians lived and comprised the only ethnic group in the region for nigh on 8,000 years.

In their efforts to avoid recognizing Yerevan's Muslim mediaeval historical heritage, the present-day Armenian authorities had second thoughts and decided to concoct their own "old" Yerevan.

But this time Azerbaijan stepped in to prevent the international community being surreptitiously deluded. "If Yerevan really wants to recreate the city's former historical appearance, the Russian archives contain a large number of sketches and plans of the old city. Furthermore, there are pictures by well-known European painters such as Tavernier and Chardin, and, in particular, the Russian artists F.Rubo and G.Gagarin, who depicted the Erivan Fortress of the 19th century down to the smallest detail. We would be delighted to offer the Armenians these pictures and sketches," Fuad Axundov, head of the analytical sector of the socio-political department of the Azerbaijani president's administration, said in an interview for the Regnum agency.

Of course, the Armenians' response was not slow in coming. "We have all the projects, sketches, documents and photographs we need," Artur Gevorkyan, the head of the Yerevan mayor's office information department, boldly replied, trying somehow to substantiate his rejection of the Azerbaijanis' help in the restoration of the old appearance of Yerevan. Which is what one would come to expect.

Meanwhile, the Russian and regional press gave broad coverage to Axundov's interview to the Regnum and Interfax agencies and Zerkalo newspaper in which Armenia was confronted with the facts.

"If Yerevan is claiming the status of one of the world's earliest cities, then where are its ancient architectural monuments and why restore 20 buildings of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries?" a spokesman for the Azerbaijani president's administration said. Recalling that modern Yerevan emerged in the 19th century, is situated on the other bank of the Zanga (Razdan) River and started to be built during the period of Tsarist Russia, embodying elements of European architecture of that period, Axundov stressed that a large-scale project of the architectural and historical falsification of the appearance of the old city was starting in Yerevan.

He pointed out that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had emphasized more than once in the international arena and in his speeches that the present-day Republic of Armenia was created on the lands of the Azerbaijani Erivan khanate, and that now in Armenia all the monuments of Azerbaijani history and culture had been virtually destroyed. It was precisely in the context of these presidential initiatives that the erevangala500.com website was presented in Baku to mark the 500th anniversary of the Erivan Fortress. A predominant thought expressed at the presentation was that, unlike Tbilisi and Baku, there was no historic centre in "ancient" Yerevan, and this gave the Armenian authorities the idea of "recreating" the historic centre of Yerevan.

If one is to believe the Armenian press, the idea of creating Yerevan's historic centre had apparently been in the minds of the Armenian authorities for some years, and in 2005 a project was prepared for this purpose. But surely it couldn't have been kept "top secret" for a whole seven years? And it was only after the recent events in Azerbaijan to mark the 500th anniversary of the Erivan Fortress that the Armenians decided to start implementing their project.

Confirmation of this can be found in the latest issue of Golos Armenii newspaper which marks the services of the Yerevan architect, Aleksandr Tamanyan, whose project was endorsed in 1924 as a general plan for present-day Yerevan. The paper says that "Tamanyan made no secret of his intention to destroy the old Persian-Turkic-Tsarist Russian city and build a modern Armenian capital". 

So why have the Armenians and the media kept silent all these years? After all, even the Armenians themselves, judging from their reaction, don't remember and didn't know their old city was destroyed. A debate has begun in Armenian society about the tragic fate of the historic centre of Yerevan, and most Armenians have no idea what the city looked like 100-150 years ago. Old photographs of Yerevan are being collected on social networks by Armenian users who are discovering for themselves what their capital used to look like.

According to Axundov, the Armenians are shamelessly saying that "The recreation of an architectural complex to which buildings of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, which are of historical and architectural importance, will be relocated is to begin". And not a word is said about the fact that the period of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century is not the true original appearance of mediaeval Yerevan. In other words, Yerevan cannot claim the status of an ancient city because its historic centre will be a couple of dozen buildings that are 100 - 150 years old.  In point of fact it is buildings built after the Erivan khanate became a part of Russia, and not the real appearance of the Erivan Fortress, which was partially preserved until the end of the 19th century and completely destroyed in the Soviet Armenian period, that are being "recreated".

On the other hand, as Levon Vardanyan, chief architect of the project, explained, "old houses that were pulled down in recent years, reassembled and restored, are being formed into a square defined by Arami, Abovyan, Byuzand and Kokhbatsi streets".

