Ramin Alizade

The escalation of the Karabakh conflict during late 2020 and the resumption of the second Karabakh War—as a result of the provocative actions by the Armenian government and its puppet regime, the so-called “Artsakh Republic”—have aroused the renewed interest of the scientific community in the historical origins of the territory over which Azerbaijan and Armenia have been fighting for many years. There is no consensus among scientific experts on this conflict’s causes or even its course, and the factual details and their interpretation remain under discussion. However, there are six resolutions by the United Nations Security Council that recognize the disputed territories as Azerbaijan’s national territory. This paper presents the historical, linguistic, and juridical facts that support the claim of Azerbaijan to these territories. The second war in Nagorno-Karabakh is a national liberation war for Azerbaijan.

E.ə. IX əsr başlanğıcdan sonadək Yaxın Şərq regionun keçmişində hərbi-siyasi baxımdan ən gərgin yüzilliklərdən biri kimi tarixə düşmüşdür. Məhz bu dövrdə Yaxın Şərqi şimal və şərq istiqamətlərində yerləşən ölkələrlə, daha dəqiq desək Azərbaycan ərazisindəki qədim dövlətlərlə əlaqələndirən yeni bir dövlət tarix səhnəsinə çıxmışdır. Bu dövlət Şərqi Anadolunun ilk quldar və mərkəzləşdirilmiş dövləti olan Urartu çarlığı idi. Urartu çarlığı e.ə. IX əsrin ortalarında yaransa da, qısa müddət ərzində, yəni həmin əsrin sonlarından etibarən Yaxın Şərqin güclü dövlətlərindən birinə çevrilmişdir.

The Urartian kingdom was founded in the first half of the IX century BC during the war with Assyria. Changing this country into one of the powerful countries of the Near East was closely connected with some circumstances. One of these
circumstances was ethnically uniqueness. Local tribes gathered together against the foreign invaders. Assyria was faced with great danger in the North with the foundation of powerful Urartian kingdom. The head of the Urartian ruling dynasty Sarduri I made some changings in order to make this country rise. The main of these changings was stablishment of powerful army and strong fortress Tushpa. Ishpuini’s religious reforms played an important role in the formation of Urartian etnosphere.

In the article, the ancient states which were formed in Azerbaijan at the first half of
B.C. I millenium are mentioned. Expansion policy of the strong empires like Assyria and
Urartu prevented emergence of these states as a union political power. Urartian inscriptions
give us great opportunity to make a point about historical-geography of Azerbaijan.

In Urartian inscriptions, it is possible to come across the names which are showing
similarity with the names of Karabakh settlements which are the motherland of Azeri people.
Gerger (<=ur.insc. Qurkumeli), Shelli (<=ur.insc. Shilaini), Shelengi (<=ur.insc. Shulugi),
Aran (<=ur.insc. Ariaini), Alban (<=ur.insc. Qu'albani), Uti (<=ur.insc. Etiúni/Etiuhi), Ergi
(<=ur.insc. Erikuahi), Hekeri (<=ur.insc. Arquqiu), Lipani (<=ur.insc. Luipruni) and this kind
of other ethnonyms can be shown as an example. Thus, it reveals from the Urartian
inscriptions that it is impossible to claim hypothesis about statism history of Armenian people
between the lands of Eastern Anatolia and Azerbaijan.