BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. Azerbaijan should
more actively and widely promote its Caucasian Albanian heritage,
including through tourism routes, Georgian historian and Professor
Bondo Arveladze told Trend.


Arveladze said that claims concerning historical and cultural
heritage are not limited to Azerbaijan, noting similar disputes
involving Georgian cultural and religious heritage.


“Everyone still remembers the 2015 controversy, when the Diocese
of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia sent a letter to the
Georgian authorities demanding the return of 442 churches,
monasteries and their ruins. The letter included a corresponding
list. This concerned not only the churches but also their land – in
other words, a huge amount of property in Georgia that Echmiadzin
sought to bring under its control,” the professor said.


According to the Armenian Diocese itself, the figure refers to
around 650 Armenian churches, monasteries and chapels that existed
in Georgia during different historical periods.


However, while such claims regarding Georgia are mainly made at
the bilateral level, Armenia is seeking to bring claims concerning
Azerbaijan's Caucasian Albanian heritage into international
discussions and involve the global academic community, he said.







“Armenia has long claimed the heritage of Caucasian Albania.
This has always been done through the Armenianization of Albanian
churches. They have no way to prove that the Albanian heritage
belongs to Armenians, so they resort to falsifications. This cannot
be ignored. They often involve foreign scholars in their
falsifications, but still cannot prove anything,” Arveladze
said.


“There are many monuments of the spiritual culture of Caucasian
Albania in the territories of Azerbaijan that were previously
occupied by Armenia. Azerbaijan is the successor to Caucasian
Albania. The Udi people living in Azerbaijan are the only
descendants of the Caucasian Albanians and successors of the
Albanian Church. The Albanian churches of Karabakh belong to them.
Therefore, all Armenian claims are unsupported by evidence and are
based solely on their own imagination,” the Georgian scholar
said.


Arveladze also said Azerbaijan should promote its Caucasian
Albanian heritage more actively and on a wider scale, including by
developing tourism routes.


“For example, a route called ‘Albanian Churches.’ This is a very
interesting and rich part of Azerbaijan's history,” Professor
Arveladze said.