AGAINST FALSIFICATION OF ARMENIAN HISTORY

AZG DAILY
21-03-2009

International

Dear Armenian!

There has been ongoing falsification of Armenian history in the
academic publications and universities across the United States. Please
raise your voice and publish the official statement made by the Pan
Armenian Network (PanArmenian.net). Also, please sign and urge all
your readers to sign the petition Against Falsification of Armenian
History at:

Online Armenian history textbook to be launched

09.03.2009 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian students in the United States
called on the academic councils of the universities in the U.S. to
remove from circulation the book titled "The Armenian People: From
Ancient to Modern Times" because of the numerous mistakes it contains,
the student initiative group told PanArmenian.net.

"Outrageous mistakes and falsifications in The Armenian People: From
Ancient to Modern Times are countless. Any student, who would make such
horrible mistakes during an exam, would receive an F and fail. So,
how come this anti-scholastic book and its authors have continued to
use this book since 1997, and even have republished it in 2004 without
making ANY CORRECTIONS whatsoever? For many years, Armenian scholars
from Armenia have repeatedly exposed and criticized this falsified book
in their scientific publications. Yet, the chief editor continues to
insist that the critics of this unscientific textbook are violating
the freedom of academic expression," the students’ letter says.

On February 23, 2009, Armenian Ministry of Diaspora sent an
official letter, which stated that the efforts of creating an online
Armenian History textbook for colleges and universities are already
underway. This textbook will be in many languages (Armenian, English,
Russian, etc.) and will be available online at the official site of
the Armenian National Academy of Sciences for a free download to all
students of Armenian History and Culture. Finally, the New Generation
of Diasporans will have at their disposal an Armenian History textbook
that will contain genuine Armenian Studies book, without falsifications
and distortions. id=29268

See the material below on how the Armenian History is grossly falsified
in The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. This "textbook"
is used throughout many colleges and universities across the United
States. The removal from circulation of this anti-scholastic and
anti-Armenian textbook is essential.

It is beyond ignorance to speak about "Ancient Turkey" and "Ancient
Turkish Art" in 330 BC. This is simply falsification of history in a
"prestigious" United States university like UC Berkeley.

There are more than 130 gross mistakes and falsifications of Armenian
History in this textbook entitled – The Armenian People from Ancient
to Modern Times. Armenian students are being "taught" this falsified
History of Armenia throughout the colleges and universities in the
United States.

The Petition against Falsification of Armenian History

We, the undersigned, call on the academic councils of the universities
in the US to remove from circulation the book – The Armenian People:
>From Ancient to Modern Times.

Why is it essential that The Armenian People: From Ancient to Modern
Times two-volume textbook must be removed from circulation? We will
present a number of simple examples.

1. There are countless gross mistakes in this textbook. The book
(J. Russell) calls the Armenian people "colonists" (Vol. I, page
23-24) in their own Motherland, who have "overran" the native
"Hurro-Urarteans". The textbook (J. Russell) falsely "teaches"
(Vol. I, page 27) that the Fortress of Erebuni was erected by Argishti
the Second, when in fact the fortress was built by Argishti the
First. Furthermore, the book (N. Garsoian) states (Vol. I, page
42) that during the Yervanduni dynasty (5th to 2nd centuries BC)
the Armenians did not have cities. (Garsoian also falsely states
that the Yervanduni dynasty is not Armenian). In the ninth chapter
(R. Thomson), 5th century Armenian historians are called "extremely
shadowy figures" who "cannot be taken at face value". Furthermore,
the same author (Vol. I, page 215) calls the Father of Armenian
History, a pseudo-historian who never lived in the 5th century. In
the chapter on the medieval Armenian literature and culture (Vol. I,
page 295), the author (P. Cowe) reaches new heights of treachery
by presenting giants of Armenian culture like Kostandin Erznkatsi,
Hovhannes Erznkatsi and Nahapet Kuchak as authors who "adopted"
Turkish, Persian and other Islamic literature. In fact, in the same
book, Cowe claims that Nahapet Kuchak is a pseudo-author. He also
claims that the Armenian national epic, the Daredevils of Sasun,
is simply the later Armenian version of the Persian Rustam Zal. In
many of the chapters of the book a number of authors use the Turkish
terminology for Armenian Highland and call it "eastern Anatolia"
(just one example from R. Suny, Vol. II page 127). The chief editor of
this book, R. Hovannisian, in Volume II, page 232, purposefully states
(Vol. II, page 232) that even after the Armenian massacres of 1909,
Armenian freedom fighters continued to "collaborate" with the Turkish
government and Armenian leaders called the people to enlist into
the Turkish Army and fight with "valorous deeds" against the Greeks,
Bulgarians and Serbs during the Balkan Wars. In line with unending
unscientific gross mistakes, the book states (Volume II, page 432)
that the first Armenian book was printed in 1660, in Holland, when
in FACT it was published by Hakob Meghapart in 1512, in Venice.

As we noted above, these kinds of outrageous mistakes and
falsifications in The Armenian People: From Ancient to Modern Times
are countless. Any student, who would make such horrible mistakes
during an exam, would receive an F and fail. So, how come this
anti-scholastic book and its authors have continued to use this book
since 1997, and even have republished it in 2004 without making any
corrections whatsoever? For many years, Armenian scholars from Armenia
have repeatedly exposed and criticized this falsified book in their
scientific publications. Yet, the chief editor continues to insist
that the critics of this unscientific textbook are "violating the
freedom of academic expression".

2. In this textbook, the Armenian people are presented as newcomers and
"colonists" in their own homeland who have overran the indigenous
"Urartian" population (Vol. I, pages 23-26). In fact, you can
find these kinds of "theories" only in the publications of Turkish
"historians". In fact, world renowned scholars from various disciplines
including linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, molecular biology
and genetics have proven that Armenian Highland is the cradle of
the Indo-European speaking peoples and that the Armenian people are
native to their homeland. Why is this fundamental scientific proof on
the origins of the Armenian people completely LEFT OUT of the above
noted textbook?!

Dear fellow Armenian! Take action! Sign the petition
against falsification of Armenian history! Go to:

Please forward this email to all concerned Armenians who care about
the preservation of Armenian identity and the ongoing assimilation,
which is nothing short of White Genocide.