DENIAL WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

(I-Newswire) January 6, 2006 - The Azerbaijani propagandists are in the hunt for new methods of denying the recent destruction of the ancient Armenian cemetery of Old Julfa. The latest shameless denial states, "Claims on existence of Armenian graveyard in Julfa are historically and ethnically baseless."

Azer-Press Informsiya Agentliyi (http://en.apa.az), an Azerbaijani source, quotes Dr. Vali Bakhshaliyev, a member of Azerbaijan's National Academy of Sciences, as saying, "The claims of Armenian[s] are historically and ethnically groundless. There was not any Armenian graveyard in Julfa." Dr. Bakhshaliyev referred to the publication of photographs and videos from mid-December (2005), which showed about 100 Azerbaijani soldiers destroying the last historic headstones (khachkars) of the Armenian cemetery of Old Julfa (Hin Jugha).

The historic cemetery of Old Julfa is so famous that to deny it ever existed - means to deny that the planet Earth exists. Even Azerbaijani websites enclose information about the cemetery (www.Azerb.com, for instance, writes, "Today you can still imagine Julfa's former grandeur, visiting what's left of… the vast cemetery with thousands of artistically sculpted tomb stones known as 'Khachkars.'"). The ridiculous lies about Julfa's nonexistence are hopeless tactics of denial. Before Dr. Bakhshaliyev's announcements, the Azerbaijani media had fabricated information about "destruction of Azerbaijani holy place in Armenia" with the denialist ideology of "we did – but you did it too." Apparently, the propaganda of the "destruction of Azerbaijani holy place in Armenia" had not been successful.

The Christian cemetery of Julfa, as stated in a letter of the American congressmen Joe Knollenberg and Frank Pallone to the Azerbaijani Ambassador, Jr., "is known to specialists to have housed as many as 10,000 of these intricately carved khachkar headstones, up to 2,000 of which were still intact after an earlier outbreak of vandalism on the same site in 2002." Back in 1648, according to Alexander Rodes' data, there were 10,000 well-preserved headstones in Julfa, many as old as the 8th century. After Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin annexed Nakhichevan from Armenia and signed it off to Azerbaijan in the 1920s, the Armenian population of Nakhichevan (where Julfa is situated) was wiped out. Since then, many Armenian monuments (ancient cathedrals and thousands of beautifully-carved headstones) have been raised to the ground. Steven Sim from Scotland, who visited the ruins of the Armenian holy places in Nakichevan, affirmed in 2005: "a special state policy of destruction is being implemented in Azerbaijan."

Photographs from the mid-December (2005) destruction of Old Julfa are available at http://www.armenica.org/history/old-jougha/index.html and http://www.cathcil.org/v04/doc/Photos/Pictures109.htm. The video, taped by the Armenian Prelacy of Iran at the Iranian-Azerbaijani border and made available by www.Blogian.cjb.net, can be downloaded from www.azerivandalism.cjb.net; the same video (clearer view, but larger file) is also available at www.julfa.cjb.net.

The administration of www.Genocide.com is shocked with the sinister denial of the Azerbaijani party, and is adding its voice to the international community in protesting the destruction of Old Julfa's ancient cemetery.

It is certainly hoped that UNESCO will find courage to address the destruction of the Armenian heritage in Azerbaijan.


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