Farida Mammadova: Difference between revisions
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The root cause of this phenomenon is a complex of inferiority and national insecurity that has defined Azerbaijani identity and culture. In contrast to the ancient kingdoms of Armenia, Georgia and Persia (Iran), Azerbaijan is a 20th century phenomenon, and essentially, a side-effect of the 19th century’s Caspian oil boom. “History of Azerbaijan” – with or without the chapter about “Caucasian Albania” -- is nothing more than a Stalinist fabrication. Similarly to dozens of other examples—like [[Nigeria]], [[Pakistan]] or [[Philippines]]—the country called “Azerbaijan” is a 20th century phenomenon. In contrast to the neighboring ancient civilizations of Persia (Iran), Armenia and Georgia, no country called “Azerbaijan” ever existed in the world history before 1918, and no people called “Azerbaijanis” were known prior to 1927. Furthermore, the territory of modern Azerbaijan has never been called by that name before 1918, but designated an ancient province of northern Persia. When the government of the self-proclaimed [[Azerbaijani Democratic Republic]] (ADR) decided to use “Azerbaijan” for naming their newly-established state, Persia protested, creating a controversy that killed ADR’s admission to the [[League of Nations]]. |
The root cause of this phenomenon is a complex of inferiority and national insecurity that has defined Azerbaijani identity and culture. In contrast to the ancient kingdoms of Armenia, Georgia and Persia (Iran), Azerbaijan is a 20th century phenomenon, and essentially, a side-effect of the 19th century’s Caspian oil boom. “History of Azerbaijan” – with or without the chapter about “Caucasian Albania” -- is nothing more than a Stalinist fabrication. Similarly to dozens of other examples—like [[Nigeria]], [[Pakistan]] or [[Philippines]]—the country called “Azerbaijan” is a 20th century phenomenon. In contrast to the neighboring ancient civilizations of Persia (Iran), Armenia and Georgia, no country called “Azerbaijan” ever existed in the world history before 1918, and no people called “Azerbaijanis” were known prior to 1927. Furthermore, the territory of modern Azerbaijan has never been called by that name before 1918, but designated an ancient province of northern Persia. When the government of the self-proclaimed [[Azerbaijani Democratic Republic]] (ADR) decided to use “Azerbaijan” for naming their newly-established state, Persia protested, creating a controversy that killed ADR’s admission to the [[League of Nations]]. |
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==Footnotes== |
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== Select Publications == |
== Select Publications == |
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Revision as of 00:52, 26 February 2007
Farida Jafar gizi Mamedova (1936) is an Azerbaijani historian who specializes in the history of ancient Caucasian Albania. Ms. Mamedova is the author of numerous research papers, articles and books on Azerbaijani ancient and medieval history. She lectures at the Baku State University, Azerbaijan Pedagogical University, and is the head of the Department of Humanities in the Western University in Baku. Farida Mamedova works at the Institute of History of the Azerbaijan's Academy of Sciences.
Ms. Mamedova's major focus has been on the study of what is often called Caucasian Albania – a semi-mythical country that supposedly existed in the Southern Caucasus in ancient times. Whether a country under that name existed in reality is a matter of debate; not surprising, Caucasian Albania is often called the “Atlantis of the Caucasus.” Documental mentions of Caucasian Albania are scarce, and come mostly from the works of ancient Greek authors, such as Strabo, and from Armenian medieval sources.
Farida Mamedova achieved notoriety as a controversial scholar by turning “Caucasian Albania” into a centerpiece of Azerbaijani historical revisionism, and using her research as a feedstock to a rather grotesque nationalist doctrine that was concocted for the purpose of denying the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh their historical heritage. Mamedova’s publications try to create an impression that because the Armenians of ancient Nagorno Karabakh sometimes described themselves as belonging to “Aghvank” (original Armenian name for Caucasian Albania) there were not Armenians at all.