So, the old houses were not pulled down, but "dismantled" and stored in some warehouse outside Yerevan, and now they intend to "relocate" and "assemble" them like a jigsaw puzzle. And they plan to locate "old Yerevan" in a "square" 300 metres long and 68 metres wide. As Axundov emphasized, "it is not a question of rebuilding old Yerevan but building a kind of exhibition complex where imaginary architectural 'masterpieces' will be the exhibits".

He quoted the example of the true recreation of a mediaeval centre, that of the Polish capital, Warsaw, which was 90% destroyed after the fascist bombing of the Second World War. Then, in Warsaw, literally on what was left of the foundations of old buildings, and based on sketches that had been preserved, they had to rebuild the city's historic centre. "But there was no bombing in Yerevan and no-one, apart from the Armenians themselves, destroyed the city's historic centre stage by stage," Axundov said, stressing that not only in Yerevan but virtually throughout Armenia no mediaeval structures, public buildings or bath-houses recalling past history have been preserved. There are only semi-destroyed Albanian churches which are similar to Armenian in their architecture, but some of these churches have already been Armenianized and the rest continue to be gradually destroyed.

But "even if someone comes along, sorts out the bricks and assembles buildings 100 - 150 years old in the centre of Yerevan, they will have no particular architectural or historical value," Axundov said, noting that Yerevan, which has the status of the world's only ancient city without an historic centre will now also become the only replica-town with a concocted "historic" centre.

At the same time, the spokesman for the president's administration drew attention to the fact that elements of Yerevan's mediaeval architecture, now completely destroyed, were preserved during the Soviet period. For example, the destruction by the Armenian authorities in 1964 of the Palace of Sardar - the khan of Erivan - where the timeless play by Aleksandr Griboyedov "Woe from wit" was staged by exiled Decembrists in 1827 in the presence of the author himself was an act of real vandalism.

Instead of erecting a memorial plaque on the building of the Palace of Sardar or building a museum in memory of Griboyedov where tourists from all over the Russian-speaking world could come and visit, the Armenian authorities took over and destroyed this monument of not only Azerbaijani but Russian and Soviet culture. Incidentally, by an irony of fate, those truly responsible for Griboyedov's death, the 180th anniversary of which was marked recently by his admirers, were his Armenian close circle. The Russian poet and diplomat became a victim of falsifications which the Armenians methodically fed him with. That said, Griboyedov, who was regarded as a patron of the Armenians, held quite a different opinion about them. By way of example, Axundov quoted Griboyedov's report of 11-13 September, 1819, in which he wrote: "What a bunch of lowlife these Armenians are. None of them wanted to know me, but at the same time they whisper in your ear that we are their future protectors…They sell us to the same Persians who are ready to crucify us and cook us with any sauce".

Returning to the subject of historic Yerevan, I would like to point out that the final stage of the total destruction of the city's historical monuments began when L.I.Brezhnev came to power in the USSR and the Armenian leaders asked him to transfer the NKAO (Nagornyy Karabakh) from the Azerbaijani SSR to the Armenian SSR. But Brezhnev refused, and then in Armenia there began the next phase of the destruction of Azerbaijani Muslim monuments of the Middle Ages. These included the remains of the Palace of Sardar in whose place were built administrative buildings for the republican leaders.

Axundov noted that any modern city, as it expands and builds, preserves and protects its historic centre like the apple of its eye. But this rule does not apply to Yerevan, whose Armenian authorities have wiped its historic centre from the face of the earth.

Unlike Tbilisi, whose historic centre with its elements of Muslim, Persian, Arabian and Turkic architecture have been preserved and are now carefully protected, this cannot be said of Yerevan. Hundreds of structures made by the Armenians, including the Armenian church in Baku, have been preserved in Tbilisi and Baku. In fact in both Georgia and Azerbaijan care is taken over Armenian structures and all others who are a part of its colour and history. But this is not the case in Yerevan and one wonders why this city, which claims the status of one of the earliest, has no such old buildings?

Axundov noted that throughout the 20th century Azerbaijanis have been chased out of Armenia and their cultural monuments destroyed, and now they have stooped to "recreating" the city, seizing a narrow passage of time (the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century) to avoid as much as possible the Azerbaijani Muslim mediaeval period of Yerevan's history.

The point should be particularly made that the Azerbaijani leaders are well aware that today's Armenia was created on the lands of the Azerbaijani Erivan khanate, but, unlike the Armenians, they make no territorial claims on their neighbours. However, official Baku is not aiming to get the Armenian authorities to preserve the architectural and historical monuments on its territory which have no relevance to their culture, as is accepted practice in all civilized countries of the world.