nygirl

Here is the response: Bakhtiyar Hajiyev claims he wrote that official Azeri press release – however, when asked about it in person he denied writing it. When the numerous errors within the report were pointed out to him, he admitted there were errors but explained he had phoned in his “report” to the Azeri embassy which then gave his words to an un-named reporter to be re-written and released as an official press release. Hajiyev claims to have asked questions at the meeting on Nov 2nd 2007. In reality, rather than asking a question, Hajiyev attempted to stand up at the podium and make a speech about Nagorno Karabagh. He was then asked to behave like everyone else in the audience: in other words, to return to his seat and from there ask a question that was about the subject of the meeting (the destruction of Armenian monuments in Nakhchivan). Although Hajiyev did return to his seat he continued to make the same speech, this time accompanied by a personal attack on Professor Russell. At that he was asked to stop speaking, though was allowed to remain at the meeting. Professor Russell gave a strongly worded reply about the crass stupidity of Hajiyev's words - after which Hajiyev appeared a bit deflated. In an attempt to obtain some sort of constructive comment from Hajiyev, he was asked if he had ever been to Nakhchivan. When he replied that he had, he was then asked to give his opinion about the photographic evidence of the destructions. However, Hajiyev refused to say anything more, excusing himself by explaining that he wasn't an expert on the subject and that he had now to leave the meeting "for a party". Perhaps we should be charitable and blame the inventions within his report on whatever substances he consumed at that party. As for the rest of the content in his so-called report, there is no such organisation as the "Armenian Research Center", the exhibition's sponsor is not an Armenian company, and Professor Russell is not Armenian! At the meeting the Momine Hatun monument was expressly identified as being Islamic. This was done because the mausoleum was being shown in the context of revealing UNESCO’s complicity through its deliberate inactivity in investigating Azerbaijan’s cultural genocide in Nakhchivan. Azerbaijan wants the Momine Hatun mausoleum to be included in UNESCO's list of World monuments, and in 2006 a UNESCO investigator actually came to Nakhchivan to assess the monument’s suitability. Although Julfa is only 40 minutes away from Nakhchivan city, that UNESCO inspector made no attempt to visit the site of the destroyed graveyard. The Muslim identity of some of the ram-shaped gravestones used as park ornaments in Nakhchivan city was also expressly pointed out. They were being shown as examples of the culture influences shared by Nakhchivan's Muslim and Christian populations - revealing that at Julfa Azerbaijan has destroyed objects that are as much connected to Azeri-Turkish culture as to Armenian culture. In the report, Hajiyev is claimed to be a "master" at Harvard University, but he is not – he is just a first year student! He also appears to be the same Bakhtiyar Hajiyev who was "arrested" in Baku early in 2007 during a protest against rising oil prices, and was then quickly released without charge and allowed to leave Azerbaijan to enroll at Harvard. It is doubtful that someone who can afford Harvard college fees is going to worry much about fuel prices - so he was probably a paid informant even back in Baku, and has been placed at Harvard by the Azeri government. There is one small piece of truth in Hajiyev's report. Photographs of the now empty sites of destroyed medieval churches and graveyards in Nakhchivan do show "establishments of strategic importance" because revealing their existence reveals the extent of Azerbaijan’s crimes against World culture and how unfit it is to be counted as a civilized nation.