КАРАБАХ в ДОКУМЕНТАХ

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Different alphabets had been used in Azerbaijan and in the Northern Caucasus before Islam. Many types of the ancient Turkic runic writings had been used before Arabs; Newcomers/invaders left here different petroglyphic samples of Aramaic, Greek, Pahlavi, Latin, Arabic and other writings. The manuscript, based on one of those writings, has been found under the ruins of the ancient settlement near Nakchivan (the exact belonging has not been determined yet).

Even though these characters look like Aramaic or Georgian variants, their exact belonging has not been determined yet. Gizil Shafag village.

Due to the damage and fragmentariness of the characters, containing the elements of this alphabet, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to read them. They were commonly referred to the “Udish alphabet.” But it doesn’t mean that the question is resolved. Actually, since there was no unique language in Albania, there couldn’t be any unique alphabet.

The characters, presented as “Udish” (needless to say that the word “Udish” in this case generally refers to “Albanian,” i.e. “Dagestani speaking”) on the territory to the North of the Akaks/Araz River, (called in Azerli-Turkic dialects “Albanian/Arran” and in Armenian chronicles – “Aghvan”), are nothing but one of the types of the Turkic runic writing. But the “fact” that modern scholars generalized them in unique Albanian or Gargar alphabet, comes from the incorrect translation and interpretation of the primary sources, written in Hay language. According to nowadays Armenian historians, the Albanian, Armenian and Georgian alphabets were created by Mesrop Mashtots. To the Georgian alphabet, the historians and linguists of Georgia have proved that the Aramaic writings are the basis of their alphabet. And Hay/Armenian (*) alphabet was created not only on the basis of Aramaic, but also Greek and Turkic writings. Undoubtedly, the merit of Mashtots is that he, along with the Greek calligrapher Ruphan (Ropanos in Khorensky), managed to build them in a unique shapely order, suitable to the phonetics of Hay language. And the “creation” of the Albanian alphabet by Mashtots is nothing but a new Hay joke, caused by the incorrect reading and translation of Grabar (the old Hay language). The primary reason of the spread of this opinion among scholars is the desire to see some Nakh-Dagestan tribes in Albanians, but not Turks. However, all the attempts of many linguists (in particular, Voroshil Gukasyan) to connect Udish language with “Albanian” inscriptions were unsuccessful. It could not be otherwise, like the Middle-age alchemists didn’t succeed “to make gold of clabber”. And scholars, basing not upon the original source but on its translation, still are puzzled due to the incorrect and sometimes, tendentiousness translation. Though, the very first distortion of the reality was namely the primary source by Korun (and not the translation). Initially, this chronicler of the V century writes: “BEFORE Mashtots’ arrival in Albania, the Albanian Benjamin had visited him and Mashtots acquainted with Barbarian words of Albanian language and created the alphabet.” But in another part of his work, Korun says: “AFTER his arrival in Albanian land, Mashtots, with the help of the local clergy, creates the letter for Albanians.”

It is worth mentioning, that before the Mashtots appearance, the Anan-Bek’s son Saag, the priest from Parfia (contemporary Turkmenistan), tried to spread Christianity among Albanians and Hayq. The following question arises then: “In which language the Turkmen monk could spread Christianity?”

In the Armenian source, the name of the one Albanian-Turk, who accepted Christianity, was “Benjamin-Tarkman.” The opinion, that he had been a translator (“targuman” in Arabic means “translation”), became widespread after that. Maybe he was. But according to the Arabic sources, the word “targuman” comes from the Turkic “turkman” (meaning not “Turkmen,” but “to translate”). In addition, Korun had written his work before Islam even appeared and therefore, before the Arabic invasion. So, it is doubtful that this word is taken from Arabic and plus, in his work this word also is used as a Turkic variant: “tarkmanchi.” Of course, it is not so important whether Benjamin was a “Turkmen/Turk” or a “translator.” The important thing is that namely he helped Mashtots, who was translating the Evangel into the one of the Albanian dialects, suiting the writing of Ak-Khazirs (White Khazars), whose language is similar to the Gargar language (later about it). According to A. Perikhanyan, Mashtots couldn’t create alphabet for the language he was not familiar with (**).

