By Dale Berning Sawa

A damning new report details an attempted erasure by Azerbaijan of its Armenian cultural heritage, including the destruction of tens of thousands of Unesco-protected ancient stone carvings

The 21st century’s most extensive campaign of cultural cleansing to date may not have happened in Syria, as you might assume, but a largely ignored part of the Transcaucasian plateau.

According to a lengthy report published in the art journal Hyperallergic in February, the Azerbaijani government has, over the past 30 years, been engaging in a systematic erasure of the country’s historic Armenian heritage. This official, albeit covert, destruction of cultural and religious artefacts exceeds Islamic State’s self-promotional dynamiting of Palmyra, according to the report’s authors, Simon Maghakyan and Sarah Pickman.

“The Story of Nakhijevan”

By Emanuele Aliprandi
MIA Publishers, Rome 2016

Historically, Nakhijevan has been one of the most prosperous regions under the rule of all Armenian kingdoms. Since the early history of the Armenian people until the 20th century, Nakhijevan was famous as a highly developed spiritual and cultural centre. In pre-Christian times the singers of Nakhijevan’s Goght’n province were very famous throughout Armenia. Then, in the early Christian period, the fi rst Armenian churches were founded in various areas of Nakhijevan. In this region, Mesrop Mashtots and his disciples preached and taught, gradually coming to the conclusion that Armenians needed their own alphabet. During the following centuries Nakhijevan became famous in one of the most signifi cant spheres of Medieval Armenian culture, that is. crafting stone crosses (khachkars).

“Why is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still not Resolved”

By Shavarsh Kocharyan
MIA Publishers, Yerevan 2016

The current phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has started since the last years of the existence of the USSR and turned into a conflict as a result of the policy of power adopted by Azerbaijan in response to the implementation of the right to self-determination by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict differs from other conflicts of the former Soviet area by the fact that the people of Nagorno- Karabakh impeccably implemented its right to self-determination within the legal frameworks before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“Nagorno-Karabagh: Legal Aspects”

MIA Publishers, Fifth Edition, Moscow 2015
By Shahen Avakian
The study covers the legal aspects of Nagorno Karabagh problem. It examines the issues of Law as they affected the legal status of Nagorno Karabagh.

The author is an expert of International Law. He has graduated from the Paris Sorbonne University and is specialized in International Public Law and International Organizations law.

“Revival of Shushi”

By James Bosbotinis
MIA Publishers, Moscow 2015

The South Caucasus has a rich and diverse history and cultural heritage, a product of the region’s position between Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This geographical position has seen the region subject to the influences of some of history’s most notable empires, including the Ottoman, Persian and Russian. Moreover, the region remains a scene of contemporary geopolitical competition and rivalry.

“Brief History of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)”

MIA Publishers, 2013
By NGO “Against Xenophobia and Violence”

This book briefly reveals the history of Artsakh since the ancient times until the present days. Here you can find both cultural and political aspects of Artsakh’s history.

FILES:

• Brief History of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) (in English)
• Brief History of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) (in Arabic)
• Precis de l’Histoire d’Artsakh (Haut-Karabakh) (in French)
• Kurze Geschichte von Artsakh (Bergkarabach) (in German)
• Breve Storia dell’Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) (in Italian)
• Краткая история Арцаха (Нагорного Карабаха) (in Russian)
• Breve Historia de Artsaj (Nagorno-Karabagh) (in Spanish)

“The Sumgait Syndrome. Anatomy of Racism in Azerbaijan”

MIA Publishers, 2012
By NGO “Against Xenophobia and Violence”

Sumgait is 26 kilometres from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, and was home to some 18,000 Armenians in 1988. On 26 and 27 February 1988, demonstrations were organised in Sumgait under the slogan
“Death to Armenians!” What took place on the streets of Azerbaijan during the following three days has been referred to ever since with the horrific name of “Sumgait”.
The massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, February 27–29, were merely a continuation of the Azerbaijani authorities’ unswerving policy of racism towards Armenians and ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population, with unpunished killings and deportations.

“The Karabakh Problem: The Thorny Road to Freedom and Independence”

Second, revised edition, “Zangak-97” Press, 2004
By Nikolay Hovhannisyan
In this second, revised edition the attention is focused on the reasons of forcibly attachment of Karabakh to Azerbaijan, to a state, which did not exist in history as a state until 1918, and which was a violation of self-determination right of Karabakh Armenians. The author emphasized the importance of new approaches to the resolution of Karabakh conflict taking into account new political, military and legal realities. It also underlines the lawful right of this ancient Armenian native land for union with motherland Armenia or for state independence.