In Turkish ottoman encyclopedic and academic documents and maps
Summary
Karen H. Khanlarian (Tehran)
Historical evidences prove that the authorities of “Ittihad ve taraki” party (Union and Progress) of young Turks in Ottoman Turkey had a distinctive role in the nomination of so called “Azerbaijan” state, established in May 1918. It was by their order that the “Musavat” party named this newly emerged statehood as “Azerbaijan” on the territories where once were existing as “Albania”, “Shirvan” or “Shervan”. The authorities of “Ittihad ve Taraki” along with the “Musavatists” strived for creating a favorable political ground to annex the Azerbaijan province of Iran to this newly created state.
Has any historical land named “Azerbaijan” ever existed on the northern bank of Arax River? Does this falsification have any significant relevance to the historical lands of Azerbaijan of Iran? The panturkist historians have implemented extensive researches in this regard and traditionally have created some criteria based on which they boldly reject the authenticity of the Iranian, Russian, European and Armenian historical sources, calling them “fake”, “false” or “with bias
The main purpose of this paper is to reveal the geographical concept of “Azerbaijan” based on the Turkish ottoman encyclopedic and academic documents and maps.
The facts mentioned in this paper prove that based on the official maps and encyclopedic and academic documents, published materials and textbooks in Turkish ottoman empire, the geographical territories where the so called “Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan” state was created were existing as “Shirvan” or “Shervan” starting from the 16th century until May 1918. And Azerbaijan (Aturpatakan or Atropatena) was part of territory of Iran, as an Iranian province on the southern bank of Arax River.
Hence, without doubt we can conclude that the concept of “Azerbaijan Republic” is a geographically and politically fake phenomenon