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Documents found in Vaticanâ€™s archives contain hitherto unknown information related to Azerbaijanâ€™s history

22 December 2011 14:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva â€“ APA. â€œThe letters and reports brought from the Vaticanâ€™s archives to Azerbaijan contain information not mentioned in the Azerbaijanâ€™s history so far. The issue is in researching phase and therefore we can not say anything beforeâ€, head of the translation and information department of the Institute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Farid Alekperli told APA.

He said most of the documents were the letters sent by Popes to Azerbaijani rulers. â€œThere are letters of response too and most of the letters were sent to the Safavid shahs. There are some letters sent to other Azerbaijani rulers, Elkhanids, Atabeys, but majority were sent to Safavids, Afshars, Gajars, particularly to Shah Tahmasib and Shah Abbas. There are letters to Shah Ismayil, Shah Suleiman Safavi, Shah Sultan Huseyn Safavi. The letters contain discussions of political issue, cultural relations, bilateral agreement and etc.â€

Alekperli said the secret letters also contained information about the Safavid-Ottoman wars. â€œSafavids were at war with the Ottomans. Beginning from Shah Ismayil to Shah Abbas, Safavids were involved in intensive wars with Ottomans. This is a tragedy of Muslim-Turkic world. But this is a historic fact. The confidential letters brought from Vatican contain such information that would help us to learn our history deeper. These materials should be translated. The translation process will take time. The experts knowing Latin were involved in this process. There are documents written in ancient Italian, French, Arabic, Farsi, Uighur. We have few experts knowing ancient Italian and French languages. They need to know the language, history and terms of that period. Any word can be translated in several versions. Therefore the translators should work seriously and attentively. The letters can be analyzed by the historians after the translationâ€.

Alekperli noted that the translation process of the secret reports has been started: â€œNot all letters are being translated directly. We chose most important of them. The research materials are quite a lot. It is very difficult for one specialist to learn all it because the letters cover various spheres and periods. At first the documents of Safavid period written in Latin will be translated, because there are many materials of this period and the majority of them are in Latin. The Safavid period is one the important stages in Azerbaijanâ€™s history. Safavid state was established as a Turkic Azerbaijani state. The Persian elements began to strengthen during Shah Abbas. But this state was remaining as Azerbaijan-Turkic state. The Safavid state is a glorious history of Azerbaijanâ€™s statehood. Thatâ€™s why the materials belonging to Safavid shahs â€“ Shah Ismayil I and Shah Tahmasib are quite important for usâ€.

Alekperli said according to the secret materials, it was revealed that the missionaries started to function in Azerbaijan beginning with the 12th century. Vatican representatives also functioned in the territories where the Christians lived. They worked with the local Christian population and tried to spread the religion: â€œIn these reports they gave wide information about Azerbaijan. They wrote wide reports about Azerbaijanâ€™s population, cities, trade, economical development, agriculture, trade routes, as well as market prices. The names of rules, emirs were also noted in the reports. These reports will be translated. This process will be carried out step-by-step. Now these reports are recorded and copied. All these materials will have digital copiesâ€.

According to Alekperli, the reports of the missioners belong to the Safavid state: â€œThere is interesting information in these reports. These are wide reports. Some of them consist of 50-70 pagesâ€.

In general, the confidential materials cover the period from the reign of Elkhanis, the 12th century, up to the reign of Gajars, the 19th century. Among these materials there are letters dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.
â€œThe letter written to Vatican by Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to Turkey, and Vaticanâ€™s reply to his letter are interesting. ADR and Vatican wanted to build a monument to Pope Benedict in Istanbul, money was allocated for it. But the fall of the sultansâ€™ reign and establishment of the Turkish Republic, and fall of ADR impeded it. This letter dates back to 1919,â€ he said.

The materials also cover the missionary activities of the Vatican church in Azerbaijan late in the 19th century and early in the 20th century.
â€œAt that time Vatican made efforts to convert the Christian people in Azerbaijan to the Catholicism. They were functioning not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Armenia and Georgia. They tried to convert Armenians from Armenia to Catholicism, several catholic schools were opened to this effect. Such schools were also opened in most cities of Azerbaijan, in South Azerbaijan â€“ Urmia, Tabriz. The Muslims converted to Christianity and Armenians were studying there. After the Catholicism weakened, some of them again returned to Gregorian. Late in the 19th century, early in the 20th century, Vatican allocated some funds on this activity in the South Caucasus. All this was confidential. These data will clarify very interesting moments of Azerbaijanâ€™s history. These materials should be studied very attentively,â€ he said.

The copies of the Azerbaijan-related documents found in the confidential archives of Vatican were brought to Baku on December 7, 2011.