14:40,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. A researcher complied a photobook of the Armenian monuments of Artsakh containing historical facts and information which he says can debunk the Azerbaijani falsifications that want to appropriate the Armenian heritage and misrepresent their origin.
Zohrab Erkoyan, an education expert who was the editor-in-chief of the Meran newspaper and lived from 1996 to 2020 in Berdzor (Kashatagh region), says the information and photos he collected are evidence proving the Armenian origin of the Artsakh monuments.
Erkoyan studied and researched the monuments for over 25 years.
Even hunters, schoolchildren, foresters and others – when seeing a cross-stone or monuments somewhere – would immediately notify Erkoyan to survey the area, Erkoyan tells ARMENPRESS.
“The Azerbaijanis and Turks have always wanted to misrepresent the Armenian monuments to the world as Caucasian Albanian monuments. There was even a historian in Soviet times who falsely described the Armenian churches Gandzasar, Dadivank, Tsitsernavank and others as Caucasian-Albanian monuments. He had said that the cross-stones with Armenian writings are Caucasian-Albanian. Their goal was always to misrepresent the entire area as a part of Azerbaijan,” Erkoyan said.
He says that unfortunately even international organizations believe this falsification sometimes. He said that the only way to fight the falsification is to speak with facts.
“I’ve prepared a photobook with the monuments that I have photographed and historical information on them. I have researched and wrote the information from historians. I want to publishe the book in 6 languages, in English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French and Armenian. This is how we will be able to show the world that this is Armenian territory,” he said.
Erkoyan says the Armenian version of the book is ready, but requires 5 million drams for printing. He hopes to get government support for this, because in his words the book can become a “document or important tool” for the country. The initial version was printed 10 years ago, and Erkoyan even gifted copies to the then-Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group when they’d visited Berdzor.
Last updated: 17:39