Geghard Foundation: Azerbaijan uses archeology for political purposes  to justify genocide and ethnic cleansing

ArmInfo.Archeology is becoming a tool of political manipulation in the hands of Azerbaijan to justify genocide, ethnic cleansing and other atrocities. This is stated in an article written by Uri Rosenberg, a researcher from the Universities  of Potsdam and Heidelberg, which was published in the prestigious  Central Asian Survey journal, according to a new analysis by the  Geghard Scientific and Analytical Foundation.

Specifically, the article emphasizes that the cave complexes located  in the villages of Azokh and Mets Tagher in the Hadrut region of  occupied Artsakh play an important propaganda role in Azerbaijan.   "In recent years, the Azerbaijani government has been organizing  regular tours for foreign travelers, journalists and others, choosing  the Azokh cave as one of the stopping points. There, they are told  about the "ancient human settlement on the territory of Azerbaijan"  and "illegal excavations by Armenians," Rosenberg notes.  As  explained in the article by the Foundation, during excavations in the  1960s and 1970s   in the Azokh cave, a prehistoric human  jaw was  discovered, which is of major archaeological significance for  Artsakh. 

According to some representatives of Azerbaijani historiography, the  jaw belongs to the first Azerbaijani.  At the same time, as noted by  the Foundation, in addition to attempts to appropriate historical  heritage, Azerbaijan also accuses Armenians of "illegal excavations."  "In March 2021, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the Azokh  cave with his family and accused Armenian and foreign archaeologists  of "illegal excavations," stating that "Armenians have damaged our  historical heritage" and that from now on "only Azerbaijani  scientists and their invited foreign colleagues will conduct research  here," the article recalls.

Rosenberg also said that during his scientific work in the museum of  the Azerbaijani city of Gobustan near Baku, to his great surprise he  learned that the man who made the engraving in the cave 17 thousand  years ago is considered Azerbaijani in Azerbaijan.  "Azerbaijanis use  the archaeological finds of Gobustan to prove their indigeniousness  to the region and to claim that they are the original inhabitants of  the area, including Nagorno-Karabakh, and that  Armenians came here  much later," Rosenberg notes.

In this regard, the Geghard Foundation also recalled the statement  made by the director of the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology  of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Farhad Guliyev,  about the upcoming archaeological research in Artsakh. As mentioned  by the Foundation, Guliyev stated that international archaeological  expeditions will soon begin working in the occupied territories. In  this regard, the Geghard Foundation noted that the emphasis on these  directions of archaeological work reflect Azerbaijan's policy of  rewriting history and creating a new past, the roots of stretch back  to the Soviet period, the 1930s.