Toponymic genocide

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- Yasaman khanim, since the beginning of the Armenian aggression on Azerbaijani lands, this war has been called the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Even Nakorno Karabakh was used in the international arena. Until recently, the so-called regime established in the territories of Azerbaijan, in the lands occupied by Armenians, was also presented as Nagorno-Karabakh. But in recent years, it is written and presented as Artsakh. What is the basis for this?

- In general, the term or toponym Nagorno-Karabakh had not been used until 1921. In 1920, the Dashnak government was overthrown in Armenia and a Bolshevik government was established. An agreement was signed between Bolshevik Armenia and Russia on August 10, 1920. The agreement reflected Russia's recognition of the Armenian state and the recognition of Karabakh, Zangazur, and Nakhchivan as disputed territories between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Based on this agreement, in 1921, the Caucasus Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Bolshevik Party established a commission headed by S. M. Kirov to determine the borders of the South Caucasus republics. In 1921, under the leadership of Kirov, the Caucasus Bureau instructed Armenia to "create a legal basis for the claims over Karabakh and Zangazur". The Armenian press issued a statement signed by the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Armenia, Myasnikov, demanding the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Thus, for the first time, the toponym Nagorno-Karabakh was created. Until that date, the term Nagorno-Karabakh had not been found in political and historical literature. In 1921, the Caucasus Bureau of the Russian Communist Bolshevik Party decided to annex Nagorno-Karabakh to the Armenia SSR. However, N. Narimanov did not recognize this decision and demanded that the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party intervene in this case. A meeting of the Caucasus Bureau was held with the participation of I. Stalin. It was decided to create an independent Nagorno-Karabakh region and keep it in the form of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR. In 1923, the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR approved this decision.

The term Nagorno-Karabakh is a term coined by Armenia to claim that the mountainous region of Karabakh belongs to the Armenians. During the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the Karabakh Governorate was established, consisting of Karabakh - Shusha, Garyagin, Javanshir, and Gubadli. Armenia created the term Nagorno-Karabakh to divide the Karabakh Governorate, to unite the mountainous part of Karabakh with Armenia, and later it was used as a toponym in Soviet literature. In our opinion, one of the main things we must do is to abolish the toponym and expression "Nagorno-Karabakh".

- Nagorno-Karabakh was a literal translation of the word “Dağlıq Qarabağ”. And no one doubted that it was an Azerbaijani and Turkish word. By changing this to Artsakh, the Armenians are trying to have the original name forgotten and form an opinion that the land belongs to them. And it is said that this place was called Artsakh in ancient times. Is there such a toponym? What does this word mean?

- Although the Armenians managed to unite Zangazur with Armenia during the USSR, they did not manage to unite Karabakh. Taking advantage of the collapse of the USSR, they tried to re-occupy Karabakh and succeeded. However, Armenia was forced to resort to other tactics because it knew that the world would oppose the policy of occupying Azerbaijani lands and uniting Karabakh directly with Armenia. 1. To create the second independent Armenian state in Karabakh. 2. To unite the independent Armenian state with Armenia.

In fact, the OSCE Minsk Group tried to implement this policy and desire of the Armenians within the framework of international law. Armenians began to call the second Armenian state the Armenian state of Artsakh, not the Armenian state of Nagorno-Karabakh. By bringing up the toponym Artsakh, they want to popularize the historical depth and past of this Armenian state. In order to hide the fact that the Armenians occupied Karabakh, since they feel compelled to have it confirmed that they did not come to the lands of Karabakh and they were not a resettled but an indigenous people, they invented the toponym Artsakh. However, the whole world knows that before the Kurakchay agreement on the transfer of the Karabakh Khanate to Russia, signed on May 14, 1805, there were no Armenians in Karabakh and there was never an Armenian state not only in Karabakh but also in the Caucasus. Armenians were relocated to the Caucasus and Karabakh, to Iravan (Yerevan) region under the leadership and protection of Russia in 1828-1918, 1920-1988, and this wave of migration continued until 1988-2020. There are thousands of sources, archives, and literature on Armenian migration in Russia, Europe, Ottoman, and Gajar Iranian historiography. Armenians refer to Christianity to prove their antiquity in Karabakh. Because the first Christian temple was built here by Sak (Saka) tribes. From the 7th century BC, Sak tribes settled in Azerbaijan, in the Kura-Araz lowland. The great historian Zaki Validi Togan's article titled Azerbaijan published in the Islamic Encyclopedia contains extensive information about the settlement of the Sakas in this region, the construction of cities and the construction of roads. Azerbaijani historians Abdurrashid Bakuvi, Rashid bey Ismayilov, Mirali Seyidov, Giyasaddin Geybullayev also gave information about it. Ar Sak (“Ər Sak” in Azerbaijani) means the Saka man, and it has nothing to do with Armenians. Armenians armenianized the name and turned it into Artsakh.

