BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. Azerbaijan should more actively and widely promote its Caucasian Albanian heritage, including through tourism routes, Georgian historian and Professor Bondo Arveladze told Trend.
Arveladze said that claims concerning historical and cultural heritage are not limited to Azerbaijan, noting similar disputes involving Georgian cultural and religious heritage.
“Everyone still remembers the 2015 controversy, when the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia sent a letter to the Georgian authorities demanding the return of 442 churches, monasteries and their ruins. The letter included a corresponding list. This concerned not only the churches but also their land – in other words, a huge amount of property in Georgia that Echmiadzin sought to bring under its control,” the professor said.
According to the Armenian Diocese itself, the figure refers to around 650 Armenian churches, monasteries and chapels that existed in Georgia during different historical periods.
However, while such claims regarding Georgia are mainly made at the bilateral level, Armenia is seeking to bring claims concerning Azerbaijan's Caucasian Albanian heritage into international discussions and involve the global academic community, he said.
“Armenia has long claimed the heritage of Caucasian Albania. This has always been done through the Armenianization of Albanian churches. They have no way to prove that the Albanian heritage belongs to Armenians, so they resort to falsifications. This cannot be ignored. They often involve foreign scholars in their falsifications, but still cannot prove anything,” Arveladze said.
“There are many monuments of the spiritual culture of Caucasian Albania in the territories of Azerbaijan that were previously occupied by Armenia. Azerbaijan is the successor to Caucasian Albania. The Udi people living in Azerbaijan are the only descendants of the Caucasian Albanians and successors of the Albanian Church. The Albanian churches of Karabakh belong to them. Therefore, all Armenian claims are unsupported by evidence and are based solely on their own imagination,” the Georgian scholar said.
Arveladze also said Azerbaijan should promote its Caucasian Albanian heritage more actively and on a wider scale, including by developing tourism routes.
“For example, a route called ‘Albanian Churches.’ This is a very interesting and rich part of Azerbaijan's history,” Professor Arveladze said.
