Azerbaijan Launches Campaign to Appropriate Armenian Culture and Claim Territory
Recently, Azerbaijan has launched a targeted campaign against the sovereign territory of Armenia and is attempting—with various cultural events—to "legitimize" its territorial aspirations against Armenia and give new directions to its process of appropriation of Armenian cultural heritage by targeting intangible Armenian heritage, warns monumentwatch.org.
One such event was the ethnographic festival-convention held in Nakhijevan from June 21 to 22, titled "Return to Western Azerbaijan." The festival was organized by the president of Azerbaijan, his representative in Nakhichevan, the Ministry of Science and Education of Azerbaijan, the Nakhijevan State University, and the "Western Azerbaijan" community.
According to the organizers, the main goal of the event is to support Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev's policy to restore the "historical rights" of Azerbaijanis who left their homeland. Within the framework of this festival, a map of Armenia with invented Azerbaijani names for cities and villages was presented, along with various photos and decorative art objects.
During this event, many Armenian and regional cultural manifestations were presented as purely Azerbaijani. Additionally, various Armenian cuisine dishes were presented under the name "Irevan cuisine," referring not to Armenia, but to Azerbaijan.
Along with the policy of de-Armenianization, genocide of Armenians in their historical homeland, and forced deportation, Azerbaijan continues its policy of territorial, historical, and cultural ambitions against the sovereign territory of Armenia, the historical homeland, and cultural heritage of the Armenian people.
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