Caucasus Heritage Watch or the guide to dismissal of Azerbaijani pain
A research initiative Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) published its "2nd special report: Between the Wars" covering the crimes committed against the material and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan starting from the First and lasting till after the Second Karabakh Wars.
Although the report was prepared with the support of Cornell and Purdue Universities, as well as the Ford Foundation, what should have been an impartial view from a third party ended up being distorted by the fact that three people of the five-person team are Armenian of origin.
First of all, attention should be drawn to the fact that in carrying out its research, the CHW used high-resolution American satellite imagery from the 1980s, namely the KH-9 Hexagon platform, which in the report’s own words "provides a ‘baseline’ for the condition of sites in the late Soviet period". Taking this in mind, the CHW, which dismisses the level of destruction to Azerbaijani mosques and other cultural heritage, could not even determine the true level of harm to the buildings through the use of satellite pictures alone. Here a natural question arises: How can the Caucasus Heritage Watch evaluate the true level of destruction to Azerbaijani heritage in Karabakh if it dismisses the vandalism, the desecration, and the complete raising to the ground of all the constructions in the years of occupation?
The report also states that "of the 109 cultural heritage sites we were able to assess for this investigation, 42 (38%) remained structurally unchanged since the late Soviet period" and dismisses the facts brought up by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stating that "65 out of 67 mosques were destroyed". Besides, the publication goes as far as to state that "the forensic evidence shows no attempt to systematically erase the material traces of Azerbaijani history and cultural life".
Perhaps, if the publication paid more attention to the reality that is out there for anyone to see: the devastating conditions of Aghdam, called "Hiroshima of the Caucasus" for its mass destructions and Juma Mosque being the only building that remains standing among the vast area of ruins. Referring to the words of the Azerbaijani President as false, the CHW fails to notice the real facts that over 60 mosques and about 200 shrines were destroyed by Armenians on the territory of Azerbaijan during the occupation. The remaining two mosques were used as pig and cow cowsheds throughout the occupation.
Talking about the reconstruction works carried out in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories during his visit to the city of Salyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that "only two mosques are being refurbished because all the remaining mosques were razed to the ground by the Armenians".
"Over 30 years, Armenia devastated these lands, did not leave a single stone unturned, was engaged in looting and robbery, and was engaged in barbarism. We, the owners of these lands, have come to build and create. Therefore, as soon as the war ended, work was started immediately," the president added.
What Caucasus Heritage Watch calls "exaggerated reports and unsupported claims of heritage destruction, " is in fact three-decade long Armenian genocidal policy which resulted in the decimation of some 900 cemeteries with over a million graves, the looting and destruction of 927 libraries with 4.6 million books, 700 historical monuments, and 22 museums with 100,000 exhibits by Armenia. Azerbaijani gravestones were even used to build stairs to Armenian homes. Car plates of killed and displaced Azerbaijanis were used to decorate public restrooms.
If Caucasus Heritage Watch considers this inhumanity to be exaggerated, then the root of their "unbiased research" is clear to all.
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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SabinaMmdl
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