Cultural Genocide

[Gavur]

Commission Of Russia's Public Chamber Condemns Vandalism In Nakhijevan

AZG Armenian Daily
19/05/2006

On May 17, the commission on culture and spiritual heritage of
Russia's Public Chamber headed by Metropolit Kliment discussed the
alarming issue of annihilation of Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan,
Azerbaijan, that was raised at a recent roundtable in Moscow. Despite
UNESCO's efforts, Azerbaijani vandals destroyed the remaining 4.000
khachkars (stone crosses) in New Jugha.

According to Yerkramas newspaper, 27.000 Armenian monuments - churches,
monasteries and chapels - dated 7-19 century were destroyed during the
years of Azerbaijani rule in Nakhijevan. The state-backed vandalism
is aimed at wiping away the Armenian trace in Nakhijevan.

The commission unanimously condemned the vandalism in New Jugha
as well as expressed willingness jointly with other commissions of
the Public Chamber to inquire after the state of foreign cultural
monuments in Azerbaijan.

[Gavur]

World Watches In Silence As Azerbaijan Wipes Out Armenian Culture

By Lucian Harris

Art Newspaper, UK
May 25 2006

>From Conservation

Western governments have failed to condemn the destruction of a unique
medieval cemetery by Azerbaijani soldiers

Armenia says the Christian cemetery of Jugha, dating from the ninth to
16th centuries, has been completely destroyed by Azerbaijani soldiers.

LONDON. A delegation of European members of Parliament was last month
refused access to Djulfa, in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan,
to investigate reports that an ancient Armenian Christian cemetery
has been destroyed by Azerbaijani soldiers.

The delegation of ten MEPs from the commission on EU-Armenia
parliamentary co-operation travelled to Armenia on 17 April following
a resolution passed by the EP's conference of presidents on 6 April.

An EP spokesman told The Art Newspaper that when the party tried to
enter Nakhichevan, it was "opposed by the Azerbaijan authorities".

Azerbaijani soldiers photographed destroying headstones at Jugha

This was despite the Muslim country's outright denial that the
cemetery has been destroyed-and despite the fact that Azerbaijan is
a member of the Council of Europe and thus committed to respecting
cultural heritage.

According to witnesses, as quoted in Armenian reports, in a three-day
operation last December, Azerbaijani soldiers armed with sledgehammers
obliterated the remnants of the Djulfa cemetery (known as Jugha
in Armenian). Until the early 20th century it contained around
10,000 khachkars, dedicatory monuments unique to medieval Armenian
culture. They are typically carved with a cross surrounded by intricate
interlacing floral designs.

A great number of khachkars, the majority of which date from the 15th
to 16th centuries, were destroyed in 1903-04 during the construction
of a railway, and by the early 1970s only 2,707 were recorded.

Armenian culture has always had a precarious existence sandwiched
between Russia and the Islamic spheres of Turkey and Iran. The
Armenians are still fighting to get acknowledgement of the genocide
of their people by the Ottoman Turks which reached its peak in 1915.

After 1921, when the southern enclaves of Nakhichevan and Nagorno
Karabakh were absorbed into Soviet Azerbaijan, many Armenians fled
the area and much of their cultural heritage was destroyed. By the
late 1980s when the Soviet Union crumbled, less than 4,000 Armenians
remained in Nakhichevan-so few that the exclave avoided the ethnic
warfare that exploded in Karabakh where a larger Armenian population
remained under the administration of Muslim Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani army began clearing the Jugha cemetery in 1998,
removing 800 of the khachkars before complaints by Unesco brought
a temporary halt. But the destruction commenced again in November
2002, and by the time the incident was written up by Icomos in its
World Report on Monuments and Sites in Danger for that year, the
1500-year-old cemetery was described as "completely flattened". It
is not clear exactly how many khachkars were left, but on 14 December
2005, witnesses in Armenian reports said that soldiers had demolished
the remaining stones, loading them onto trucks and dumping them in the
river, actions that were filmed from across the river in Iran by an
Armenian Film crew, and aired on the Boston-based online television
station Hairenik.

