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West Roxbury & Roslindale Transcript, MA
27 Oct. 2004
NAASR funds new book on Karabagh by Dr. George Bournoutian
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
A new book by renowned historian Dr. George A. Bournoutian, "Two
Chronicles on the History of Karabagh," has been published by Mazda
Publishers with a major grant from the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research and other funders. The book is a revised
and substantially expanded version of Bournoutian's earlier,
out-of-print "History of Qarabagh" (1994). NAASR's Armenian Book
Clearing House will serve as the primary distributor of the book. He
will launch the book in a lecture Oct. 29, in Toronto, co-sponsored by
NAASR, the Zoryan Institute and the Armenian General Benevolent Union.
NAASR Board Chairman Nancy R. Kolligian said, "We are honored and
excited to be able to help make this significant work available to
scholars and to the general public. Dr. Bournoutian's scholarship is
universally respected and deserving of NAASR's support. We welcome this
opportunity to advance understanding of this politically-charged aspect
of Armenian history."
Bournoutian has translated and provided extensive commentary for
two Persian-language chronicles written in the 19th century on
Karabagh, Mirza Jamal Javanshir's "Tarikh-e Karabagh" and Mirza
Adigozal Beg's "Karabagh-name." The two works provide a detailed
picture of Karabagh in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The
translation of the "Tarikh-a Karabagh" formed the basis of his earlier
"History of Qarabagh," while the "Karabagh-name" makes its first
appearance in English in the new volume.
Bournoutian writes, "In the course of my research, I have realized
that in order to present a fair and balanced view of the history of the
region, one must rely not only on Russian, Armenian and European
primary sources, but also on the work of Persian and local Turkic
chroniclers as well.
"Partisans of both [the Armenian and Azeri] sides produced
polemical studies affirming their historical claims to the region ....
A number of Azerbaijani histories, led by the late Ziya Buniatov, have
gone beyond the bounds of scholarship and have manipulated the original
19th-century Persian texts written by Turkic Muslims, by expunging most
references to Armenia and the Armenians in the new editions of these
works."
In presenting these unexpurgated translations with substantial
commentary and supplemented with material from three other sources,
Bournoutian is providing a necessary corrective to such
pseudo-scholarly behavior. "Statesmen shall ultimately decide the
validity of Armenian and Azeri claims in Karabagh," he writes. "In the
meantime, the work of these 19th-century local historians should aid
unbiased historians to sort out the facts."
Bournoutian is senior professor of history at Iona College. He is
the author of numerous books on Armenian history and has taught
Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University, New York
University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, Ramapo
College and Glendale Community College. He is visiting professor of
Armenian history at Columbia.
For more information about "Two Chronicles on the History of
Karabagh," NAASR and its programs or about the furtherance of Armenian
studies, research and publication, call 617-489-1610, fax 617-484-1759,
e-mail [email protected], or write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA
02478.
27 Oct. 2004
NAASR funds new book on Karabagh by Dr. George Bournoutian
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
A new book by renowned historian Dr. George A. Bournoutian, "Two
Chronicles on the History of Karabagh," has been published by Mazda
Publishers with a major grant from the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research and other funders. The book is a revised
and substantially expanded version of Bournoutian's earlier,
out-of-print "History of Qarabagh" (1994). NAASR's Armenian Book
Clearing House will serve as the primary distributor of the book. He
will launch the book in a lecture Oct. 29, in Toronto, co-sponsored by
NAASR, the Zoryan Institute and the Armenian General Benevolent Union.
NAASR Board Chairman Nancy R. Kolligian said, "We are honored and
excited to be able to help make this significant work available to
scholars and to the general public. Dr. Bournoutian's scholarship is
universally respected and deserving of NAASR's support. We welcome this
opportunity to advance understanding of this politically-charged aspect
of Armenian history."
Bournoutian has translated and provided extensive commentary for
two Persian-language chronicles written in the 19th century on
Karabagh, Mirza Jamal Javanshir's "Tarikh-e Karabagh" and Mirza
Adigozal Beg's "Karabagh-name." The two works provide a detailed
picture of Karabagh in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The
translation of the "Tarikh-a Karabagh" formed the basis of his earlier
"History of Qarabagh," while the "Karabagh-name" makes its first
appearance in English in the new volume.
Bournoutian writes, "In the course of my research, I have realized
that in order to present a fair and balanced view of the history of the
region, one must rely not only on Russian, Armenian and European
primary sources, but also on the work of Persian and local Turkic
chroniclers as well.
"Partisans of both [the Armenian and Azeri] sides produced
polemical studies affirming their historical claims to the region ....
A number of Azerbaijani histories, led by the late Ziya Buniatov, have
gone beyond the bounds of scholarship and have manipulated the original
19th-century Persian texts written by Turkic Muslims, by expunging most
references to Armenia and the Armenians in the new editions of these
works."
In presenting these unexpurgated translations with substantial
commentary and supplemented with material from three other sources,
Bournoutian is providing a necessary corrective to such
pseudo-scholarly behavior. "Statesmen shall ultimately decide the
validity of Armenian and Azeri claims in Karabagh," he writes. "In the
meantime, the work of these 19th-century local historians should aid
unbiased historians to sort out the facts."
Bournoutian is senior professor of history at Iona College. He is
the author of numerous books on Armenian history and has taught
Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University, New York
University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, Ramapo
College and Glendale Community College. He is visiting professor of
Armenian history at Columbia.
For more information about "Two Chronicles on the History of
Karabagh," NAASR and its programs or about the furtherance of Armenian
studies, research and publication, call 617-489-1610, fax 617-484-1759,
e-mail [email protected], or write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA
02478.