LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARYAN: WE WITNESS ARMENIAN CIVILIZATION GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.04.2008 15:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan is carrying out a policy of the Armenian
civilization genocide, a political scientist said.

"The story starts from 1950-60-ies, when a group of so-called Turkish
historians took up to prove that Armenian State had never existed in
Asia Minor.

According to them, people who call themselves Armenians are Armenized
Turks. However, they failed to answer who assimilated Turks into
Armenians and the effort proved useless," Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan
told a news conference in Hayatsk press club.

"Later, the wave of lies burst out in Azerbaijan. 10 years ago
Heydar Aliyev signed a decree proclaiming March 31 the day of ‘Azeri
genocide.’ This decree mentions Yerevan as an "Azeri-inhabited
city." Today there are people in Baku who accuse the authorities of
the Azerbaijani Republic of "gifting ancient Azeri city Irevan to
Armenians in 1918-1920," he said.

"Azeris have already laid claims on Yerevan, Garni, Sevan and other
towns. Unfortunately, we treat this with irony. We erroneously think
that the world knows when and how Turkic nomadic tribes came to
our region."

"A whole generation confident that Armenians seized their lands is
growing in Azerbaijan. Once, an avenue in Baku will be named Irevan
avenue; a village will be named Yeni Irevan. Azeri authorities
not only fill the population with historical nonsense but also
propagandize their lies throughout he globe. Numerous books with
Azeri interpretation of history are published and circulated,"
Melik-Shahnazaryan said.

"Azeris take every chance to dispute originality of Armenian songs,
dances, tunes, etc. They are successful because we keep silent,"
he remarked.

Asked about possible countermeasures, the political scientist said,
"Armenia should first of all bring a suit against Azerbaijan. Besides,
we should organize scientific conferences, workshops and exhibitions
to present our culture abroad."