Armenians say the destruction of the Jugha cemetery represents the
final move in Azerbaijan's systematic cleansing of Armenian cultural
heritage from Nakhichevan, mostly carried out between 1998 and 2002.

On a visit to Armenia in March, the director of the Hermitage Museum in
St Petersburg, Mikhail Piotrovsky, whose mother is Armenian, reacted
to the destruction by likening it to the Taleban's obliteration of
the Bamiyan Buddhas. His comments elicited an angry response in the
Azerbaijani press. However, the lack of international condemnation
of Azerbaijan's actions has been a source of frustration to many
Armenians. Baroness Cox, a long-standing campaigner for the protection
of Armenian heritage in Azerbaijan who has urged the British government
to take action, told The Art Newspaper that, despite the influential
Armenian Diaspora, both the US and UK administrations are more
concerned with cultivating close relations with oil-rich Azerbaijan
and its ally Turkey, than with Armenia.

A response issued by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Brussels in
January, insisted that Armenian allegations were made "to delude
the international community" and detract attention from "atrocities
committed by the Armenian troops in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan, where no single Azerbaijani monument has been left
undamaged". It also contained an implied historical claim on the
Jugha cemetery stating that it was not Armenian but created by
"Caucasian Albanians".

The Azerbaijani allegations, which claim the destruction of hundreds
of mosques, religious schools, cemeteries and museums in the Shusha,
Yerevan, Zangazur and Icmiadzin districts of Armenia, have undoubtedly
compounded the reluctance of international organisations to get
involved in a situation described to The Art Newspaper by Guido
Carducci, the head of Unesco's International Standards Section, as
"a political hot potato".

According to Baroness Cox, even during the war, mosques in Armenia
were generally protected by the Christian population, but with so
many emotive claims and counter claims being made, and both sides
accusing each other of rewriting history, non-partisan monitoring
and verification of all alleged cultural crimes seems more important
than ever. Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Mikhail Piotrovsky said:
"Any destruction of the cultural heritage is a crime, whether that
heritage be Armenian, Russian, Azerbaijani, or Iraqi. The cultural
heritage belongs to the entire world, not just to one nation."

[Gavur]

Azerbaijan 'flattened' sacred Armenian site

The Independent



By Stephen Castle in Brussels

Published: 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."

[Gavur]

Azeri barbarism continues: Graves of Jews and Armenians being destroyed

Azeri barbarism continues: Graves of Jews and Armenians being destroyed in
Azerbaijan

ArmRadio.am
29.05.2006 15:00

Graves of Jews and Armenians are being destroyed in Azerbaijan. The
article titled `The country of barbarians' printed in `Real
Azerbaijan' newspaper notes that the editorial office received a
letter from Sumgait residents, who report about the destruction of
Armenian and Jewish tombs.

The author of the article informs that the same happens also in Baku.
Ac cording to the author, `it is an intentional and cynical
persecution.' `First, the barbarism at the cemetery is a serious blow
to our reputation,' the author notes.

[imported_Hellektor]

The hypocrisy of them all...

Just five days ago, they killed another Armenian. Arthur Sardarian, was savagely stabbed in Moscow, Russia. He was born in Baku and had fled "Azeri" genocidal acts...

Just the day before yesterday an Armenian soldier was killed by "Azeri" fire.
That aside...

The Independent



By Stephen Castle in Brussels

Published: 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.

No! The Taliban destroyed the Buda statues built by Iranian Buddhists because of their backward ideologies. They weren't trying to wipe the traces of their own ancestors from the region.

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 ( How did that happen? H.) separated from the rest of the country (what country? H.) by Armenia (Pieces of xxxx xxxxxxs!!! H.)

The works - some of the most important examples of Armenian heritage - are said (Didn't you see the footage? H.) to have been smashed with sledgehammers last December as the site was concreted over.

The Azerbaijan government, which denies the claims (do they do anything but deny their barbarities? H.), 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 (of Turk sucking puffs. H.) 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.

