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AN APPEAL TO THE UN ON DJULFA'S DESTRUCTION
Asbarez
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
UNITED NATIONS
Armenia's Representation to the United Nations, in cooperation with
the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association of the
Eastern United States, issued an appeal on Wednesday on the fifth
anniversary of the destruction of Armenian monuments by the Azeri Army.
The dossier, which was prepared on December 9 and presented by
Armenia's Ambassador to the UN, Karen Nazaryan, also includes a
90-page bilingual (English and French) booklet detailing the history
and cultural significance of the Armenian monuments in Djulfa.
Below is the text of the appeal:
The current Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan has been a
historic part of the Armenian homeland for well over 2500 years. Its
Armenian name translates into "the place of descent," in reference
to the landing of the Noah's Ark on the adjacent Mount Ararat. It has
been an integral part of Armenian life from as early as 521 B.C. and
as late as the first Armenian Republic from till 1920.
The Armenian inhabitants of this region have witnessed many tragic
event over their history, including their forced removal from their
lands by Sassanid Persians in the fourth century A.D., the decision
of the invading Arabs to force them to leave their lands by gathering
several hundred Armenian nobles and their families, lock them up in
churches and burn them alive, and crucify the rest.
Armenians of Nakhichevan were subjected to further bloodshed,
culminating to the many wars and massacres of the World War I era,
where Nakhichevan was placed under the control of the Soviet Republic
of Azerbaijan to appease and accommodate the Turkish government by
the newly formed and relatively weak Soviet Russia.
While bloodshed and war stopped following the placement of Nakhichevan
under Soviet rule, discrimination and economic pressure against the
indigenous Armenian population went on as a systemic means to drive
them out of their homeland.
The historic Armenian Cemetery in Djulfa, located at the southern
tip of Nakhichevan near the Iranian border, traces its history from
the 6th to the 17th centuries A.D., where more than ten thousand
intricately carved cross stones (khatchkars in Armenian) marked the
final resting place of the Armenian inhabitants of this area for well
over one thousand years and represented different eras of Armenian
history and presence in the area.
Unfortunately, the Armenophobic policies of the successive Azeri
governments resulted in the destruction of greater than 80 percent
of these historic landmarks by 1998, having gone as far as removing
their remnants from the area via trains. In 1998, the inhumane
process of defacement and destruction of the remaining khatchkars
at the cemetery was accelerated by the Azeri government, resulting
in further destruction of another 800 or so khatchkars. This new
assault was only halted through intervention of the UNESCO and ICOMOS;
however, the process was resumed in 2002 and culminated in the final
destruction of the remaining khatchkars by the Azeri armed forces in
December of 2005 and rolling of their remains into the Arax river.
To mark this solemn anniversary and to raise public awareness against
the unrelenting assault of the Azeri propaganda machine on our cultural
heritage and history, the Hamazkayin Eastern USA in collaboration with
His Excellency, Ambassador Garen Nazarian, the Permanent Representative
of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations, sent an open letter
along with a copy of the recently published book "The Destruction
of Jugha and the Entire Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nakhichevan,"
to the UN delegations of over 170 nations.
We certainly hope that this communication will infuse reason and
facts into the discourse and provide rational counter arguments
against the voluminous Azeri government vitriol.
From: A. Papazian
Asbarez
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
UNITED NATIONS
Armenia's Representation to the United Nations, in cooperation with
the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association of the
Eastern United States, issued an appeal on Wednesday on the fifth
anniversary of the destruction of Armenian monuments by the Azeri Army.
The dossier, which was prepared on December 9 and presented by
Armenia's Ambassador to the UN, Karen Nazaryan, also includes a
90-page bilingual (English and French) booklet detailing the history
and cultural significance of the Armenian monuments in Djulfa.
Below is the text of the appeal:
The current Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan has been a
historic part of the Armenian homeland for well over 2500 years. Its
Armenian name translates into "the place of descent," in reference
to the landing of the Noah's Ark on the adjacent Mount Ararat. It has
been an integral part of Armenian life from as early as 521 B.C. and
as late as the first Armenian Republic from till 1920.
The Armenian inhabitants of this region have witnessed many tragic
event over their history, including their forced removal from their
lands by Sassanid Persians in the fourth century A.D., the decision
of the invading Arabs to force them to leave their lands by gathering
several hundred Armenian nobles and their families, lock them up in
churches and burn them alive, and crucify the rest.
Armenians of Nakhichevan were subjected to further bloodshed,
culminating to the many wars and massacres of the World War I era,
where Nakhichevan was placed under the control of the Soviet Republic
of Azerbaijan to appease and accommodate the Turkish government by
the newly formed and relatively weak Soviet Russia.
While bloodshed and war stopped following the placement of Nakhichevan
under Soviet rule, discrimination and economic pressure against the
indigenous Armenian population went on as a systemic means to drive
them out of their homeland.
The historic Armenian Cemetery in Djulfa, located at the southern
tip of Nakhichevan near the Iranian border, traces its history from
the 6th to the 17th centuries A.D., where more than ten thousand
intricately carved cross stones (khatchkars in Armenian) marked the
final resting place of the Armenian inhabitants of this area for well
over one thousand years and represented different eras of Armenian
history and presence in the area.
Unfortunately, the Armenophobic policies of the successive Azeri
governments resulted in the destruction of greater than 80 percent
of these historic landmarks by 1998, having gone as far as removing
their remnants from the area via trains. In 1998, the inhumane
process of defacement and destruction of the remaining khatchkars
at the cemetery was accelerated by the Azeri government, resulting
in further destruction of another 800 or so khatchkars. This new
assault was only halted through intervention of the UNESCO and ICOMOS;
however, the process was resumed in 2002 and culminated in the final
destruction of the remaining khatchkars by the Azeri armed forces in
December of 2005 and rolling of their remains into the Arax river.
To mark this solemn anniversary and to raise public awareness against
the unrelenting assault of the Azeri propaganda machine on our cultural
heritage and history, the Hamazkayin Eastern USA in collaboration with
His Excellency, Ambassador Garen Nazarian, the Permanent Representative
of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations, sent an open letter
along with a copy of the recently published book "The Destruction
of Jugha and the Entire Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nakhichevan,"
to the UN delegations of over 170 nations.
We certainly hope that this communication will infuse reason and
facts into the discourse and provide rational counter arguments
against the voluminous Azeri government vitriol.
From: A. Papazian