In Poland's capital, Warsaw, at Twardowski Square, an exhibition entitled "The Historical-Cultural Heritage of Western Azerbaijan" has been organized, targeting the appropriation of Armenian cultural heritage and staking claims to the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Azerbaijan's Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Poland, Nargiz Gurbanova, issued an official statement announcing the exhibition's opening (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/184JnyriXE/?mibextid=wwXIfr).

The opening was attended by a Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament and Deputy Chair of the Executive Committee of the Western Azerbaijan Community, Gaya Mammadova, and other officials. The event was arranged with the participation of Azerbaijani state bodies and cultural–academic institutions, including the Western Azerbaijan Community, the Azerbaijan International Development Agency (AIDA), the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre, the Institute of History and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, the National Carpet Museum, the National Museum of History, the State Museum of Fine Arts, the National Cuisine Association, and the Caucasus History Centre, underscoring the exhibition's high-level state sponsorship (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Dkzj5GZC2/?mibextid=wwXIfr).

The exhibition's content consists of distorted and falsified information detached from historical fact, deployed to justify the artificial term "Western Azerbaijan," coined by Azerbaijan in the late twentieth century for political purposes and cultural appropriation.

At the Warsaw exhibition, Azerbaijan presented around 3,500 historical and cultural monuments, 500 cemeteries, and 391 mosques located within the territory of the Republic of Armenia as integral parts of the so-called "Western Azerbaijan" heritage. In particular, posters depict Yerevan as an Azerbaijani cultural city, referring to it variously as "Ravan," "Iravan," or "Irivan," and describing it as "an inseparable part of the rich cultural history of the Azerbaijani people."

Under the label "Western Azerbaijan," Azerbaijan seeks to rewrite Yerevan's history by manipulating examples of decorative art, altering historical documents, and employing mechanisms for forging a new Azerbaijani identity. Central to the display are photographs from the Palace of the Persian Khans of Yerevan, the Yerevan Fortress, and several other historical monuments, all presented as the cultural heritage of "Western Azerbaijan." In addition, the exhibition showcases ghavurma, a traditional Armenian dish, as part of Azerbaijani cuisine. At the same time, another photo shows the Black Building of Yerevan State University—more than a century old and listed as an immovable monument of the history and culture of the Republic of Armenia—portrayed as an Azerbaijani cultural asset.

Our response

This policy pursued by Azerbaijan is aimed at denying the Armenian people's historical rights to their ancestral land and at distorting and appropriating historical facts and cultural heritage.

Alongside the policies of depopulation, genocide, and forced displacement of Armenians from their historical homeland, Azerbaijan continues to advance territorial, historical, and cultural claims against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, the Armenian people's historical homeland, and their cultural heritage, even proposing various plans for future Azerbaijani settlement in Armenia. These actions, which seek to eradicate the Armenian trace, are unacceptable. You can read more about the newly coined term "Western Azerbaijan" in Ruben Galichian's article (https://monumentwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Text-and-Maps-in-Armenian.pdf).

Azerbaijan's policy of appropriating Armenian cultural heritage grossly violates UNESCO's principles of authenticity, which require heritage to be preserved by scholarly truth and knowledge. These principles are set out in the 1994 Nara Document on Authenticity adopted in Japan (https://www.icomos.org/charters/nara-e.pdf).

The appropriation of Armenian historical and cultural heritage also infringes on the cultural rights of the Armenian people, enshrined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It likewise contradicts Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights adopted by the UN in 1966.

Such actions violate the rights of future generations to engage truthfully with their history and cultural heritage.

You can read more about the manipulations surrounding the counterfeit term "Western Azerbaijan" in other articles on our website:

A new endeavor to appropriate Armenian historical and cultural heritage has emerged: the inauguration of “West Azerbaijan” state television in Baku, https://monumentwatch.org/en/alerts/a-new-endeavor-to-appropriate-armenian-historical-and-cultural-heritage-has-emerged-the-inauguration-of-west-azerbaijan-state-television-in-baku/, The organization known as the “Community of Western Azerbaijan” has appealed to UNESCO, urging to safeguard the cultural heritage of “Western Azerbaijan”, https://monumentwatch.org/en/alerts/the-organization-known-as-the-community-of-western-azerbaijan-has-appealed-to-unesco-urging-to-safeguard-the-cultural-heritage-of-western-azerbaijan/, New attempts to seize historical-cultural heritage unveiled, https://monumentwatch.org/en/alerts/new-attempts-to-seize-historical-cultural-heritage-unveiled/, Azerbaijan declares Yerevan, Sevan and Syunik “Azerbaijani heritage”, https://monumentwatch.org/en/alerts/azerbaijan-declares-yerevan-sevan-and-syunik-azerbaijani-heritage/, Another manifestation of the aggressive policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, https://monumentwatch.org/en/alerts/another-manifestation-of-the-aggressive-policy-of-the-republic-of-azerbaijan/.