LIE DETECTOR

The Azerbaijanis who have been driven out of their historical lands, will return to to live in Nagornyy Karabakh and other occupied lands. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated this at the opening of the biggest mosque in the Caucasus in Baku. The head of state explained that the lands that historically belong to the Azerbaijanis are not limited solely to the territory of modern Azerbaijan. "The time will come when Azerbaijanis will live on their historical lands again - both in the Irevan khanate, in the Goycha and Zangezur districts," Ilham Aliyev said, appealing to citizens to make their own contribution to the common cause.

It is not the first time that the Azerbaijani president has spoken about the creation of today's Armenia on Azerbaijani lands, and his words are based on historical facts. Although the public at large is already familiar with these facts, numerous irrefutable historical documents still exist which have been carefully concealed by the Armenian falsifiers and their patrons. 

Several documents like this were discovered for the first time towards the end of last year by Fuad Axundov [Akhundov], head of sector of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration.

Great powers' leaders on what have been Azerbaijani lands since time immemorial

He presented archive documents to the public, in particular a number of quotations from Russian emperor Peter I [Peter the Great], Peter II and Pavel [Paul] I. In their decrees relating to interstate agreements signed between the Ottoman, Persian and Russian powers, Nagornyy Karabakh, Sirvan [Shirvan], Ganca [Ganja], Erivan [Irevan; Yerevan], Naxcivan [Nakhchivan] and other Azerbaijani lands are referred to among the "Ardibizhan provinces".

The head of sector noted that, in pronouncing the names of the Azerbaijani khanates - "Ezerdabidzhani, Aderbaydzhani, Ardibizhani", do not sound anything like "Armenian", if you really want them to. "In any case, at that time, it would not have crossed anyone's mind to refer to these lands as Eastern Armenia, as the pseudo-scholars and leadership of the Republic of Armenia are trying to convince the Armenian public to do at the present time," F. Axundov stressed in an interview to the "Interfax-Azerbaijan" agency.

For the first time, he cited extracts from the imperial decrees on Azerbaijan's territories, which were collected by S. M. Bronevskiy, who was the director of the Asia Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire and one of the influential officials at the emperor's court.

 "Not only today, in the 21st century, does the leader of the regional power, Azerbaijan- refer to Erivan, as well as Karabakh, Nakhchyvan and other khanates as Azerbaijani, but the leaders of the neighbouring regional powers - Russia, Persia and the Ottoman Empire - also did so in previous centuries," Fuad Axundov stated.

He noted that up to the present time all these facts had been concealed from the Armenian public. But in future it will be extremely difficult for the Armenian falsifiers to mislead the world public as well as of their own people.

"The Information Support for the Armenian Public" project presented in December by the Caucasus History Centre attached to the AZER-GLOBE Institute of Socio-Political Research is precisely aimed at exposing the historical lie and forgeries.

A forgery-free window on history

Within the framework of this project blocks of information (information slots) are being placed on the vesti.az, apa.az. day.az, regionplus.az websites, containing quotations from world scholars, public figures, politicians, clergymen and others, the publication of which is prohibited in Armenia. The materials revealing the falsification perpetrated by Armenian pseudo-historians and chroniclers engaged in forgery are presented in Russian which the Armenian reader, as well as others, are able to understand. The quotations, which have been discovered for the first time in the documents of the Russian emperors are also posted on the information slots.

The quotations from the information slots are being included in an e-version of the books by F. Axundov: www.nofalsify.com (the book "Fraud Busters", compiled from the pronouncements of scholars on the history of the Southern Caucasus), www.azleadersays.com ("At First Hand" containing quotations from the Azerbaijani president on the main trends in state policy) and www.azterrintegrity.org ("At First Hand", containing pronouncements by world leaders and international organisations on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan).

By the Information Support for the Armenian Public project, Azerbaijan has in actual fact opened a window onto real history for the Armenian people, where there are no forgeries and falsifications. Moreover, the extremely aggressive response to this by the Armenian falsificators has confirmed that this project is well-founded. The forces that are keeping their own people in the dark, immediately arranged for the websites containing the information to be hacked. The main target selected was the website displaying the quotes of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the main trends in state policy, including the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Lie detector" spots Armenian falsification

In the same December days the Caucasus History Centre presented the region's public with a unique tool for exposing the claims of the Armenians to examples of the material and non-material heritage of the peoples of the region. Figuratively speaking, this new tool has been called "a lie detector". So, how does this detector work?

