Azernews.Az

BAKU – Two influential Pakistani newspapers published articles in their Wednesday issues about Armenian settlements in the historical Azerbaijani territories and the ouster of Azerbaijanis living there from their indigenous land.

According to Azerbaijan’s embassy in Pakistan, The News International story titled "Capital of Armenia - historical Azerbaijan city", dismissed deliberate attempts made by Armenian historians to counterfeit the emergence of Erevan (Yerevan).

In 1950 Soviet-Armenian archaeologists found a stone flag at the foot of the Arin-Berd hill, according to which Erebuni (nowadays close to Erevan) was founded by the king of Urartu Argishti I. However, it’s not clear what a relation Urartu has to Armenia, as Armenians were then in search of their historical motherland and did not dwell in Caucasus, the article says.

It said that according to historical facts Erevan was founded at the beginning of 16th century as a forward base by Shah Ismail of Azerbaijani Safafid Empire along the border with Ottoman Empire. The town was, in fact, built by Revan-Khuli Khan on an order from Shah Ismail I in 1515.

Later, during the decline of Safafid Empire in mid-18th century, more than 20 independent Azeri Khanates (territories ruled by a khan) came into existence. One of them was Iravan Khanate, which lasted until the Russian invasion of the region and the capture of Iravan at the beginning of the 19th century.

After the Turkmenchay Treaty between Russia and Iran, Czar Nicolai I issued a degree in 1828 according to which "Armenian oblast" was created comprising the lands of Iravan and Nakhichevan khanates, and at the time of inclusion the population of the Iravan city comprised 7,331 Azeris and 2,369 Armenians.

Since Azerbaijan’s occupation in 1828, Armenians were resettled in Azerbaijani lands - the khanates of Irevan (now Yerevan), Karabakh and Nakhchivan. 50,000 people were resettled from Iran and 90,000 from Turkey.

In 1918-1920, during the mass extermination out of 575,000 Azeris living in the territory of contemporary Armenia 565,000 were either murdered or expelled. These facts are proven even by Armenian sources.

During the Soviet era, Armenians continued expelling the Azeri population from Armenia, then part of the USSR, and trying to expand their lands at the expense of their neighbors. For this purpose Armenians sought to materialize their absurd idea of "Great Armenia". Armenia actually became a single nation state and the nationalists’ idea of "Armenia without Azeris" gained ground, the story said.

Another article, carried by Daily Times, says the USSR was "playing with history while in charge of the Caucasus during its century-old iron fisted rule" and tried to turn a Muslim-dominated land of Azerbaijan into a Christian-dominated Armenian one "by giving them fabricated historical grounds of religion just to ensure that they have a strategic edge over the Turkish and Iranian states".

The story titled "Seeds of animosity in Caucasus" by Saeed Minhas says that some facts gathered from all possible available sources prove that the Armenian claims "seem not only fabricated but also far fetched, because neither was there any concept of an Armenian empire in the Caucasus nor can they claim to be original sons of the soil."