Another Armenian embarrassment – They tried to pass blank pages off as “Armenian history”

Exhibits presented to foreign diplomats operating in Azerbaijan as part of Armenia’s “ancient past” have reportedly ended in a major embarrassment. The books presented as “centuries-old” were found to have writing only on the first page, while the remaining pages were completely blank.

TodayPress TV reports that former Foreign Minister Tofiq Zulfugarov publicized the shocking scene on his Facebook page.

T. Zulfugarov’s post quickly sparked widespread reaction in both local and regional media.

Against the backdrop of this embarrassment, the experienced diplomat also drew attention to another important historical and legal detail:

“There was no subject called ‘History of Armenia’ in schools in Armenia at all until 2024.”

He asked artificial intelligence about the matter and shared the response he received.

The AI’s response lays bare what it describes as the gap at the heart of the issue. It states that the subject taught in schools since the Soviet era was called “History of the Armenian People.” It gives the following reasons:

Absence of a real state: The lack of a unified, independent statehood institution among Armenians for centuries.

Geographical claims and fragmentation: Historical events took place not in present-day Armenia, but across the territories of various empires, including the Ottoman, Persian and Byzantine empires.

Ideological maneuver: To avoid creating territorial claims, Moscow focused attention on the development of an ethnic group rather than on a state.

Only in 2024 did the Armenian authorities officially change the subject’s name to “History of Armenia” in an attempt to shift the focus from the fragmented past of the people to the concept of “statehood.”

Tofiq Zulfugarov drew a parallel between these conceptual changes and the blank-page books shown to diplomats, ending his post with bitter irony:

“So, it was Coca-Cola, huh? We’ll believe it...”

Jala Rovshan