Azerbaijan thwarts another Armenian provocation in Tbilisi PHOTO

Another Armenian provocation has been thwarted at the exhibition co-organised by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in the capital of Georgia - Tbilisi within the “Documentary Photography in the South Caucasus” project.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition entitled Ground Zero was organised by the Georgian Association of Documentary Photographers and Adjara Group on June 25, 2022, according to Report.

According to preliminary information, 300 works by Azerbaijani, Armenian and Georgian photographers showing the situation in the South Caucasus were planned to be demonstrated during the event.

However, the works by Azerbaijani photographers were not showcased. Only photographs of the Georgian and Armenian photographers were demonstrated. Although there was no official information about this incident. The organisers explained that Azerbaijani photographers offered not to showcase photos on military topics. The Armenian photographers did not agree, moreover, they did not want their works to be showcased along with the photographs of their Azerbaijani colleagues.

Nevertheless, Armenia committed a provocation again.

Thus, provocative formulations were made in the comments on the works of Armenian photographers. For example, the territories returned to Azerbaijan on the basis of a tripartite statement made by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia were mentioned in the text for the photo Unaddressed (fragmented) Memory by Firuza Khalafyan as “the territories of Artsakh, which Armenia ceded to Azerbaijan”.

The birthplace of photographer Anahit Hayrapetyan is listed as Khtsaberd, Artsakh. This is the Chaylaggala village of the Khojavend district, which was liberated by the valiant Azerbaijani army from the Armenian occupation on November 9, 2020, during the 44-day second Karabakh war.

In general, the works by Armenian photographers are aimed at creating an erroneous image of Armenia as a “victim” while Azerbaijan as a “merciless invader”. Azerbaijan is described as "an enemy that at any moment will attack the inhabitants of the villages bordering with Armenia and put an end to their existence" in the information about the works by photographer Nelli Shishmanyan entitled "Life in the palm of a hand".

The main theme of Ruben Mangasaryan’s work was "the war with Azerbaijan for the independence of Karabakh" in the explanation to the photo entitled "Road to independence".

There is a poster “Let them recognise the genocide in Sumgayit” at a rally in Yerevan in another photo.

However, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Georgia, informed in advance about the exhibition, promptly exposed the provocative actions against our country.

While speaking at the opening, an employee of the embassy expressed dissatisfaction to Head of the Georgian Association of Documentary Photographers David Tskhadadze, one of the organisers of the event, and demanded to remove anti-Azerbaijani statements from the works by Armenian photographers. The next morning, information boards with provocative texts were removed from the exhibition hall.

Although the purpose of the event, as mentioned earlier, is to reflect the current situation in the South Caucasus, documentary photographs by Armenian photographers not only do not reflect it but also greatly distort reality and historical facts. Meanwhile, there are new opportunities for peaceful coexistence and economic progress, and Armenia should accept this reality.