Azerbaijan’s Weak ‘Weapon’ (Again on History Falsification)

In the past, Mammadova’s anti-scientific works also received a worthy counter-blow from Armenian specialists (see Historical-Philological Journal” 1987, No. 3, pp. 166-189). Non-Armenian specialists also criticized them; especially noteworthy is the well-founded objection made by the Russian historian, ethnographer Victor Schnirelmann in the famous book Wars of Memory (Moscow, 2003), wherein the author, in conclusion, considered Mammadova, who deliberately distorts history with state support, the main preacher of the so-called “Albanian legend.”

Nevertheless, continuing her forgeries, Jafar Gizi Khanum published a monograph in 2005 entitled Caucasian Albania and the Albanians (in Russian). Contrary to her expectations, however, the book was received with hostility in Azerbaijan’s “academic” circles, and the author was considered a “traitor to the homeland,” an “Armenian spy.” The main reason was that Mammadova presented a map in the book with the words “Great Armenia.”

According to her words, Mammadova was not only persecuted and insulted by the new generation of “Bunyadovs” of both sex, but also persecuted and threatened with physical revenge. She tried in every way to prove that she “was not sold to the Armenians,” but actually has written a completely anti-Armenian monograph.

To restore her lost “honor,” she later made harsher anti-Armenian speeches in the press and on television. In her speeches that flooded the Internet, she expressed the belief that the Azerbaijani people, the heirs of the “whole Caucasian Albanian culture,” were not directly descended from the Albanians, but consisted of three powerful ethnic and cultural strata – Caucasian, Turkic and Iranian, and that “Albanian-Azerbaijani” cultural roots originate from Zoroastrian, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds. This is already a shocking new “doctrine,” especially on its Jewish side (come and do not believe that Mammadova’s spiritual father Bunyadov was really a Zionist).

For obvious reasons, Jafar Gizi Khanum (like modern Azerbaijani “historians” in general) mostly refers to Artsakh, liberated from Azerbaijan’s dictatorship (hopefully – finally). With new inventions she seeks to confirm Bunyadov’s “ideas” that Artsakh was a part of Albania, that it has nothing to do with Armenia, that the Armenians of Artsakh are Albanians who consider themselves Armenians, that Gandzasar is the prelacy of the Albanian Church occupied by Armenians, etc., etc.

The “researchers” of the newer generation of Azerbaijan, on the direct orders of Ilham Aliyev, have gone much further, reaching the peak of nonsense that Armenians are not natives not only in Artsakh, but also in Eastern Armenia. In Transcaucasia in general, they are latecomers, and all these territories are Azerbaijani. As with Western Armenia and Asia Minor, they have always belonged to the Turks (what has long been circulating in Turkish “historiography”). And “Great Armenia” is a contrived, anti-scientific concept, and it has never existed. All this, with the generous use of Azerbaijani petrodollars, is presented to the world in various ways – through the Internet, monographs, articles, films, events. Noteworthy are the film “Armenians Were Not in the Caucasus,” the celebrations of the 2500^th anniversary of the founding of the Albania-Azerbaijan state and the 500^th anniversary of the founding of the “rich center of Azerbaijani culture” Yerevan (Erivan), and especially President Aliyev’s delirious announcements about considering the Republic of Armenia’s space Azerbaijan.

As we see, Bunyadovism has already turned into Aliyevism, which is accompanied by daily military encroachments on the borders of Armenia and Artsakh, putting our national security under a much more serious threat.

We mentioned that the Azerbaijani falsifications of history were repulsed by Armenian specialists. Here we would like to remember also Ruben Galichyan, a distinguished geographer and cartographer, who published studies in Armenian, English, Russian Persian, and Turkish (in particular, his book Azerbaijani Historical and Geographical Forgeries), and skilled historians Valeri Tunyan, Gevorg Stepanyan and Artak Movsisyan. The latter stood out in this field, especially with his films “The Capital Older than Rome” and “The History Falsifiers: Azerbaijan.” All these, however, are unsystematic, personal initiatives, and as Movsisyan said in an interview: “Unfortunately, there is no state approach to such falsifications.”

We have a Ministry of Defense that organizes the protection of our country’s borders. We must also have a strong state structure that protects the borders of our centuries-old history and culture.

Finally, in one of his anti-Armenian speeches, Ilham Aliyev (I apologize for mentioning this unpleasant name several times) stated: “We need to become stronger, have a stronger army and ensure economic development.” This is more about us Armenians. Only by creating a strong state will we be able to protect ourselves reliably from the Bunyadovism and Aliyevism that endanger our national identity.