28 Marzo 2013- Redrawing the Map of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran

Bennett & Bloom / Book Release News…‎
Clash of Histories in the South Caucasus
Redrawing the Map of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran
A new study by Rouben Galichian
Now Published

‎“Rewriting history and redrawing boundaries are ancient political strategies for ‎shaping national identity, nation-building and establishing territorial claims. ‎Ethnicity and cultural heritage are especially powerful symbols, and therefore ‎targets, for territorial claims – a process exemplified by the Republic of ‎Azerbaijan’s state-sponsored invention of its own national identity.” ‎

This richly illustrated study documents the complexity of territorial struggles within the ‎South Caucasus over the past two millennia. As the only former Soviet republic not to ‎be created from an established ethnic group, ever since its formation in 1918 ‎Azerbaijan has used strategies adapted especially from the USSR and Pan-Turkism ‎movement to create a nationalistic ethnos/mythos at odds with the historical and ‎geographical reality. ‎

Rouben Galichian examines the motives and methodology employed by Azerbaijani ‎historians and geographers in officially recreating the history, boundaries and even ‎ethnicity of this historically volatile region. Particular focus is given to Azerbaijan’s ‎campaign for the geo-historical appropriation of neighbouring Armenia and ‎Iranian Azerbaijan, a selective campaign that ignores Georgia and Russia’s North ‎Caucasus. The evidence of the ancient and later cartographers along with the ‎Graeco-Roman historians and the accounts of Islamic and European travellers ‎confirm the international position that runs counter to Azerbaijan’s claims.‎

Rouben Galichian was born in Tabriz, Iran, to a family of immigrant Armenians who fled ‎Van to escape the Genocide, arriving in Iran via Armenia, Georgia and France. After ‎attending school in Tehran, Rouben studied engineering in the UK. His books include ‎Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage, Countries South of the ‎Caucasus in Medieval Maps: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and The Invention ‎of History: Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Showcasing of Imaginations, which ‎documents the culture and history of Nagorno-Karabakh through the centuries. For his ‎services to Armenian historical cartography, Rouben was awarded in 2008 an Honorary ‎Doctorate by the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. In 2009 he was the ‎recipient of Armenia’s Vazgen I Cultural Achievements Medal. ‎

‎232pp • ILLUSTRATED with 57 colour maps • £29.99 • HBK • ISBN 9781908755018‎

For more information or interview requests please contact Bennett & Bloom ‎Press: Anna Rundgren on 07961 154590 / mailto:press@bennettandbloom.com
www.bennettandbloom.com
‎/O12‎




CONTENTS
Introduction ‎11‎
Chapter One - Causes of the Fabrications and Inventions ‎ ‎19‎
‎1.1 - Formation of a New Country North of the Arax River.‎
‎1.2 - Soviet Ideology and the Policy of Falsifications.‎
‎1.3 - Re-writing of History and the Establishment of Azerbaijani Identity. ‎
‎1.4 - Azerbaijan’s Methodology in Re-writing of History.‎
Chapter Two - Azerbaijan’s intentions towards its neighbours ‎51‎
‎2.1 - The Formation of Azerbaijani Ethnos
‎2.2 - The Terminology “Western”, “Southern” & “Northern” Azerbaijan.‎
Chapter Three - On Armenians being Newcomers to the Caucasus ‎69‎
‎3.1 – The bases of the theory of Armenians being newcomers
‎3.2 - Greco-Roman Sources on the Armenian Presence in the Region.‎
‎3.3 - Armenian presence in Caucasus according to Islamic sources.‎
‎3.4 - Armenian presence as per the medieval Christian travellers.‎
Chapter Four - The Methodology of Appropriating Others’ Culture.‎ ‎117‎
‎4.1 – Appropriation or Destruction of Historic Monuments.‎
‎4.2 - The Appropriation of Scholars and Scientists.‎
‎4.3 - The Projection and Aggression in the Process of Destruction
Chapter Five - Cartographic documents of the Region ‎131‎
Conclusion ‎155‎
Appendix – Maps ‎161‎
Bibliography ‎211‎
Index of names ‎226‎

vahe Vartanian