Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan: we witness Armenian civilization genocide

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."