Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan: we witness Armenian civilization genocideApril 17, 2008 - 16:26 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan is carrying out a policy of the Armenian civilization genocide, a political scientist said."The story starts from 1950-60-ies, when a group of so-called Turkish historians took up to prove that Armenian State had never existed in Asia Minor. According to them, people who call themselves Armenians are Armenized Turks. However, they failed to answer who assimilated Turks into Armenians and the effort proved useless," Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan told a news conference in Hayatsk press club. "Later, the wave of lies burst out in Azerbaijan. 10 years ago Heydar Aliyev signed a decree proclaiming March 31 the day of 'Azeri genocide.' This decree mentions Yerevan as an "Azeri-inhabited city." Today there are people in Baku who accuse the authorities of the Azerbaijani Republic of "gifting ancient Azeri city Irevan to Armenians in 1918-1920," he said. "Azeris have already laid claims on Yerevan, Garni, Sevan and other towns. Unfortunately, we treat this with irony. We erroneously think that the world knows when and how Turkic nomadic tribes came to our region." "A whole generation confident that Armenians seized their lands is growing in Azerbaijan. Once, an avenue in Baku will be named Irevan avenue; a village will be named Yeni Irevan. Azeri authorities not only fill the population with historical nonsense but also propagandize their lies throughout he globe. Numerous books with Azeri interpretation of history are published and circulated," Melik-Shahnazaryan said. "Azeris take every chance to dispute originality of Armenian songs, dances, tunes, etc. They are successful because we keep silent," he remarked. Asked about possible countermeasures, the political scientist said, "Armenia should first of all bring a suit against Azerbaijan. Besides, we should organize scientific conferences, workshops and exhibitions to present our culture abroad." Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Ameriabank's Trade Finance portfolio enriched with four prestigious awards from EBRD and IFC Ameriabank received the awards from international financial institutions in recognition of its trade finance operations. Armenian Economy Minister to make trip to UAE May 20-22 A delegation led by Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan will travel to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on May 20-22 Armenian PM sends condolences to Iran Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a message of condolence to the Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Armenia, Turkey discuss restoration of historic bridge The meeting took place on May 17 in Ashgabat on the sidelines of an international conference of ministers of culture. |