Urartu Presented as Azerbaijani: 'The Guide at the Louvre Told Me, If You Sponsored Us, We Would Write “Armenia”'

At one of the exhibitions in Frankfurt, Urartu has been presented as Azerbaijan. This was reported on his Facebook page by Shushi Tumanyan the day before. "I expect the support of experienced historians and lawyers to appeal substantiated and restore historical justice. We can appeal on behalf of the Hessen Armenian Cultural Association / Armenischer Kulturverein in Hessen e.V. Those who have experience in similar struggles are requested to share what steps need to be taken, where to start," he noted.

According to cartographer Sen Hovhannisyan, the lack of an official response or denial indicates that we are dealing with a real fact. "The world has gone mad because among the Germans, there are many recognized scholars who would never make such a stupidity," he says, providing several examples where Urartu is unquestionably presented as Armenia. "The campaign of the Assyrian king Salmanasar III against the Kingdom of Van from 865-825 BC is recorded on a bronze relief, which can be considered an exceptional example of world art. An album was published by the British Museum in London in 1915, where these reliefs are noted as Armenia: Urartu, meaning Armenia is precisely Urartu, or Urartu is precisely Armenia. Another authoritative historian, Turayev, in his book 'History of the Ancient East', published in 1936 in Leningrad, has a separate chapter titled 'The Kingdom of Urartu', stating that Urartu is indeed Armenia. Moreover, another globally recognized historian, archaeologist, and director of the Hermitage, Pyatrovsky, wrote a comprehensive study about Urartian culture, where not a single line mentions Azerbaijan. This series of scientific works is numerous, and you will find nowhere in the serious works published in Germany or by German cartographers where Urartu is mentioned as Azerbaijan.

Nevertheless, S. Hovhannisyan recalls another incident of art forgery and historical distortion that happened in Frankfurt several years ago. "I myself saw an exhibition in Frankfurt 7-8 years ago, where a bronze Urartian sculpture was very well presented. It had a handle shaped like a bird’s head and was dated to the 8th century BC. There too, concerning the origin, it was written not as Armenia but Turkey. Interestingly, when I asked the guide about that sculpture, he said, ‘We know this is Urartian, but he couldn’t explain why it was stated otherwise.’

The cartographer provides another example related to the Louvre. "There are many maps in the Louvre where Azerbaijan is written over this region, including Persia. Once I told the guide, ‘But there was no Azerbaijan state back then.’ He refused to answer, but another person said, ‘If you sponsored us, we would write “Armenia”... We have lost our statehood so much that they do whatever they want, and their oil dollars are decisive not only in political but also in cultural fields. With those oil dollars, they are writing a new history. The world has gone crazy over the oil dollars of the Aliyev family; everyone wants to benefit from them. Additionally, it seems we do not have a Ministry of Culture, and there have been no serious events related to Armenian culture abroad; in recent years, no serious book has been published on Armenian culture and history under state order. They are taking advantage of these circumstances to undertake such actions.

In S. Hovhannisyan's opinion, this is not a task for the academic community, but for the state; moreover, the Ministry of Culture should issue a statement. "The scholar has nothing to say here; what can the scholar respond? This is a matter for the ministry, and there is no need to present facts since everyone knows history well. Everything is written in the world’s scientific literature about Urartu and Armenia. This is a matter of diplomacy, and the Ministry of Culture should address both the Armenian Embassy in Germany and the German Embassy in Armenia and ask, ‘On what basis has such a thing been done?’

Sen Hovhannisyan, whose maps were stolen by Azerbaijanis at the Frankfurt International Book Fair a few years ago because they depicted the two Armenian republics—the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh—with their coats of arms and flags, is convinced that diplomatic noise needs to be raised, as there are numerous occasions when such distortions of historical fact have been corrected as a result of diplomatic protests.