Editing Historical negationism (section)

===Azerbaijan===
{{Main|Falsification of history in Azerbaijan}}

====In relation to Armenia====
{{see also|Anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan|Armenian cemetery in Julfa|Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences#Statements on Armenia and Armenians}}

Many scholars, among them [[Victor Schnirelmann]],<ref name="ShnirelmanTheValue">[[Victor Schnirelmann]]: The Value of the Past: Myths, Identity and Politics in Transcaucasia. Senri Ethnological Studies. pp. 160, 196–97: "The republication of classical and medieval sources with omissions, with the replacement of the term "Armenian state" by "Albanian state" and with other distortions of the original manuscripts was another way to play down the Armenian role in early and medieval Transcaucasia. ... The Azeri scholars did all of this by order of the Soviet and Party authorities of Azerbaijan, rather than through free will."</ref><ref name="ShnirelmanREGNUM">[[Victor Schnirelmann]]: [http://www.regnum.ru/news/1624198.html Why to attribute the dominant views in Azerbaijan to the "world science"?] // REGNUM, 12 February 2013 ([http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2013/03/06/shnirelman/ Translation])</ref> [[Willem Floor]],<ref name="FloorJavadi">Willem M. Floor, Hasan Javadi. "Abbas-Kuli-aga Bakikhanov. The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan". Mage Publishers, 2008. p. xvi: "This is in particular disturbing because he suppresses, for example, the mention of territory inhabited by Armenians, thus not only falsifying history, but also not respecting Bakikhanov's dictum that a historian should write without prejudice, whether religious, ethnic, political or otherwise"</ref> [[Robert H. Hewsen|Robert Hewsen]],<ref name="Hewsen">Robert Hewsen. ''Armenia: A Historical Atlas.'' [[University of Chicago Press]], 2001. p. 291: "Scholars should be on guard when using Soviet and post-Soviet Azeri editions of Azeri, Persian, and even Russian and Western European sources printed in Baku. These have been edited to remove references to Armenians and have been distributed in large numbers in recent years. When utilizing such sources, the researchers should seek out pre-Soviet editions wherever possible."</ref> [[George A. Bournoutian|George Bournoutian]]<ref name="Aghuank">[[George A. Bournoutian|George Bournoutian]]. A brief history of the Aghuankʻ region. Mazda Publishers, 2009. pp. 8–14: "Therefore, in order to substantiate their political claims, Bunyatov and his fellow academics chose to set aside all scholarly integrity and print large numbers of re-edited versions of these not easily accessible primary sources on Karabagh, while deleting or altering references to the Armenians"</ref><ref name="PrimarySources">[[George A. Bournoutian|George Bournoutian]]. Rewriting History: Recent Azeri Alterations of Primary Sources Dealing with Karabakh // Research note from Volume 6 of the "Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies" (1992, 1993)</ref> and others state that in Soviet and post-Soviet [[Azerbaijan]] since the 1960s there is a practice of revising primary sources on the South Caucasus in which any mention about [[Armenians]] is removed. In the revised texts, ''Armenian'' is either simply removed or is replaced by ''Albanian''; there are many other examples of such falsifications, all of which have the purpose of creating an impression that historically Armenians were not present in this territory. Willem M. Floor and Hasan Javadi in the English edition of "The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan" by [[Abbasgulu Bakikhanov]] specifically point out to the instances of distortions and falsifications made by [[Ziya Bunyadov]] in his Russian translation of this book.<ref name="FloorJavadi"/> According to Bournoutian and Hewsen these distortions are widespread in these works; they thus advise the readers in general to avoid the books produced in Azerbaijan in Soviet and post-Soviet times if these books do not contain the facsimile copy of original sources.<ref name="Hewsen"/><ref name="PrimarySources"/> Shnirelman thinks that this practice is being realized in Azerbaijan according to state order.<ref name="ShnirelmanTheValue"/> [[Philip L. Kohl]] brings an example of a theory advanced by Azerbaijani archaeologist Akhundov about Albanian origin of Khachkars as an example of patently false cultural origin myths.<ref name="Kohl">Philip L. Kohl, Clare P. Fawcett. Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology. Cambridge University Press, 1995. p. 154: "Thus, minimally, two points must be made. Patently false cultural origin myths are not always harmless. The political context within which such myths are articulated is critical, and this context continually changes: given the events of the last nine years, assertion that today's Azerbaijan was the original homeland of Turkic-speaking peoples is charged with political significance"</ref>

