OFFER TRUTH AND BATTLE FALSIFICATION
Laura Grigorian

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
21 May 07

The Dialogue Center for Cultural Studies NGO was set up in 2006. It
implements scholarly and practical programs on culture studies. From
its establishment the organization has set up links with the Kenats
Tsar Cultural Center, the Promised Land NGO, the Ethnicity Center
for ethnic and culture studies, the chair of Armenian studies and
history of Artsakh State University, the State Museum of History and
Ethnography of Artsakh to collaborate over its goals.

The chair of the organization Vardges Safarian says their goal is
to carry out archeological, ethnographic, sociological and cultural
studies of the identity and worldview of the Armenian people, their
traditional and modern cultural heritage, conserve and propagate
the cultural heritage. Vardges Safarian says this year the NGO will
implement the program "Historical and archeological study of monuments
of Artsakh dating from 6th century BC to 3rd century AC" to discover
and study monuments with an ethnic and cultural Armenian identity. The
importance of the fact that Artsakh is a native Armenian territory and
had a homogeneous ethnic Armenian population until the 18th century has
been emphasized for a number of times. "Only archeological materials
can prove that Artsakh was populated with Armenians from 6th century
BC to 3rd century AC, therefore it is highly important to discover
and study archeological monuments dating back to this period," says
Vardges Safarian. According to him, this issue has not got a serious
comprehensive focus so far. "Recently the anti-Armenian propaganda
machine of Azerbaijan has become more active. A number of articles
distorting the history of Artsakh are available in the Azerbaijani
media and Web sites. The historical and cultural monuments are said
to be Azerbaijani. Our goal is to offer the truth and battle the
falsification of history and culture of Artsakh by the Azerbaijanis,"
Vardges Safarian said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress