Foreign

Foreign

Pakistani newspapers publish articles about Armenian settlements in historic Azerbaijani lands and deportation of Azerbaijanis

16 February 2011 12:47 (UTC +04:00)

The News International published an article entitled â€œCapital of Armenia - historical Azerbaijan cityâ€ disclosing groundless and meaningless claims of Armenians that Yerevan is the historic Armenian city and Armenia has relation to ancient state of Urartu. â€œIn reality, according to historical facts Iravan 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. In order to prevent advancements of adversary troops towards the East, Shah Ismail I in 1515 ordered to construct a castle next to the River Zengi. Revan-Kuli Khan was entrusted with the task. Name of the castle Revan-kala (meaning Revanâ€™s castle) originates from his name and consequently became Revan and then Irevanâ€, the newspaper wrote.

Since Azerbaijanâ€™s occupation by Czarist Russia in 1828, Armenians were resettled from Iran and Turkey in Azerbaijani lands â€” the khanates of Iravan (now Yerevan), Karabakh and Nakhchivan, said the newspaper.

â€œDuring Soviet era, Armenians continued their traditional way of expelling the Azeri from Armenian SSR and extension of their lands at the expense of the neighbors. For this purpose Armenians living both in Armenia and abroad have been showing conformity of actions which was an indication of the existence of absurd idea of â€œGreat Armeniaâ€. Armenia, with its policy of survival, actually became a single nation state and the Dashnagâ€™s idea of â€œArmenia without Azeriâ€ became realityâ€, the authors of the article wrote.

Saeed Minhas, columnist and head of Daily Timesâ€™ Islamabad office wrote in his article â€œSeeds of animosity in Caucasusâ€: â€œOne such example sprang up when I was going through the history of Prophet Noahâ€™s Ark, the mess the collapse of the USSR has generated, how the USSR was playing with history while in charge of the Caucasus during its century-old iron fisted rule and how it tried to turn a Muslim-dominated land of Azerbaijan into a Christian-dominated Armenian one by giving them fabricated historical groundsâ€. The columnist also said that he was wondering how come the Armenians living in Turkey, Iran and other neighboring states ended up in the Caucasus. â€œIn this context a complete deluge during Noahâ€™s time â€” which is accepted by all the holy scriptures and even by modern scientists â€” has become an interesting read because that was brought up by the Russian Czars to divide and rule the Azeri-dominated lands and give the Armenians a reason to form their idea of a Greater Armenia by importing all their expats from across the worldâ€, said Saeed Minhas. In 1950, Armenians attempted to counterfeit the history claiming that ancient Urartu was established by Armenians, said the columnist and added: â€œHowever, it is not clear what relation Urartu has to Armenia. At that time, the Armenians were in search of their historical motherland and did not dwell in the Caucasusâ€.

â€œImmediately, after the Turkmenchay Treaty (between Russia and Iran) Armenians were resettled from Iran and Turkey in Azerbaijani lands â€” the khanates of Iravan (now Yerevan), Karabakh and Nakhchivan. A Russian envoy at that time, A. Griboedov, noted in one of his official letters in 1828 that it is necessary to resettle Armenians from the regions occupied by the Russian Army that are Tebriz, Khoy, Salmas, Maragha to Nakhichevan, Yerevan and Karabakh. Writer N. Shavrov wrote in 1911 that to date, 1,000,000 out of the 1,300,000 Armenian people of Transcaucasia are not aboriginal inhabitantsâ€, Minhas reminded.

â€œTaking advantage of the Tehran conference in 1943, the Armenian Diaspora appealed to B. Molotov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, USSR, to allow resettlement of Iranian Armenians in Soviet Armenia. Stalinâ€™s approval on the issue in fact laid the foundations of the 1948-1953 mass deportation of Azeris from Armeniaâ€, said the writer and added that the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia was held phase-by-phase and on the eve of collapse of USSR, Azerbaijanis were completely expelled from Armenia.