This kind of erasure of history has gone on all over the Islamic world. In India there was the wholesale destruction of Hindu temples, as discussed in The History of Jihad. In Afghanistan, virtually all traces of the Hindu and Buddhist presence have been effaced. In North Africa, there is hardly any sign of the strong seven-century-long Christian presence. And so on. Caucasian Albania’s borders roughly corresponded to those of modern-day Azerbaijan, and so the Azerbaijans are trying to establish that they have always been there, and the Armenians are the interlopers. It’s the same as “Palestinian” efforts to destroy historical and archaeological evidence of the unbroken Jewish presence in the land of Israel.
“Azerbaijan announces plans to erase Armenian traces from churches,” by Heydar Isayev, Eurasianet, February 4, 2022:
Azerbaijan’s government has announced that it intends to erase Armenian inscriptions on religious sites in the territory that it reclaimed in the 2020 war with Armenia.
It justified the move by arguing that the churches in fact were originally the heritage of Caucasian Albania, an ancient kingdom once located in what is now Azerbaijan. The theory, which is not supported by mainstream historians, has long been propagated by nationalist Azerbaijani historians and has been embraced by the current government in Baku.
Minister of Culture Anar Karimov told a press briefing on February 3 that a working group has been established which will be responsible for removing “the fictitious traces written by Armenians on Albanian religious temples.”
“We are going to inspect those places with the working group members, and after the inspection, we will consider our next steps,” Karimov said. While he did not identify who will be in the working group, the minister stated that the group will consist of “both local and international experts.”
The Albanian theory was first developed in the 1950s by prominent Azerbaijani historian Ziya Buniyatov, who claimed that Armenian inscriptions in churches on Azerbaijani territory were later additions to Albanian churches. According to this theory, they were only “Armenianized” following large-scale Armenian emigration to the region after Russia won control of the territory from Azerbaijan in the beginning of the 19th century.
The theory has gained momentum following the 2020 war, when Azerbaijan regained control of territory that contained several significant medieval Armenian churches.
In March 2021, on a trip to Hadrut, President Ilham Aliyev, together with his wife and daughter, visited a 12th-century Armenian Holy Mother of God Church, which was in ruins. “Armenians wanted to Armenianize this church and wrote inscriptions in Armenian here, but they failed. If this were an Armenian church, would they leave it in such a state? It looks as if it were a garbage dump,” Aliyev said at the church. “All these inscriptions are fake – they were written later.”
The day after the ceasefire was signed ending the 2020 war, Karimov tweeted about the medieval Armenian Dadivank Monastery in Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar district, calling it by the Azerbaijani name Khudavang and describing it as “one of the best testimonies of ancient Caucasian Albania civilization.”
In May 2021, a 19th-century church in the city of Shusha that had been damaged in the war started to undergo reconstruction, to what Baku said was its “original” form.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan also has been promising to restore Azerbaijani monuments in the territory that had been neglected or vandalized during the years of Armenian occupation. In one case, Aliyev promised to restore a 19th century mosque which Armenians had presented as Persian rather than Azerbaijani.
But the announcement of the working group is the first concrete step that the government has taken overtly promising to erase Armenian traces on the churches now under their control….
born saturday says
dont be surpriced if its turned into mosques in a little while…. this is the common practise of the muslims in every islamic country…. even in europe this will be the future….
GreekEmpress says
Sure—just slap on a couple of minarets, and pretend it’s been Muslim land all along. And continue to try to erase any traces of the original inhabitants so the squatters can keep up their revisionist history.
gravenimage says
Grimly true, GreekEmpress.
gravenimage says
Azerbaijan announces it will erase Armenian inscriptions on religious sites in territory it claimed in 2020 war
…………………
This is what Islam does–not just conquers territory but then erases all traces of its original inhabitants and culture.
And here in the name of false history. Azerbaijan in the past decades has been renaming Armenians throughout history as “Albanians”, and republishing ancient books, replacing any mention of “Armenia” with “Albanian state”.
Infidel says
How would Albanians – a people on the Strait of Otranto – find themselves in Azerbaijan? Even if Turks were taking janisaries to places like Syria, Arabia, Egypt, et al, Azerbaijan was more a battleground b/w the Iranians and the Russians. So why would Albanians be there?
Boycott Turkey says
Azerbaijan should never have been created
Infidel says
Blame the Soviets. The Romanovs maintained a single Russia where both Azerbaijan and Turkistan were integral parts of Russia
Boycott Turkey says
Azerbaijan should never have been created
Boycott Turkey says
This is cultural Genocide those are ancient Armenian churches they want to erase there history of Armenians there where no Albanians there just usual lies from Turks I wish Armenia could somehow recapture there land back this really pisses me off i pray for destruction of Azerbaijan and Turkey god I hate those countries
Rafael says
I share your thoughts, BT, although I am from Turkey. This Azerbaijan and it’s evil tyrant president Ilham Aliyev, what a bunch racists and criminals they are. Same with the Erdogan and his government. Their power is only for Armenian people, which suffered genocides and yet the vicious aggressive denial of this brutal genocides being made by both Turkey, Azerbaijan and their angry dogs Pakistan. They never hide their intentions for other genocides. In Turkey, media, politicians and government constantly target the entire Armenian people. No voice is comming from anyone. But even some Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE expressed some kind of support for Armenia but not the so-called “Christian” West!