Why don't they show us a sample of that great Muslim heritage "destroyed" by Armenians? How come here they don't say "Azeri" heritage? Is it because "Azeri" is a fictitious "nation" or are they playing the filthy religion card to scare the xxxx out of the Euroxxxs?

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."

All we can do is fking mourn... How about throwing the freeloaders out of Nakhijevan, which they usurped from the Armenians in 1921 and ethnically cleansed it from its indigenous population in front of the eyes of the Soviet leadership?

(You would bomb an entire people had they sprayed a Swastika on one of your contemporary tombstones.)

[bell-the-cat]

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."

He might say that, but I bet he is thinking "great .. the Azeri's have solved the problem ... now that the goddamn cemetery is finally totally destroyed we won't have any more Armenians coming and annoying us by asking us to intervene. We can get on with more interesting and important things like lunches and conferences and getting paid lots of money."

After returning fron Nakhchivan last year, when I informed a high-up member of Icomos about the condition of the Julfa cemetery and the destruction of every Armenian church in Nakhchivan, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said "so what, it happens, and the Armenians are just as bad".

[phantom]

He might say that, but I bet he is thinking "great .. the Azeri's have solved the problem ... now that the goddamn cemetery is finally totally destroyed we won't have any more Armenians coming and annoying us by asking us to intervene. We can get on with more interesting and important things like lunches and conferences and getting paid lots of money."

After returning fron Nakhchivan last year, when I informed a high-up member of Icomos about the condition of the Julfa cemetery and the destruction of every Armenian church in Nakhchivan, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said "so what, it happens, and the Armenians are just as bad".

When he said that Armenians were just as bad, what was he talking about?

[bell-the-cat]

When he said that Armenians were just as bad, what was he talking about?

He was saying it as an attempt to excuse his organisation's lack of action and his own ignorance, and lack of interest, and his annoyance about being expected to think about a subject he considers to be totally unimportant.

There is no basis in fact to his comment of course - but 99.9% of the people he would usually have said it to would not have known the truth.

[Hovik]

Cultural Question: Should international agencies speak for Armenia over monuments?

Cultural Question: Should international agencies speak for Armenia over monuments?

By Aris Ghazinyan

ArmeniaNow reporter

The news that the government of Armenia has given its consent to the European observers to carry out a monitoring on the state of cultural monuments on the territory of the republic, regardless of the official Baku’s standpoint on receiving such group of experts, caused an ambiguous reaction in Armenia. It should be noted that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis declared this during his visit to Yerevan on November 5. Commenting on the news, he stressed that such position is in the country’s interests as it can have a positive impact on its international image. Nonetheless, the declaration itself met a mixed reaction.
Why?

{ai259401.jpg|left}“Does the Council of Europe have the right to judge Armenia’s image not from the view of adhering civil freedoms, but of the declared interest in preservation of the Armenian nation’s cultural heritage?” wonders a well-known art critic, the Head of Avan’s Museum of History and Archeology Ara Demirkhanyan. “The events of the recent years have shown that even such an apolitical structure as UNESCO at least seems to be, is guided by the same familiar double standards as other international organizations.”

What are those events of the recent years the expert is talking about?

On October 1, 2003 in Paris the 32nd General Assembly of UNESCO launched its work during which RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian made several serious motions directly connected to the issues of fixing and protection of monuments of world cultural heritage. In particular, he called upon the UNESCO Commissariat to delegate its observers to Nakhijevan- a zone of large-scale destruction of numerous monuments of ancient and medieval Armenian architecture.

“Destruction of the monuments of Armenian architecture is a systematic policy implemented on the government level. It takes a great deal of power and means: there isn’t a single khachkar (cross stone) left today out of 5,000 at Jugha necropolis,” the Minister stated. “Armenia has repeatedly raised alarms of the happenings at different international forums. Previously UNESCO has indeed offered to send observers to estimate the damage, but Azerbaijan refused that offer.”

