YEREVAN. - The archaeological studies in Artsakh definitely have significant achievements but they are the touchstones which show the non-state mentality of our state institutions and academic circles, head of Tigranakert expedition, Hamlet Petrosyan, told journalists Thursday.

According to him, the studies in Artsakh are directly linked to the issues of the Armenian identity and history. However, these studies constantly face a number of obstacles, particularly the impossibility of receiving international grants because of the non-recognition of Artsakh, politicization of international organizations called to preserve the cultural heritage and absence of relevant state policy in Armenia.

Petrosyan also added that, among other things, the right to culture is an inalienable human right, this also referring to the Artsakh people. “The history, archaeology, study of cultural heritage and its use for one’s own development are also part of this right. But the international organizations, which are created for protecting that right, do the other way round: they ban studies in non-recognized territories,'' he said, adding that, for instance, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bülbüloğlu, who is responsible for the destruction of Jugha khachkars (cross-stones), has been nominated as a candidate for director general in such an organization as UNESCO. “It is already not important whether he will be elected or not: the thing is that this organization has created such an opportunity,” Petrosyan noted.

In his words, he is personally pressed by a number of organizations or scientists, who urge him to stop the studies in Artsakh. Among them is the head of a large archaeological expedition to Armenia, university professor Adam Smith, as well as Gregory Areshian from the University of California.

“I consider these as definitely anti-Armenian and treacherous steps,” he said, adding that in this connection he doesn’t understand the stance of the Armenian state, which, according to him, succumbs to the pressure of these institutions and people, not running relevant policy in that issue. 

Petrosyan told journalists that the State Committee of Science (SCS) refused to fund their project, agreeing with the low assessment by international experts. And this instead of exerting joint efforts towards continuing the studies in Artsakh, he stressed.

Another participant of the press-conference, head of the Ethnogenomics Laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (NAS RA), Levon Yepiskoposyan, who carries out paleontological studies in the cave of Karintak village of Artsakh, noted that Hamlet Petrosyan works in liberated territories and faces a number of difficulties in this connection. Although Yepiskoposyan’s expedition works in the territory of former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, it has faced a number of difficulties as well, one of them being the impossibility to receive foreign funding. Another issue is the pressure, which their colleagues from foreign universities are subjected to due to their participation in the expedition in Artsakh. Azerbaijan, which uses all the capacities of the state machine in response to the inaction of the Armenian authorities, contributes to this.

In particular, Levon Yepiskosyan noted that Azerbaijan managed to cancel for a year the publication of the book “Azokh Cave and the Transcaucasian Corridor,” which was going to be published in Switzerland, Netherlands and US. After the book came out, pressure was put on the scientists, who took part in the Artsakh expedition and writing of the book, by their universities. They were told that they can take part in these studies only as private persons and not on behalf of scientific organizations. Yepiskoposyan registered one of the colleagues from UK as a worker of the IMB in order to avoid these obstacles. “I wish our MFA is also able to make such steps,” he said.

Both scientists stressed the absolutely anti-Armenian stance of a number of foreign Armenian studies centers. For instance, the Institute of Armenian Studies of the University of South California allocated a number of small grants for conducting studies in Artsakh last year, but no Armenian studies project received this funding.  According to Yepiskoposyan, it was received by non-specific gender, political and social projects.  

“First, we cannot get relevant funding. Second, we cannot run precise and outspoken policy with the help of our state institutions. I would very much like that the treatment to Tigranakert was the same as that to Urartu constructions in Turkey, where the state says that Urartu is part of Turkey’s prestige and marketing, and that we should do our best for the world to speak about the Urartu monuments in Turkey. I expect the same from our state,” Petrosyan concluded.