Azerbaijani presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev has presented foreign diplomats with the blank pages of a museum reproduction at Gandzasar Monastery as supposed evidence of Armenian historical “falsification,” despite Matenadaran having already explained in 2025 that the volume was intentionally produced with blank pages.
During the delegation’s visit to occupied Artsakh, Hajiyev used the volume to promote Azerbaijan’s claim that the Armenian Gandzasar Monastery is “Albanian.” Some members of the delegation were seen laughing as he displayed the blank pages.
There is one major problem with the claim: the volume was never an original manuscript.
In 2025, following an inquiry by our team at 301, Matenadaran issued an official clarification regarding the books displayed at the Gandzasar museum. It confirmed that the volumes were high-quality reproductions produced specifically for its museum branch at Gandzasar.
In response to a recently circulated video in Azerbaijani media alleging that the manuscripts displayed at the Gandzasar Monastic Complex museum are forgeries, Matenadaran has issued an official statement categorically rejecting the accusations and providing factual… pic.twitter.com/mJU1WB8KIw
— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) July 23, 2025
Only two pages from each manuscript were reproduced for exhibition purposes. The remaining pages were intentionally left blank.
The original manuscripts were never transferred to Gandzasar and have always remained at Matenadaran in Yerevan.
Matenadaran categorically rejected claims that the blank pages were evidence of forgery or falsification, describing such allegations as entirely baseless and part of an effort to discredit Armenian cultural heritage and the scholarship devoted to its preservation.
A year later, Hajiyev is presenting the same type of museum reproduction, with the same deliberately blank pages, to foreign diplomats as supposed evidence that Armenians falsified history.
The episode comes as Azerbaijan continues its broader campaign to portray Gandzasar and other Armenian Christian monuments in occupied Artsakh as part of a supposed “Caucasian Albanian” heritage while diminishing or denying their Armenian identity.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport has yet to publicly respond to Hajiyev’s latest claims concerning Gandzasar or to the renewed campaign targeting Armenian cultural heritage in occupied Artsakh.
