Cultural War: Systematic destruction of Old Julfa khachkars raises international attention

According to reports, a number of Armenian stone crosses (“khachkars”) have been purposefully destroyed in the Azerbaijan-held territory, Nakhichevan.

Information released by the Embassy of Armenia in Iran says that during the middle of last month, some 100 Azeri soldiers entered an Armenian cemetery in the vicinity of Old Julfa and used sledge hammers and shovels to destroy the stone-cross tombstones.

(When Nakhichevan was handed over to Azerbaijan in 1921, a unique complex containing some 5,000 khachkars some dating as far back as the ninth century existed. Since, the number of crosses remaining has diminished in actions that include vandalism. Activists for the preservation of Armenian culture see the latest action as an overt attempt by Azerbaijan to remove traces of Armenian history from the territory.)

Spiritual leaders from three Armenian dioceses of Iran on behalf of the whole Armenian nation express their indignation and appeal to the world community, international organizations, in particular, to UNESCO in order that it undertake steps to avert another “cultural genocide being perpetrated by Azerbaijan.” A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia condemned the mid-December destruction and also appealed to UNESCO.

The MFA has routinely raised the issue, including in 2003 at its General Assembly.

Rethinking Cultural Genocide Under International Law Human Rights Dialogue: "Cultural Rights" (Spring 2005)

“Genocide” is an amalgam of the Greek genos (race or tribe) and the Latin cide (killing), speaking literally to the destruction of a group. The term was conceived in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish law professor who narrowly escaped the Nazi occupation of his homeland. In Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, a seminal text on Nazi race policy, Lemkin noted that genocide signifies:

a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups. Genocide is directed against the national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the national group.

Lemkin described eight dimensions of genocide—political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, and moral—each targeting a different aspect of a group’s existence. Of these, the most commonly recognized are physical, biological, and cultural. Physical genocide is the tangible annihilation of the group by killing and maiming its members, either directly or through what the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwandarecognized as “slow death” techniques such as concentration camps. Biological genocide consists of imposing measures calculated to decrease the reproductive capacity of the group, such as involuntary sterilization or forced segregation of the sexes.

Cultural genocide extends beyond attacks upon the physical and/or biological elements of a group and seeks to eliminate its wider institutions. This is done in a variety of ways, and often includes the abolition of a group’s language, restrictions upon its traditional practices and ways, the destruction of religious institutions and objects, the persecution of clergy members, and attacks on academics and intellectuals. Elements of cultural genocide are manifested when artistic, literary, and cultural activities are restricted or outlawed and when national treasures, libraries, archives, museums, artifacts, and art galleries are destroyed or confiscated.

The Final Destruction of the Armenian Cemetery of Julfa

In the Soviet years, Julfa Cemetery was absolutely neglected by Azerbaijan's Monuments Preservation Department; moreover, under state auspices, its khachkars were continually broken to pieces and used as building material.In November 1998, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities started destroying the cemetery with bulldozers. UNESCO's intercession was able to stop that unprecedented vandalism only temporarily.The annihilation of the cemetery resumed on 9 November 2002. The photographs some eye-witnesses took from the Iranian bank of the river Arax revealed that none of the cemetery's khachkars remained standing.Between 10 and 14 December 2005, the Azeri vandals, who had not been held accountable for their previous crimes, finally succeeded in purging the three hills of Julfa Cemetery of all the remnants of khachkars. Using heavy hammers and pickaxes, about 200 soldiers of the Azerbaijani army reduced the displaced khachkars to a heap of crushed pieces which were loaded onto lorries and emptied into the river Arax.In early March 2006, Nakhijevan's authorities stationed a shooting-ground on the site of Julfa Cemetery. Lying over thousands of human remains, that firing-ground is an eloquent manifestation of Azerbaijan's moral values. Situated very close to the Iranian border, it can never serve soldiers in need of shooting practice. In fact, it was hurriedly established to conceal Azerbaijan's criminal actions: the Azerbaijani authorities turned the site of the former cemetery into a "military zone" so that they could ban foreign missions and observers from entering it.

by Dr. Armen Haghnazarian

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The Armenian Cemetery of Julfa

The violence against the memory and history of the Armenian people reached its climax with the total destruction of the historical cemetery of Julfa (known as ‘Jugha' in Armenian) located in Yernjak District.

Julfa Cemetery used to extend over three hills on the left bank of the river Arax. Boasting a special place in the treasury of world heritage, this extensive depository of spiritual and artistic monuments aroused the admiration of both Armenian and foreign travellers and art historians for many centuries. French traveller Alexandre de Rhodes, who visited the cemetery in 1648, saw 10,000 standing khachkars and ram-shaped tombstones there. By 1904, however, their number had been reduced to 5,000.