Oskanian’s speech in Paris in part said:

“Armenian presence in the region has been verified from the earliest times. It takes a continuous planning, efforts and means to reject and reconsider this historical reality. All of that has been used by Azerbaijan in the region of Nakhijevan, which has been Armenian for ages- a fact proved by the very name of the region. During several decades of the 20th century the Armenian population of Nakhijevan has been reduced to the amount we see today. Azerbaijan has managed to deprive Nakhijevan of its Armenian population. One more time let me, in firm belief and full awareness, call upon UNESCO to send observers to that region to register where and how the destructions were done.”

UNESCO did not heed Oskanian’s request.

“. . . the new appeal (in 2004) of official Yerevan to delegate an observer mission to the zone of destruction of the Armenian cultural stratum in Nachijevan was again blocked by Azerbaijan,” Demirkhanyan says. “And none of the international structures condemned Baku’s position. The session of the Council of Europe’s Parliament Assembly only asked ‘the states of South Caucasus to be mutually indulgent and tolerant in the issues of preservation of the cultural heritage of the countries in the region in order not to allow acts of vandalism and destruction of historical monuments in the future’.”

It was then that the Armenian delegation appealed to the Council of Europe (CoE) to interfere and put an end to that destructive process. There was a suggestion to create a special commission of the CoE on the issues of the return of Armenian khachkars, if only they were not irrevocably destroyed. MP Ashot Galoyan delivered a speech in Strasburg on the matters of preservation of Armenian historical monuments. In particular, he said: “I have recorded acts of vandalism, namely at the cemetery of Old Jugha. Armenian khachkars were being destroyed also during the Soviet times; and 800 khachkars disappeared in 1998. In November 2002, the extinction of the Armenian level was resumed again with new force.”

It’s noteworthy that it was in that period when a special archeological expedition started operating on the territory of Nakhijevan. “It [the expedition] was called by a direct order of Heidar Aliyev in 2001,” says the Deputy Head (on scientific issues) of Azerbaijan’s National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archeology and Ethnography Najaf Musiebli. “That expedition continued its work up to 2003. During the three years large-scale field works were held on the territory of Nakhijevan aimed at revealing historical monuments so far unknown to science. As a result of archeological excavations monuments of ancient settlements were discovered.”

“It’s quite possible that the given archeological party, besides other things, was engaged in making an ‘inventory’ of Armenian monuments that were subject to extermination. This is indirectly confirmed by the timing of its activity,” Demirkhanyan says.

Musiebli’s recently published (November 5) statement in this connection is worth mentioning here: “We have to say that the expedition was not organized by chance. Constant disinformation of the world community by the Armenians that the territory of Nakhijevan is also an ancient Armenian land forced the state to call a scientific-research expedition and as a result of numerous archeological facts the false propaganda of the occupants was proved.”

When there was not a single khachkar left on the territory of Jugha, CE Secretary General Terry Davis, commenting on the readiness of the Armenian authorities to hold the monitoring on the state of the cultural monuments on the territory of the republic, emphasized that such position is in Armenia’s best interests as it would have a positive impact on the country’s international image. Here truly rises a question: do international organizations have the right to judge Armenia’s image in respect of the declared interest in preserving world cultural heritage?

[bell-the-cat]

“Does the Council of Europe have the right to judge Armenia’s image not from the view of adhering civil freedoms, but of the declared interest in preservation of the Armenian nation’s cultural heritage?” wonders a well-known art critic, the Head of Avan’s Museum of History and Archeology Ara Demirkhanyan. “The events of the recent years have shown that even such an apolitical structure as UNESCO at least seems to be, is guided by the same familiar double standards as other international organizations.”

What planet of inbred idiots does that fool live on? What "other organisations" is he referring to? Prior to this did he actually believe that UNESCO did not operate double standards?
By inviting CofE, and other, observers onto Armenian territory, Armenia can neutralise all Azeri propaganda about Azeri monuments being destroyed by Armenia and expose them as being lies. The chance of Azerbaijan permitting observers to enter Nakhchivan is, and always will be, nil. So Armenia should have the wisdom to exploit that by freely, and without conditions, allowing observers to do on Armenian territory what Azerbaijan will not allow them to do on Azeri territory