The Armenian cemetery in Julfa, a cemetery near the town of [[Julfa, Azerbaijan (city)|Julfa]], in the [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]] exclave of Azerbaijan originally housed around 10,000 funerary monuments. The tombstones consisted mainly of thousands of ''[[khachkar]]s'', uniquely decorated cross-stones characteristic of medieval Christian [[Armenian art]]. The cemetery was still standing in the late 1990s, when the government of Azerbaijan began a systematic campaign to destroy the monuments.<ref name= Pickman>{{cite journal|last1=Pickman|first1=Sarah|title=Tragedy on the Araxes|journal=[[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]]|date=30 June 2006|url=http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/djulfa/index.html|publisher=[[Archaeological Institute of America]]}}</ref> After studying and comparing satellite photos of Julfa taken in 2003 and 2009, the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] came to the conclusion in December 2010 that the cemetery was demolished and levelled.<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and the Destruction of Cultural Artifacts in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan|url=http://www.aaas.org/page/high-resolution-satellite-imagery-and-destruction-cultural-artifacts-nakhchivan-azerbaijan|publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]|date=8 December 2010}}</ref> After the director of the [[Hermitage Museum]] [[Mikhail Piotrovsky]] expressed his protest about the destruction of [[Armenian cemetery in Julfa|Armenian khachkars in Julfa]], he was accused by Azerbaijanis of supporting the "total falsification of the history and culture of Azerbaijan".<ref name="Piotrovsky">Алиев В. "Кампанией вокруг хачкаров армяне хотят отвлечь внимание мира от агрессии Армении против Азербайджана"/В. Алиев // Наш век, 2006.-5-11 мая, N N18.-С.6
</ref> Several appeals were filed by both Armenian and international organizations, condemning the Azerbaijani government and calling on it to desist from such activity. In 2006, Azerbaijan barred [[European Parliament]] members from investigating the claims, charging them with a "biased and hysterical approach" to the issue and stating that it would only accept a delegation if it visited [[Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh|Armenian-occupied territory]] as well.<ref name=TheIndependent>{{cite news|last1=Castle|first1=Stephen|title=Azerbaijan 'flattened' sacred Armenian site|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/azerbaijan-flattened-sacred-armenian-site-480272.html|work=[[The Independent]]|date=23 October 2011}}</ref> In the spring of 2006, a journalist from the [[Institute for War and Peace Reporting]] who visited the area reported that no visible traces of the cemetery remained.<ref name=IWPR>{{cite news|last1=Abbasov|first1=Idrak|last2=Rzayev|first2=Shahin|last3=Mamedov|first3=Jasur|last4=Muradian|first4=Seda|last5=Avetian|first5=Narine|last6=Ter-Sahakian|first6=Karine|title=Azerbaijan: Famous Medieval Cemetery Vanishes|url=https://iwpr.net/global-voices/azerbaijan-famous-medieval-cemetery-vanishes|agency=[[Institute for War and Peace Reporting]]|date=27 April 2006}}</ref> In the same year, photographs taken from Iran showed that the cemetery site had been turned into a military [[shooting range]].<ref name="HT">{{cite journal|last1=Maghakyan|first1=Simon|title=Sacred Stones Silenced in Azerbaijan|journal=[[History Today]]|date=November 2007|volume=57|issue=11|pages=4–5|url=http://www.historytoday.com/simon-maghakyan/sacred-stones-silenced-azerbaijan}}</ref> The destruction of the cemetery has been widely described by Armenian sources, and some non-Armenian sources, as an act of "[[cultural genocide]]."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Antonyan|first1=Yulia|last2=Siekierski|first2=Konrad|editor1-last=Aitamurto|editor1-first=Kaarina|editor2-last=Simpson|editor2-first=Scott|title=Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe|contribution=A neopagan movement in Armenia: the children of Ara|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2L3oBAAAQBAJ&dq=cultural+genocide=+julfa+cemetery&pg=PA280 280]|quote=By analogy, other tragic events or threatening processes are designated today by Armenians as "cultural genocide" (for example, the destruction by Azerbaijanis of the Armenian cemetery in Julfa)...}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Ghazinyan|first1=Aris|title=Cultural War: Systematic destruction of Old Julfa khachkars raises international attention|url=http://armenianow.com/news/6092/cultural_war_systematic_destructio|work=[[ArmeniaNow]]|date=13 January 2006|quote=...another “cultural genocide being perpetrated by Azerbaijan.”|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=25 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125053050/http://armenianow.com/news/6092/cultural_war_systematic_destructio|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Uğur Ümit Üngör]]|editor1-last=Carmichael|editor1-first=Cathie|editor2-last=Maguire|editor2-first=Richard C.|title=The Routledge History of Genocide|contribution=Cultural genocide: Destruction of material and non-material human culture|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317514848|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6rvlCAAAQBAJ&dq=cultural+genocide+julfa+cemetery&pg=PA250 250]}}</ref>

