KAMRAN IMANOV Tall Armenian Tales: a Guide to the “Art” of Heritage Thievery KAMRAN IMANOV * Tall Armenian Tales: a Guide to the “Art” of Heritage Thievery The book - “Tall Armenian Tales”, presented to the reader’s attention, consists of two thematic sections. Chapter I, entitled “I came, I saw, I... stole”, is about the misappropriation and armenization of intellectual property of the Azerbaijani people, intellectual plagiarism of the Azerbaijani folklore, dastans (epics) and other epic works, the desire to seize the Azerbaijani bayati (Azerbaijani folk poems), proverbs and sayings. The book also narrates about the “armenization” of tales, anecdotes, music and other samples of folk genre. What is the common of these various manifestations of Armenian plagiary shown in the chapter “I came, I saw, ..., I stole”? The fact is that, firstly, these “tales” do not have an Armenian origin, but only an Armenian presentation. These tales are alien to the Armenian people; in addition, these are the same “anecdotes” in allegorical meaning of this term in the form of absurdities - false statements shown in Chapter II - “The Theatre of Absurd.” PREFACE .............................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER I. “I came, I saw,.. .1 stole”: about the Armenian tradition of misappropriation of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage ............................................................... 8 §1. “I c a m e , w h i c h briefly tells about the mass settlement of the Armenians in the South Caucasus .............................. 9 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS §2. I s a w , w h i c h relates about what Armenians experienced in the South Caucasus .................................................................................... 14 §3. I stole”, which relates about the origins of the Armenian plagiarism .............................................................................................................. 18 §4. I stole”, which relates about the Armenian acknowledgements and evidences of plagiarism against the general background of the Armenian intellectual theft ................. 21 §5. I stole”, which relates about the appropriation of Azerbaijani bayaties .............................................................................................................. 29 §6. I stole”, which relates about the appropriation of Azerbaijani legends .............................................................................................................. 36 §7. I stole”, which relates about the appropriation of the Azerbaijani dastans .................................................................... 42 §8. I stole”, which relates about how Armenians tried to snatch the Dastan of Koroghlu ................................................. 54 3 §9. I stole”, which relates about the appropriation of Azerbaijani proverbs and sayings ........................................................................................... 63 §10. I stole”, which relates about the appropriation of the Azerbaijani fairy-tales and anecdotes ..................................... 75 §11. I stole”, which relates about the sources and the “development” of the Armenian musical plagiarism .................. 84 §12. “..., I stole”, which relates about the borrowings §13. “..., I stole”, which relates about the great impact from the Azerbaijani composers by the Armenians, and from Uzeir Hajibeyov in the first place ...................................... 100 of the Azerbaijani music and the works of Uzeir Hajibeyov on the formation of the Armenian professional music school .................................................................. 109 §14. “..., I stole”, which relates about the long-time Armenian attempts to appropriate Hajibeyov’s musical comedy “Arshin Mai Alan” ................................................. 120 CHAPTER n. The Theatre of Absurd ................................................ 131 §1. The absurdity about the Azykh man ............................................ 134 §2. The absurdity about being the first Christians in the Caucasus ................................................................................... 137 §3. The absurdity about the Albanian alphabet and the Armenian script prototype ............................................................ 144 §4. The absurdity about the appropriation of the literary heritage of Albania ................................................................ 149 4 §5. The absurdity about the appropriation of the material and cultural heritage of Albania ........................................... 157 §6. The academic absurdity and etymological equilibristics ....................................................................................... 172 §7. The Armenian historiography and the absurdity with the royal dynasties ...................................................................... 179 §8. The Kurekchay absurdity ............................................................. 196 §9. The absurdity about Ashugs ......................................................... 203 §10. The absurdity about cemeteries .................................................. 212 §11. The absurdity about Gamigaya .................................................. 227 §12. Absurdity about Armenian horses .............................................. 240 § 13. Absurdity about “marine” Armenians ....................................... 255 INSTEAD OF THE CONCLUSION ................................................. 289 5 “People seldom talk of the virtue they possess, and all the more often of that which they do not possess. ” Gotthold Ephraim Lessing PREFACE An Armenian tradition to misappropriate the Azerbaijani cultural traditions during the centuries according to the scheme of "I came, I saw ... I stole" is closely connected with territorial claims. The intention of animators of the myth of "Great Armenia" is quite clear: the ecdemic ethnos connects the “justification” of claims on the territories, which do not belong to them, by misappropriation and armenization of material and spiritual heritage of the people - native owners of the lands. The intellectual and material theft of culture is enriched by historical-geographical fabrications, forming their own false history and, of course, a distortion of the history of Azerbaijan and the region as a whole. All these are important, but it is not the only part of the propaganda initiated by the Armenian nationalist propaganda machine. If according to the idea of falsificators, it serves as the "argument" of "the culture of Great Armenia” and a permanent rich source for the legends about "the great territories” and its autochthonous inhabitants - the Armenians, and another part of the propaganda is the “Armenian long-sufferance.” Forming an idea of “forlomness”, “long-sufferance” of Armenians in Armenian consciousness massively by the Armenian chauvinist spiritual pastors, the creation an enemy image of Turks, who oppose to the realization of the Armenian statehood, as well as Monophysitism of Armenian Gregorian Church, hardening the origin of all Ar- menions, outlining the image of an outcast nation, should justify violence and terror as instruments of national survival. The language of embodiment of politics is hypocrisy, the used 6 way of inoculation into public consciousness is myth, was characterised very aptly by J. de Malevil, who noted that the Armenian propaganda machine use three methods of Marxist dialectic: the rewriting of history, the thesis of a conspiracy of the oppressors of the Armenian people, and accusation of an opposer persecuted in the name of morality, deliberately confusing it with the law. In addition to above, Armenians have always endowed their enemy with objectives and intentions, which are characteristic to them. "In order to stop the arbitrariness of the Armenian propaganda, which is taking the risk to have more serious consequences for the future of Europe, the reaction of all sane people is necessary." The book "Tall Armenian Tales" serves the purpose of making its contribution to this great call. “Tall Armenian Tales” consists of two thematic sections. The first chapter is about the misappropriation and armenization of intellectual property of the Azerbaijani people, intellectual plagiarism of the Azerbaijani folklore, dastans (epics) and other epic works, the desire to seize the Azerbaijani bayati (Azerbaijani folk poems), proverbs and sayings. The book also narrates about the “armenization” of tales, anecdotes, music and other samples of folk genre. What is the common of these various manifestations of Armenian plagiary shown in the chapter “I came, I saw, ..., I stole”? The fact is that, firstly, these “tales” do not have an Armenian origin, but only an Armenian presentation. These tales are alien to the Armenian people; in addition, these are the same “anecdotes” in allegorical meaning of this term in the form of absurdi-ties - false statements shown in Chapter II - “The Theatre of Absurd.” CHAPTER I “I CAME, I SAW,... I STOLE”: about the Armenian tradition of misappropriation of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage “You can prevent people from learning, but can not force them to unlearn. ” Berné 7 The scheme of Armenian plagiarism or the cultural theft developed during the centuries has become a tradition of misappropriation of Azerbaijani cultural traditions and values. This tradition of intellectual theft was always closely connected to territorial claims, fed itself with this and