The khachkars of Julfa Cemetery fall into three groups. The first group dates from the period between the 9th and 13th centuries; the second group from the 14th to 15th centuries, and the third covers the time span between the early 16th century and the year 1605.

All the khachkars were carved of pink and yellowish stone. Having equal width from top to bottom, they were between two and two and a half metres high. Their central parts were more deeply-engraved, the crosses and double-layer reliefs creating a peculiar contrast of light and shade. The khachkars were adorned with fine rosettes, as well as reliefs of plants, geometrical figures and scenes of daily life. Their upper parts often bore the representations of Christ, the Evangelists and the Holy Virgin. Most of the khachkars and grave-stones of the cemetery had embossed or engraved Armenian epitaphs.

by Dr. Armen Haghnazarian

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The State of the Armenian Monuments in Nakhijevan

The centuries-old cultural monuments the Armenian people created both in Nakhijevan and other territories of Historical Armenia are of universal value. At various periods, they were studied by different foreign scholars.

In recent years, Nakhijevan's Azerbaijani authorities have been perpetrating the premeditated annihilation of a wide variety of Armenian monuments which are reminders of the Armenian presence in the region. In August 2005, European researcher Stephen Sim became witness to the barbarities committed against the Armenian monuments in Nakhijevan.

by Dr. Armen Haghnazarian

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Brief historical survey

Nakhijevan is situated in the area between the mountain range of Zangezur and the river Arax. It borders on the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1931 Turkey exchanged some territory with Iran and acquired a common frontier with Nakhijevan.

Djugha,in the historical province of Yerndjak, was one of the famous settlements of Old Armenia, it continued to exist intermittently till 1848. This settlement which had acquired fame as a village in the early Middle Ages, grew into a town in the X-XII centuries, while in the XV-XVII centuries, it was an outstanding trade centre in Armenia.In the Middle Ages this densely populated, prosperous town was often subjected to invasions by foreign forces and was devastated, plundered and set on fire. It was in 1605 that Djugha finally lay in ruins and its population was compelled to migrate.Djugha was founded on an important cross-road of the well known trade and military transil routs of the Old World, through which, routes from the Far East passed on their way to the shores, of the Mediterranean. The historical town of Djugha was situated in Nakhidjevan, in the environs of the village of Djugha, districted of Djulfa, on the left bank of the Arax river, more that two kilometers in length from east to west and 400-500 metres in width from the Arax to the foot of the nearest mountains.

During the period between World War I and 1921, Nakhijevan was situated within the borders of the first Republic of Armenia.

Between 1919 and 1920, Turkey, under the auspices of its allies, perpetrated the slaughter of thousands of Nakhijevan Armenians. That carnage was actually the continuation of the Great Armenian Genocide, that had been committed in Turkey since 1915 for the purpose of removing the obstacle the Armenians posed to Turkey's unification with the Turkic tribes inhabiting what is present-day Azerbaijan. A long-pursued dream of Pan-Turkism, which is still a top priority for that country...

In compliance with an illegal agreement Soviet Russia and Turkey signed after World War I, on 16 March 1921 without the participation of the Armenian side, Nakhijevan was placed under the "auspices" of Azerbaijan as an autonomous territory; in fact, it was annexed to that country after having formed an inseparable part of Armenia over many centuries.

Throughout the 70 years of Soviet rule, the Azerbaijani authorities consistently implemented a policy of national discrimination against the indigenous Armenian populations of Nakhijevan and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), another Armenian territory annexed to Azerbaijan in 1923 as a result of Lenin's and Stalin's policy of dividing nations to facilitate control and domination.

On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh started a peaceful movement for self-determination. Azerbaijan attempted to suppress it, by mobilizing all its military and civilian forces. Alternately organizing and allowing pogroms against the Armenians living in the Azerbaijani cities of Baku, Sumgait and Gandzak, the Azerbaijani authorities intended to intimidate the Armenians into abandoning Karabakh and Nakhijevan. During the years of armed conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Northern Karabakh (Northern Artsakh) and Nakhijevan were totally stripped of their indigenous Armenian populations. The last remaining 2,000 Armenians were deported from Nakhijevan in 1989. As a result, Nakhijevan's centuries-old Armenian cultural heritage was reduced to a state of captivity, and its planned annihilation loomed large.

by Argam Ayvazyan,

Dr. Armen Haghnazarian

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