In Azerbaijan, the [[Armenian genocide]] is officially denied and is considered a hoax. According to the state ideology of Azerbaijan, a genocide of Azerbaijanis, carried out by Armenians and Russians, took place starting from 1813. Mahmudov has claimed that Armenians first appeared in Karabakh in 1828.<ref name="Mahmudov">Махмудов Я.М. Самый опасный вымысел в истории: (Ложь о "Великой Армении" – "идеология" террора, геноцида и захвата чужих земель) // Бакинский рабочий. – 2009:27 января. – N 16. – С. 2–3. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110706131042/http://br.az/index.php?newsid=766 copy])</ref> Azerbaijani academics and politicians have claimed that foreign historians falsify the history of Azerbaijan and criticism was directed towards a Russian documentary about the regions of [[Karabakh]] and [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]] and the historical Armenian presence in these areas.<ref name="Day_Az_02052007">Day.Az. 02 Мая 2007 [18:13]. [http://news.day.az/politics/78533.html Как реагировать на затягивание Россией ответов на ноты протеста?] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160110163149/http://news.day.az/politics/78533.html copy])</ref><ref name="echo-03-05-2007">Керимов Р. Молчание Кремля: РФ рассматривает ноту протеста Азербайджана, в МИД АР ждут извинений и исправлений ошибок, а НАНА готова помочь соседу документами/Р. Керимов // Эхо, 2007.-3 мая, N N 77.-С.1.3</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.day.az/politics/77555.html|title=Посол России был вызван в МИД Азербайджана|date=24 April 2007}}</ref> According to the institute director of the [[Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences]] Yagub Mahmudov, prior to 1918 "there was never an Armenian state in the South Caucasus".<ref name="ANAS">{{cite news |title=Studies prove that before 1918, there was no Armenian state in S.Caucasus |url=https://www.azernews.az/nation/127091.html |access-date=27 August 2019 |agency=Azernews |date=13 February 2018}}</ref> According to Mahmudov, [[Ilham Aliyev]]'s statement in which he said that "Irevan is our [Azerbaijan's] historic land, and we, Azerbaijanis must return to these historic lands", was based "historical facts" and "historical reality".<ref name="ANAS"/> Mahmudov also stated that the claim that Armenian's are the most ancient people in the region is based on propaganda, and said that Armenians are non-natives of the region, having only arrived in the area after Russian victories over Iran and the Ottoman Empire in the first half of the 19th century.<ref name=ANAS/> The institute director also said: "The Azerbaijani soldier should know that the land under the feet of provocative Armenians is Azerbaijani land. The enemy can never defeat Azerbaijanis on Azerbaijani soil. Those who rule the Armenian state today must fundamentally change their political course. The Armenians cannot defeat us by sitting in our historic city of Irevan."<ref name="ANAS"/>

====In relation to Iran====
{{see also|Azerbaijan naming controversy|Campaign on granting Nizami the status of the national poet of Azerbaijan|Anti-Iranian sentiment in Azerbaijan}}

