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“Azerbaijan which has no old history, undertakes any steps to create a history for itself,” Gholam Abbas Aqbari has told to Iranian arannews.ir site.

Iranian scientists have condemned the fact that Azerbaijan has depicted Nazimi Gyanjavi, one of the greatest classics of Iranian literature, on manat, and have in particular noted, “Those responsible of the Iranian cultural heritage as well as the diplomats should prohibit the countries which have no old culture to present the Iranian culture as a part of their own.”

Besides the fact that Azerbaijan presents the Iranian poet as Azerbaijani also prescripts the Iranian musical instruments which causes discontent among the Iranian officials and artists.

Mohammad Reisi, Iranian ambassador to Armenia: “There are some problems connected with historical truth. It should be noted that Azerbaijan has been established in 1918 while tar has century-old history.”

Abdolmajid Sharifzadeh, head of the Department of Traditional Arts of the Iranian Academy of Arts, told Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA in an interview, “After the collapse of the USSR, some countries try to enrich their history and culture by distorting the Iranian culture. For instance, Azerbaijan, citing the city of Ganja (Gandzak), currently located in the territory of Azerbaijan, presents Iranian poet Nizami Ganjavi as Azerbaijani. However, the historical facts show that Nizami was born in the Iranian city of Rey.”

Nasrollah Fezhman Far, member of the Commission on Cultural issues in Iranian Majlis: “During the history some parts of Iran have been separated because of this or that reason. And this has become a reason for other countries to claim that this or that Iranian writer belongs to their culture. Nizami Gyanjavi belongs to Iran and those who claim that he belongs to Azerbaijan lie.”

Iranian Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Bahman Dari said to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA, “The existing facts prove that Nizami Ganjavi is an Iranian poet, and there is no need to prove it. It is just unbecoming to misappropriate cultural values of another country. Azerbaijan has no cultural values and therefore it has to misappropriate cultural values of others. This move of Azerbaijan can be called nothing else than a cultural theft.”

Chairman of Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organization Mohammad Javad Adabi said to IRNA, “The falsification of the identity of great Iranian poet Nizami Ganjavi is evidence of the poorness of Azerbaijan’s culture.”

Member of Iranian musicians’ home, tar player Daryush Pirniaqan: “Tar is still used in Iran and has not come out from its territory. Tar has been spread in the historical territory of Iran. Later that territory has been separated from Iran. Moreover, according to some sources there has not been tar in Baku at all.”

Iranian musicologist Behruz Vejdani said, “Azerbaijan applies for tar’s UNESCO registration, while Iran had tar prior to the emergence of the Azerbaijani Republic. Moreover, the current territory of Azerbaijan was part of Iran until the Treaty of Turkmenchay was signed.”