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Azerbaijan is now laying claim to Armenia’s historical and cultural monuments, advancing false narratives to allegedly prove that parts of modern-day Armenia are “historical Azerbaijani lands”, says Hovik Avanesov, an expert on Azerbaijan.

"In 1918, as a result of Turkey's genocidal policy, an artificially created state of Azerbaijan appeared on the world map, having nothing of its own – no history, no titular nation, let alone the name ‘Azerbaijan’, no territory of its own or culture – presenting the indigenous peoples of the region, including the Talysh and Udi peoples, as Azerbaijanis,” Avanesov said in an interview with Panorama.am on Tuesday.

“In an attempt to create its own nation, still in search of identity and putting forward dozens of hypotheses of the origin of Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijan has adopted a policy of appropriating and destroying the cultural and historical heritage of the region’s indigenous peoples, including Armenians, who, being one of the indigenous peoples of the region and having their own civilization, are part of the world civilization,” he stressed.

The expert pointed to Azebaijan’s consistent efforts to portray Armenian cultural heritage as the legacy of "Caucasian Albanians” starting from 1960s.

"While at the time a number of historical monuments in Artsakh, including Gandzasar, Amaras, Hakobavank and Tsitsernavank, were portrayed as Albanian, now Azerbaijan’s propaganda machine falsely claims that numerous historical and architectural monuments throughout Artsakh, as well as the Church of the Holy Cross in Akhtamar and even a number of Armenian churches in Georgia and historical and cultural monuments on Armenian territory are Albanian," Avanesov added.

The expert said that recently images depicting the Tatev Monastery, a 9th-century Armenian Christian monastery in Syunik Province, have been circulated on various Azerbaijani websites, with a post saying that it is “an integral part of the Albanian cultural heritage."

"Obviously, there are numerous facts that the Tatev Monastery is an Armenian historical and architectural monument and has nothing to do with Albanian heritage, which is stated not only by Armenian but also by foreign experts,” he said.

“It’s worth noting that the Tatev Monastery holds an important strategic position and was once one of the largest educational and religious centers of the region. This is also the reason why Azerbaijan presents this monastery complex as Albanian.”

In addition, Azerbaijan once again makes territorial claims to the whole of Syunik by falsely calling the Tatev Monastery Albanian.

"The Tatev Monastery has nothing to do with the artificial entity called Azerbaijan, as a settlement with a thousand-year history cannot be part of a genocidal country which appeared on the map in 1918,” Avanesov remarked.