According to this Azerbaijani logic, if medieval Italians called themselves Venetians, Florentines or Genoese, they were not Italian, the ancient Athenians were not Greek and the Bavarians had nothing to do with being Germanic. Further, Baku’s academics declared as “Albanian” all Armenian historical monuments found on territories incorporated into Soviet Azerbaijan, including Nagorno Karabakh—even those with extensive Armenian inscriptions, uniquely Armenian designs and well-documented role in Armenian history.
The main methodological flaw of Mamedova’s work is that her arguments are non-falsifiable. Falsifiability is one of the main principles of social science, which requires that a social scholar must establish boundaries beyond which his/her arguments are false. Mamedova’s claim that “none of Christian architectural monuments on the territory of Azerbaijan before the 19th century were Armenian” - besides being self-evidently absurd – are non-falsifiable, meaning that if all those monuments are non-Armenian, all Armenian monuments elsewhere are must-be non-Armenian too. In order to cope with the falsifiability requirement, in her later works Mamedova began wholesale attributing architectural monuments on the territory of Armenia proper and in Asia Minor to the mythical “Caucasian Albania.” In her race against the logic of social science, Mamedova had to turn the entire Armenian history upside down, stretching her “Caucasian Albania” to northern Iran and the eastern part of Armenia (so that Armenian churches there could be taken for “Albanian”), and even proclaiming the Armenian dynasts of the medieval Kingdom of Cilicia on the Mediterranean as descendents of Caucasian Albanians!
Mamedova's incompetence, crude fabrications, absurd claims and self-evident political bias were exposed in writings of Soviet scholars, in the 1980s, and their Western colleagues—since the late 1990s. Among the Western texts that expose Mamedova are two critically acclaimed books about the Caucasus: Yo’av Karny’s “Highlanders” (chapter “Ghosts of Caucasian Albania” - pages 371-404) [1] and Tom de Waal’s “Black Garden” (chapter “Hurekavank: the Unpredictable Past” – pages 145-159) [2] Both authors deride at the grotesqueness of Azerbaijani revisionism and ridicule its apologists, including Farida Mamedova and her mentor—late Ziya Buniatov (who was assassinated under mysterious circumstances in 1997).
Methodology And Political Background To Azerbaijani Historical Revisionism
Azerbaijani historical revisionism is a well-acknowledged and well-documented political program. Mamedova's work stands on shaky legs and, as mentioned above, has long become a butt of jokes among serious scholars.
The root cause of this phenomenon is a complex of inferiority and national insecurity that has defined Azerbaijani identity and culture. In contrast to the ancient kingdoms of Armenia, Georgia and Persia (Iran), Azerbaijan is a 20th century phenomenon, and essentially, a side-effect of the 19th century’s Caspian oil boom. “History of Azerbaijan” – with or without the chapter about “Caucasian Albania” -- is nothing more than a Stalinist fabrication. Similarly to dozens of other examples—like Nigeria, Pakistan or Philippines—the country called “Azerbaijan” is a 20th century phenomenon. In contrast to the neighboring ancient civilizations of Persia (Iran), Armenia and Georgia, no country called “Azerbaijan” ever existed in the world history before 1918, and no people called “Azerbaijanis” were known prior to 1927. Furthermore, the territory of modern Azerbaijan has never been called by that name before 1918, but designated an ancient province of northern Persia. When the government of the self-proclaimed Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (ADR) decided to use “Azerbaijan” for naming their newly-established state, Persia protested, creating a controversy that killed ADR’s admission to the League of Nations.
Footnotes
Select Publications
Yo'av Karny. Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001 [1]
Thomas De Waal. Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, New York University Press, 2004 [2]
The History of Albanians by Moses Kalankaytuk as a Source on the Social Organization of Caucasian Albania, Baku,1977.
Political History and Historical Geography of Caucasian Albania, Baku, 1986
Le problem de l'ethnos alban-caucasien, "L'antropoloqie sovietique", Paris, 1990
Christianity in Caucasian Albania [3]
Caucasian Albania, Baku, 2005