Geghard Scientific-Analytical Foundation: Karabakh’s Shushi, Azerbaijani propaganda in Egyptian media

Azerbaijani propaganda continues to spread false information about the occupied territories of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Armenian heritage there, the Geghard Scientific-Analytical Foundation has noted in a statement. It added as follows:

Recently, an article was published on the online platform of the "Al-Ahram" Center for Political and Strategic Studies, one of Egypt's and the Arab world's prestigious media outlets. In this article, Shushi is presented as an Azerbaijani city, with epithets such as "Little Paris," "Caucasian temple of art," "musical institute of Azerbaijan". The article says that now the "people of Shushi" are restoring the city's appearance as it was before the war.

At the beginning of the article, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is distortedly presented as a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, whereas it was initially a struggle for the self-determination of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The author, while writing about the presence of Muslims in Shushi, silences the presence of Armenians, majority of the city’s population. Shushi was primarily an Armenian, Christian cultural center. This is evidenced by Shushi's Armenian churches and historical cemetery, which were deliberately targeted by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the 2020 war and were subjected to vandalism and destruction after the city was occupied.

The presence of Armenians in the city is mentioned not only in Armenian, but also in Russian and other sources. According to those sources, as of 1916, 23,916 Armenians lived in Shushi, which constituted more than half of the city's population. In March 1920, the Azerbaijani authorities organized a horrendous massacre of the Armenian population of Shushi, the city was ruined, thousands of Armenians were killed.

Interestingly, the article talks about several Turkic-speaking, Muslim figures, but provides no information about Khosrov bek Sultanov. It should be noted that this person was appointed by Azerbaijan as the temporary Governor-General of Karabakh and Zangezur in 1920 and organized the massacres of Armenians in Shushi and other parts of Artsakh. For some reason, the Aliyev regime and the article's author omitted this "interesting" episode.

On one hand, Baku declares Shushi Islamic cultural capital, while on the other hand, it maintains very close and allied relations with Israel, which massacres Muslims in Gaza Strip and destroys mosques.

The article also mentions the Gohar Agha Mosque but says nothing about its restoration initiated by the government of the Republic of Artsakh in 2009. It also does not mention that the Armenian people not only preserved Christian heritage but also showed state care towards Muslim heritage: a vivid proof of this is the restoration of the Gohar Agha Mosque.

In fact, the author set a goal to present one-sided and falsified information, to deprive Shushi of its Armenian identity, which has been Azerbaijan's state policy since the 44-day Artsakh War and the capture of Shushi. The policy of de-Armenianization of the city also includes organizing international scientific conferences, cultural events and festivals, and sponsoring similar articles.