Tweet
SACRED STONES SCREAM FOR JUSTICE IN AZERBAIJAN
By Simon Maghakyan, South Caucasus country specialist for Amnesty International USA
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amnesty-international/sacred-stones-scream-for_b_796968.html
Dec 15 2010
Five years ago today, a sacred place of memory was wiped off the face
of the earth. Post-Soviet Azerbaijan's deliberate destruction of the
magnificent medieval Djulfa cemetery wasn't meant to make up room
for development. The sledgehammers and cranes - employed to remove
and destroy every single khachkar or cross-stone - were the tools of
purging the proof and symbol of Armenian heritage in the borderland
area by Iran.
"An absolute lie!" declared Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev
after watching video evidence of the destruction, and then banned a
European Parliament delegation from visiting the site in the exclave of
Nakhichevan. Whatever delegates were barred from observing on ground,
however, was recently recorded from space. In its satellite image
comparison of the Djulfa cemetery released last week, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science confirmed that "the entire
area has been graded flat."
The beautiful and intricately carved khachkars (the craftsmanship
of which is a UNESCO Intangible Heritage tradition), dating from
the 9th through 17thcenturies, were seen as the latest victims of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict materialized in the early 1990s
war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But their destruction was
also a broader violation of human rights - not only against ethnic
Armenians but all citizens of Azerbaijan who were denied a chance to
explore and appreciate an often inconvenient history.
While the Karabakh war, ceased in 1994, destroyed thousands of lives
and damaged cultural monuments on both sides, the destruction of the
Djulfa cemetery in December 2005 was different since it took place
after the war in a region where no skirmishes had taken place. This
destruction was more like a war against history: a calculated act of
ruling out a future return of the Armenian heritage by denying its
indigenous existence in the first place. More than a manifestation
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Djulfa's annihilation was a
suppression of the right to memory, the oppression of the right to
cultural expression, and the worst manifestation of a powerholder's
perception of its own limitlessness on controlling societal matters.
To grasp the nature of the destruction, explore the Google-earth
powered Global Heritage Network. The world-known network monitors
hundreds of major archaeological and cultural heritage sites, each
color-coded green (stable), yellow (at risk), red (rescue needed), or
black (destroyed). Luckily, only three monuments on the list are black
- two of which have been destroyed by government. One are the Bamiyan
Buddhas of Afghanistan. The other one are the khachkars of Azerbaijan.
Many have heard of and condemned the Taliban's 2001 destruction of
the Bamiyan Buddhas, but few have heard the cries of the defenseless
khachkars. On the fifth anniversary of the destruction of 3,000
khachkars, let the bare ground as seen from space be the screams for
a civilization that was and now is not. And let us tell UNESCO -
the organization charged with protecting our global heritage - to
listen to the screams of Djulfa.
From: A. Papazian
By Simon Maghakyan, South Caucasus country specialist for Amnesty International USA
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amnesty-international/sacred-stones-scream-for_b_796968.html
Dec 15 2010
Five years ago today, a sacred place of memory was wiped off the face
of the earth. Post-Soviet Azerbaijan's deliberate destruction of the
magnificent medieval Djulfa cemetery wasn't meant to make up room
for development. The sledgehammers and cranes - employed to remove
and destroy every single khachkar or cross-stone - were the tools of
purging the proof and symbol of Armenian heritage in the borderland
area by Iran.
"An absolute lie!" declared Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev
after watching video evidence of the destruction, and then banned a
European Parliament delegation from visiting the site in the exclave of
Nakhichevan. Whatever delegates were barred from observing on ground,
however, was recently recorded from space. In its satellite image
comparison of the Djulfa cemetery released last week, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science confirmed that "the entire
area has been graded flat."
The beautiful and intricately carved khachkars (the craftsmanship
of which is a UNESCO Intangible Heritage tradition), dating from
the 9th through 17thcenturies, were seen as the latest victims of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict materialized in the early 1990s
war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But their destruction was
also a broader violation of human rights - not only against ethnic
Armenians but all citizens of Azerbaijan who were denied a chance to
explore and appreciate an often inconvenient history.
While the Karabakh war, ceased in 1994, destroyed thousands of lives
and damaged cultural monuments on both sides, the destruction of the
Djulfa cemetery in December 2005 was different since it took place
after the war in a region where no skirmishes had taken place. This
destruction was more like a war against history: a calculated act of
ruling out a future return of the Armenian heritage by denying its
indigenous existence in the first place. More than a manifestation
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Djulfa's annihilation was a
suppression of the right to memory, the oppression of the right to
cultural expression, and the worst manifestation of a powerholder's
perception of its own limitlessness on controlling societal matters.
To grasp the nature of the destruction, explore the Google-earth
powered Global Heritage Network. The world-known network monitors
hundreds of major archaeological and cultural heritage sites, each
color-coded green (stable), yellow (at risk), red (rescue needed), or
black (destroyed). Luckily, only three monuments on the list are black
- two of which have been destroyed by government. One are the Bamiyan
Buddhas of Afghanistan. The other one are the khachkars of Azerbaijan.
Many have heard of and condemned the Taliban's 2001 destruction of
the Bamiyan Buddhas, but few have heard the cries of the defenseless
khachkars. On the fifth anniversary of the destruction of 3,000
khachkars, let the bare ground as seen from space be the screams for
a civilization that was and now is not. And let us tell UNESCO -
the organization charged with protecting our global heritage - to
listen to the screams of Djulfa.
From: A. Papazian