Historic falsifications in Azerbaijan, in relation to [[Iran]] and [[History of Iran|its history]], are "backed by state and state backed non-governmental organizational bodies", ranging "from elementary school all the way to the highest level of universities".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |page=85 (note 277) |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies |url=https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |access-date=27 December 2020 |archive-date=14 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914063448/https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a result of the two [[Russo-Iranian Wars]] of the 19th century, the border between what is present-day [[Iran]] and the Republic of Azerbaijan was formed.<ref name="Croissant">{{cite book |last1=Croissant |first1=Michael P. |title=The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications |date=1998 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |page=61}}</ref> Although there had not been a historical [[Azerbaijanis|Azerbaijani]] state to speak of in history, the demarcation, set at the [[Aras river]], left significant numbers of what were later coined "Azerbaijanis" to the north of the Aras river.<ref name="Croissant"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |pages=9–10 (note 26) |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies |url=https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |access-date=27 December 2020 |archive-date=14 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914063448/https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the existence of the [[Azerbaijan SSR]], as a result of Soviet-era historical revionism and myth-building, the notion of a "northern" and "[[Azerbaijan (toponym)#Southern Azerbaijan|southern]]" Azerbaijan was formulated and spread throughout the Soviet Union.<ref name="Croissant"/><ref name="Kamrava">{{cite book |last1=Ahmadi |first1=Hamid |editor1-last=Kamrava |editor1-first=Mehran |title=The Great Game in West Asia: Iran, Turkey and the South Caucasus |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190869663 |pages=109–110 |chapter=The Clash of Nationalisms: Iranian response to Baku's irredentism}}</ref> During the Soviet nation building campaign, any event, both past and present, that had ever occurred in what is the present-day Azerbaijan Republic and Iranian Azerbaijan were rebranded as phenomenons of "Azerbaijani culture".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |page=17 |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies}}</ref> Any Iranian ruler or poet that had lived in the area was assigned to the newly rebranded identity of the [[Transcaucasus|Transcaucasian]] [[Turkic languages|Turkophones]], in other words "Azerbaijanis".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |page=17 |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies |url=https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |access-date=27 December 2020 |archive-date=14 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914063448/https://persianpoetry.arizona.edu/sites/persianpoetry.sites.arizona.edu/files/POLITICIZATION%20OF%20NEZAMI_0.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
According to Michael P. Croissant: "It was charged that the "two Azerbaijans", once united, were separated artificially by a conspiracy between imperial Russia and Iran".<ref name="Croissant"/> This notion based on illegitimate historic revisionism suited Soviet political purposes well (based on "anti-imperialism"), and became the basis for irredentism among [[Azerbaijani nationalism|Azerbaijani nationalists]] in the last years of the Soviet Union, shortly prior to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Republic in 1991.<ref name="Croissant"/>