This is a universal technique, which on the basis of ethnographic, linguistic studies and old dictionaries, including Armenian ones, allows the provenance of rituals, domestic objects, music, songs, cultural and culinary traditions belonging to one people or another to be easily checked.

"A recent attempt by Armenia to have lavash [unleavened flat bread] registered as an Armenian bread on the UNESCO list of non-material cultural heritage, and even earlier the duduk as an Armenian folk music instrument, has moved Azerbaijani scholars to look into old Armenian dictionaries, in which there is no trace of the concepts of 'lavash' and 'duduk'" F. Axundov stressed.

The linguist Elsad Alili has noted that he has studied approximately 20 ancient dictionaries, including Armenian ones, but the word "lavash" has not been indicated as an Armenian word in a single one of them. "This is how you can calculate the etymology of any word," the expert noted.

According to the director of the Caucasus History Centre, Rizvan Huseynov, in the very near future it is planned to make use of similar techniques offered by scholars in neighbouring countries, who have come up against the Armenian falsifications. The results of studies by the Caucasus History Centre itself will also be submitted to UNESCO.

A united front

Moreover, it was not long before responses came in from the neighbouring countries. Well-known Georgian scholars, the historian Guram Marhulia and the Armenian studies expert, Academician Bondo Arveladze, were the first to state their support for the Azerbaijani project.

According to Bondo Arveladze, the Armenian side is making an intense effort to present the cultural values of the Caucasian peoples to UNESCO and the international public at large as the material and non-material heritage of the Armenian people. "Appropriating the cultural heritage of others cannot fail to upset scientific circles and the public throughout the Caucasus. Georgia is constantly faced with such problems, and I think that participation in the projects of the Caucasus History Centre will allow us to defend ourselves effectively and stop short the attempts by some Armenian scholars to appropriate elements of Georgian culture and heritage" the Georgian academician said.

In the view of B. Arveladze, it is particularly important that the scientific studies and conclusions of the Caucasus History Centre are to be translated into English and other languages, circulated to international organisations, first and foremost to UNESCO, whose experts register the cultural values of other peoples on the list of Armenian heritage.

The Georgian historian Guram Marhulia spoke in a similar vein during an interview to the ATV television channel.

The project presented in Azerbaijan did not remain unnoticed in Russia either. The writer and public figure Alexander Fomenkov made an "Appeal to the Russian Public" in which he called upon the Russian public and scientific circles to pay attention to the experience of the Azerbaijani side in exposing Armenian falsifications. "Otherwise, we, the Russians, will end up with one of the most striking representatives of Ancient Rus, Vladimir Monomakh soon being declared Monomakhyan and the founder of Moscow being name as Yuri Dolgorukyan [Moscow's founder is Yuri Dolgorukiy]," A. Fomenkov stated.

"Yes, yes, this is precisely what happens; whereas other peoples complain that the Armenians are appropriating domestic objects, folk music, songs and other cultural values, as well as culinary dishes created by them and not the Armenians, from us they are already stealing people. And these are not just some little Vasya or Masha, but generalissimos… Why waste your time on trivial things. The great Russian military leader, Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov, does according to the assertion of these weird Armenian historians, have Armenian roots…Well, what a lot of gibberish!" the public figure stressed. But…

Worse things do happen

It is not surprising that, as a result of the palpable "strikes" through its websites by the Azerbaijani side in Armenia, they [Armenians] have become so confused that they decided to apply to UNESCO with the ludicrous demand that Mount Agri Dagi (Ararat), which is located on the territory of Turkey, be recognised as "Armenian non-material cultural heritage". Parliamentary deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan made this application to the Armenian government on the 25th December, on the very day that the Caucasus History Centre attached to the AZER-GLOBE Institute of Socio-Political Research launched its "lie detector".

"Evidently, the Armenian dreamers and grabbers have not learnt anything from the failure of the culinary promotion with lavash. No-one knows who was the initiator of this idea in Yerevan, but we would like to arrange a little campaign to teach Zaruhi Postanjyan the rules regarding the submission of such applications," its states in the article circulated by the Caucasus History Centre.