Armenians brought the toponym Artsakh to the agenda so that they could take their history to the ancient church built by the Saks and prove their aboriginalness. However, in the pre-Islamic Caucasus, the Turks believed in many religions - Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Judaism, and Christianity. The first Christianity in Azerbaijan started not with Armenians but with local Turks. Most of the codes of today's Armenian Gregorian Church are in Kipchak Turkish, and these codes are preserved in the most famous museums in the world. Bakhtiyar Tuncay collected these codes and published a book. In short, Armenians trace the beginning of their history in Karabakh to the history of the church so that they can contain a lot of speculative information and interpretations.

- In general, in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories, the names of almost all villages, settlements, and cities were changed by Armenians after and even before the occupation. For example, Stepanakert and Martakert were named at the request of Armenians during the Soviet era before the occupation. After the occupation, almost all the occupied villages and cities were renamed. What is the purpose of playing with these toponyms? With this policy, can they approach their goals of privatization of these lands?

- Armenians did not falsify toponyms only in Karabakh. For example, they not only turned Sugovushan in present-day Azerbaijan into Madagiz but also changed and armenianized the toponyms of the Iravan district - Western Azerbaijan settlements they were relocated and they occupied. The book Explanatory dictionary of toponyms of Azerbaijani origin in Armenia was published in 1998 under the editorship and co-authorship of academicians of ANAS, Budag Budagov and Giyasaddin Geybullayev. This book shows how all Turkish toponyms in the territory of Armenia were armenianized. These toponyms show us that the state called Armenia was established by occupation, ethnic cleansing, and carrying out the genocide on Turkish lands.

- There are villages and cities that we hear their historical names for the first time as long as they are free from occupation. For example, after the liberation of Madagiz, we learned that the historical name of the place was Sugovushan. Or we learned that Hadrut's historical name was Aghoghlan. For years, when we heard these names, we were confused as to how there were places with these names in the lands of Azerbaijan. Because we did not know the historical names. Why aren't historical names promoted? Why hasn't Azerbaijan implemented its historical toponym policy against the toponym policy of the enemy?

- Armenians immediately change toponyms in order to call all the lands where they live Armenian lands and to establish an Armenian state there in the future. This is vandalism against the previous history of the region. Armenians do not respect history, nations, and cultures. Changing toponyms to Armenian is a kind of genocide. This is genocide.

Even after settling in Karabakh, they changed the historical Turkic names to Armenian names. During the USSR, the USSR leadership created an ethnic imbalance by increasing the number of Armenians in Karabakh. The main purpose of this plan was to prepare the ground for the annexation of Karabakh to Armenia one day. The change towards these Armenian toponyms was prevented by the USSR and then by the occupation of Armenia. Believe me, as soon as our lands are free from occupation, local Turkish toponyms will be restored. These will be resolved after the victory.

- These lands are the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan, regardless of who lives there. Is it necessary to restore the historical names of those areas after this? Which historical names should be restored?

- After the liberation of Karabakh, all our armenianized toponyms must be restored. But at the same time, the names and histories of all our provinces, cities, regions, monuments that existed in our historical Turkic lands - Western Azerbaijan, now called Armenia, must be included in textbooks and conveyed to our whole nation. We must remember all our toponyms. Toponyms are a bridge from the past to the future.

Finally, I would like to say that the Armenians renamed the village of Garagaya, where I was born, to Dzorovang. The name of our district is Chambarak. It was also changed to Krasnoselsk in Russian.