In Azerbaijan, periods and aspects of Iranian history are usually claimed as being an "Azerbaijani" product in a distortion of history, and historic Iranian figures, such as the [[Persians|Persian]] poet [[Nizami Ganjavi]] are called "Azerbaijanis", contrary to universally acknowledged fact.<ref name="Arakelova">{{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |pages=i, 91–92 |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies}}</ref><ref name="Talattof">{{cite journal |last1=Talattof |first1=Kamran |title=Reviewed Work: Ali Doostzadeh, On the Modern Politicization of the Persian Poet Nezami Ganjavi (Yerevan Series for Oriental Studies – 1) by Siavash Lornejad |journal=Iran & the Caucasus |date=2012 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=380–383|doi=10.1163/1573384X-20120025 }}</ref> In the Azerbaijan SSR, forgeries such as an alleged "Turkish ''[[Diwan (poetry)|divan]]''" and falsified verses were published in order to "Turkify" Nizami Ganjavi.<ref name="Talattof"/> Although this type of irredentism was initially the result of the nation building policy of the Soviets, it became an instrument for "biased, pseudo-academic approaches and political speculations" in the nationalistic aspirations of the young Azerbaijan Republic.<ref name="Arakelova"/> In the modern Azerbaijan Republic, historiography is written with the aim of retroactively Turkifying many of the peoples and kingdoms that existed prior to the arrival of Turks in the region, including the Iranian [[Medes]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lornejad |first1=Siavash |last2=Doostzadeh |first2=Ali |editor1-last=Arakelova |editor1-first=Victoria |editor2-last=Asatrian |editor2-first=Garnik |title=On the modern politicization of the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi |date=2012 |pages=18, 85 (note 277) |publisher=Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies}}</ref> According to professor of history [[George Bournoutian]]:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bournoutian |first1=George |title=The 1820 Russian Survey of the Khanate of Shirvan: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of an Iranian Province prior to its Annexation by Russia |date=2016 |publisher=Gibb Memorial Trust |page=xvi}}</ref>
{{blockquote|As noted, in order to construct an Azerbaijani national history and identity based on the territorial definition of a nation, as well as to reduce the influence of Islam and Iran, the [[Azerbaijani nationalism|Azeri nationalists]], prompted by Moscow devised an [[Azerbaijani alphabet#History|"Azeri" alphabet]], which replaced the Arabo-Persian script. In the 1930s a number of Soviet historians, including the prominent Russian Orientalist, [[Ilya Pavlovich Petrushevsky|Ilya Petrushevskii]], were instructed by the Kremlin to accept the totally unsubstantiated notion that the territory of the [[Khanates of the Caucasus|former Iranian khanates]] (except [[Erivan Khanate|Yerevan]], which had become [[Soviet Armenia]]) was part of an Azerbaijani nation. Petrushevskii's two important studies dealing with the [[South Caucasus]], therefore, use the term Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani in his works on the history of the region from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Other Russian academics went even further and claimed that an Azeri nation had existed from ancient times and had continued to the present. Since all the Russian surveys and almost all nineteenth-century Russian primary sources referred to the Muslims who resided in the South Caucasus as "Tatars" and not "[[Azerbaijanis]]", Soviet historians simply substituted Azerbaijani for Tatars. Azeri historians and writers, starting in 1937, followed suit and began to view the three-thousand-year history of the region as that of Azerbaijan. The pre-Iranian, Iranian, and Arab eras were expunged. Anyone who lived in the territory of Soviet Azerbaijan was classified as Azeri; hence the great Iranian poet [[Nizami Ganjavi|Nezami]], who had written only in Persian, became the national poet of [[Azerbaijan]].}}

Bournoutian adds:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bournoutian |first1=George |title=The 1820 Russian Survey of the Khanate of Shirvan: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of an Iranian Province prior to its Annexation by Russia |date=2016 |publisher=Gibb Memorial Trust |pages=xvii, xv, xviii}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Although after [[Stalin]]'s death arguments rose between Azerbaijani historians and Soviet Iranologists dealing with the history of the region in ancient times (specifically the era of the [[Medes]]), no Soviet historian dared to question the use of the term Azerbaijan or Azerbaijani in modern times. As late as 1991, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, published a book by an Azeri historian, in which it not only equated the "Tatars" with the present-day Azeris, but the author, discussing the population numbers in 1842, also included [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhichevan]] and [[Ordubad]] in "Azerbaijan". The author, just like Petrushevskii, totally ignored the fact that between 1828 and 1921, Nakhichivan and Ordubad were first part of the [[Armenian Oblast|Armenian Province]] and then part of the [[Erivan Governorate|Yerevan guberniia]] and had only become part of Soviet Azerbaijan, some eight decades later ... Although the overwhelming number of nineteenth-century Russian and Iranian, as well as present-day European historians view the Iranian province of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azarbayjan]] and the present-day [[Republic of Azerbaijan]] as two separate ''geographical'' and ''political'' entities, modern Azeri historians and geographers view it as a single state that has been separated into "northern" and "southern" sectors and which will be united in the future. ... Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the current Azeri historians have not only continued to use the terms "northern" and "southern" Azerbaijan, but also assert that the present-day [[Armenian Republic]] was a part of northern Azerbaijan. In their fury over what they view as the "Armenian occupation" of [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] [which incidentally was [[Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast|an autonomous Armenian region within Soviet Azerbaijan]]], Azeri politicians and historians deny any historic Armenian presence in the South Caucasus and add that all Armenian architectural monuments located in the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan are not Armenian but [[Caucasian Albania|[Caucasian] Albanian]].}}