The Centre's experts explain that in the UNESCO Convention the following manifestations come under the term non-material heritage:

- Knowledge and skills connected with traditional crafts;

- Knowledge and customs relating to nature and the universe;

- Oral traditions and forms of expression, including language as a bearer of non-material cultural heritage;

- Performing arts, including acting, making music, singing, dancing and so forth;

- Customs, rituals and festivals.

"In which of the manifestations of non-material cultural heritage can Mount Agri Dagi (Ararat) situated in Turkey be legally counted. But Z. Postanjyan defined it and expressed the theory that the mountain has an exceptional influence on the mentality of the Armenians. 

But, besides the Armenian idea-mongers' blatant legal ignorance, the very idea of denoting any kind of natural phenomenon as the "non-material cultural heritage" of a people looks absurd. This is like an attempt by Azerbaijan or Turkey to get the heavenly body, the moon, registered on the list of non-material cultural heritage of the Azerbaijanis just because the crescent moon is depicted on the flag of this country," it says in the article.

 An "Old Town" on the remains of demolished history

In general, December 2014 was fairly packed with ludicrous initiatives in Armenia. Besides the other things, in Yerevan they were again talking about building an "Old Town" in the centre of the Armenian capital.

At the same time as the Armenian capital is pretending that it has an ancient history, the leadership of Yerevan is planning to build approximately 20 buildings of the tsarist Russian period in the city centre in order to present that location as the historical part of the city. While doing this, the builders are covering with gravel the demolished Yerevan fortress which is sticking out of the dug-up asphalt.

 "It is comical how attempts are being made to create a sham "historical centre" consisting of buildings with European architecture of 100-150 years ago in place of the mediaeval city. The Caucasus is an ancient region, which was teeming with life before the beginning of the 20th century. And Irevan (Yerevan) in particular was a mediaeval city with oriental Muslim architecture," F. Axundov stated.

He stressed that no trace of the old historical centre is left in Yerevan, which testifies to the targeted destruction by the Armenians of historical monuments that prove their Azerbaijani origins. "In Baku and Tbilisi, for example, the historical city centres are kept as the apple of the eye. In Yerevan the Armenians themselves destroyed this centre, since it was evidence that they were immigrants in these lands," F. Axundov explained.

He recalled that a few years ago, the Azerbaijani side expressed its willingness to offer Armenia the plans and drawings of the Yerevan fortress, but the Armenian side turned the offer down, since all the historical materials prove that Yerevan, which was called Irevan in those times, once belonged to Azerbaijan.

Moreover, it would be naive to think that Armenia and the Armenian diaspora throughout the world would, in the foreseeable future, denounce its many-century-long strivings to "fabricate" its history, based on lies and forgeries. On the contrary, greater activity by the Armenian falsifiers is to be expected in 2015 in the light of the centenary of the imaginary "Armenian genocide" in Ottoman Turkey. Taking this into account, it is becoming ever more pressing for the states suffering as a result of the unfounded Armenian claims, and for the scholars and the public in the countries of the region to work together. All the more so since Azerbaijan has offered everyone a starting point, in the form of the projects put forward by the Caucasus History Centre attached to the AZER-GLOBE Institute of Socio-Political Research, to help in overturning the world of Armenian falsifications.

From the 1724 treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires on the partitioning of Azerbaijan

"… as regards the Ezerbadizhan [Azerbaijan] province with all its dependencies and appropriations, those which essentially lie within the line indicated and Ganja, Berda, Karabag, Nakhchivan, the city of Rivan (Azerbaijani city of Irevan, now Yerevan) and Uchkilise, and all the cities and small towns subject to the entire province of Erivan, will come under the jurisdiction of the High Porte"

From the decree of Emperor Peter the Great

 "Ardevil remains in Persia, but Tavriz, Ardabad, Lake Tavriz, Mereid, Meraga, Rumie, Qui, Charis, Selmas, Karabag, Ganja, Erivan, Nakhichevan and other Ardibizhan provinces with the parts belonging to them are to come under the jurisdiction of Porte".

 From the 1727 decree of Emperor Peter II

 "…the entire expanse that lies between the [river] Kura and the [river] Araks, that is the whole of Adirbizhan …"

From the 1799 decree of Emperor Paul I 

 "…in Aderbaidzhan, the provinces neighbouring on the Ottoman Porte…, which once belonged to the Persian state, except for Georgia and other domains ruled by particular khans, like Ganja, Erivan, Khoy, Karabakh, Tabriz and others…"