Yerevan took offense at history

In Armenia, undoubtedly, they closely follow what is happening in our country. Special attention is paid to the speeches of President Ilham Aliyev. We have witnessed how high representatives of the Armenian leadership commented on various theses of the Azerbaijani leader. These comments did not stop this time either. President Aliyev's speech at the meeting dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan caused a sharp reaction in Armenia, including from the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan and his deputy Ruben Rubinyan.

As reported by BAKU.WS, this is discussed in the new issue of the Caliber.Az YouTube channel.

The Armenian lawmakers were disturbed by the following words of Ilham Aliyev: "We must return to our historical lands - not on tanks, but in cars... It is enough to look at the maps published by Tsarist Russia in the early 20th century for everyone to see that the absolute majority of toponyms on the territory of present-day Armenia are of Azerbaijani origin. There is no lake called Sevan on these maps. There is Lake Goycha, and all other historical toponyms that we use are reflected there. These maps were not compiled by us, so no one can say that we are engaged in falsification here. They were compiled by Tsarist Russia. The same Tsarist Russia that once resettled Armenians from Iran and Eastern Anatolia to our Karabakh land to change the ethnic and religious composition of the population here. That is, these maps are completely based on historical realities."

The Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan, commenting on President Ilham Aliyev's speech, stated that "if you delve into history, it becomes clear that Azerbaijanis came from the Altai."

And here's what Ruben Rubinyan said: "If we go back far enough, at some point we won't see the name Sevan on old maps. Instead, we will see the Gegam or Gegarkuni Sea. And we won't see Azerbaijan."

These statements evoke a strong sense of déjà vu (by the way, exactly a year ago Simonyan already stated something similar) and come down to the basic set of clichéd narratives formed by apologists of Armenian ideology of exclusivity, which, unfortunately, was the state ideology of Armenia for a long period. According to these narratives, "Azerbaijanis came from the Altai, while Armenians are aborigines of the Caucasus," and "Azerbaijan did not exist in history until 1918." This discourse was once developed by three former fascist presidents of Armenia, one of whom went so far as to declare the "genetic incompatibility" of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. At the same time, under Ter-Petrosyan, Kocharyan, and Sargsyan, Armenia pursued a state policy of Turkophobia, ethnic and racial discrimination.

And while everything is clear with the former leaders, the voicing of similar narratives by the current ruling elite of Armenia casts doubt on their interest in real peace. The statements of Simonyan and Rubinyan are actually components of Azerbaijanophobia and policies of ethnic and racial intolerance.

Emphasizing the historical name of Lake Goycha does not imply any territorial claims to Armenia. The concept of "Return to Western Azerbaijan," initiated by civil society institutions, is based on the principle of the right of return. Moreover, Aliyev clearly stated that "the return of Azerbaijanis to present-day Armenia should not frighten the Armenian people and the Armenian state."

However, in Yerevan, they again chose to take offense. "In essence, there is nothing to add to this, except that such statements do not come from the existing logic of bilateral relations," Simonyan also said. Rubinyan added that there is no point in going back at all. "We must move forward. This is the essence of the Declaration of August 8."

But moving forward does not mean closing our eyes to the rights of several hundred thousand Azerbaijanis expelled from their homes. In our society, there is a justified fear that supporters of "miatsum" may again come to power in Armenia and attempt revenge. The minimum that we must do to prevent this risk is to remember it. And that means we must remember Zangezur, and Geycha-mahaly, and other territories - not as lands that need to be annexed to Azerbaijan, but purely