Now let’s look at the original primary sources. According to Khorensky, Mashtots “creates” the alphabet for Gargarian (note that the word “Albanian,” generally referring to the ALL tribes of the Caucasian Albania, is not used here). The same translation is reflected in the commentators N. Emin and A. Akopyan. Sh. Smbatyan does almost the same variants of the translation of the M. Kalankatuatsi, but latter does not use the word “ayronik,” which means “similar/alike.” In another variant of his work (***), instead of “Gargar” the word “kangar” is used (II, 3): “Steghts nshanagirs kokordakhos aghkhazur hjakan khetsbekazunin lezun (lezuin) gargaratsvots.” Sh.Smbatyan translates this sentence into Russian in the following way: “…created writings for the language of Gargarians, which is full of the coarsest, barbarian and difficult for pronunciation sounds” (The History of Albania, M., 1984, translated by Sh.Smbatyan).

In any texts of the original source, it is talked about Gargarian (in one variant – kangarian) language. Nowhere the Albanian alphabet is mentioned; even the word “alphabet” is not used. The word “writing” is used. But when they talk about the creation of the Armenians/Hay letter, the word “aububen/alpapet” – “alphabet” is met everywhere. In this case, the notion “writings” is given as “nshanagirs” (literally – “the letter with symbols,” “runic”). The Hayq, who came to the Caucasus, called the Turkic runic writing (which they were not familiar with, unlike the Aramaic, Greek and Pahlavi), “nshana gir” (“symbol letter”). Another fact is important that the Persian word “nishan” means: “label”, “symbol,” “runic.”

Let’s consider now the material, presented by Khorensky: “Stegts nshanagirs kokordakhos aghkhazur hjakan khetsbekazunin aynorik gargaratsvots lezun” (Khorenatsi, 1858, с.211; A. Akopyan, 1987, с.71).

The correct translation of this sentence is: “…created writings for the wild language of White Khazars (“agh” – “white,” “khazur” – “khazar”), which is full of the guttural sounds and similar to Gargarian (!).

Certainly, translation into Russian [read English] is not able to reflect the whole semantic load of Armenian sentence and therefore, the word “created” here is not very appropriate. But it is clear from the original source that the question is about the fitting the White Khazars’ writings, whose language is similar to Gargarian (!).

A. Akopyan believes that the translation of the characteristics of Albanian language (i.e. “ag-khazur/ag-khazar”) can’t be literal. Meaning that this word cannot be translated (?!!). Actually, the word “aghkhazur” is alien to Grabar. In dictionaries all the words of that sentence are defined, except the above-mentioned one:

Stegts – made, created;
Nshanagirs – writings with symbols;
Kokordakhos – guttural;
Aghkhazur - ??? (Not defined in any dictionary);
Hjakan – wild;
Khetsbekazunin – disorderly;
Aynorik – similar/alike;
Gargaratsvots – Gargarian;
Lezun – language.

It would be possible to avoid the confusion, if the word “Aghkhazur” were not falsely translated as “extremely disorderly,” but in the meaning of the ethnonym “Ag-Khazar”/White Khazar” (in Turkic “ag/ak/agh” – white; “Khazar” – one of the dialectical variations of the ethnonym “Azar/Azer”). The ethnonym “khazar” in the form of “khazir/khazur” is met in the ancient Armenian authors, in particular, in the same M. Khorensky. And it is known, that like White and Black Huns (Ag-Gun, Gara-Gun), there were tribal divisions of “white” and “black” Khazars. Zakhari Ritor, counting the Turks, living above the Khazar gates, did mention “White Khazars,” as well (transl. by Pigulyevskaya, 1941, p. 165). Khorensky, talking about Khazars, has devoted the whole chapter, describing the war with latter (in original “hazur/hazir”).

In much more ancient times, “KhazAr” and “AzEr” were the variations of the one and the same ethnonym. The underlined “A/E” before final “r,” is pronounced like “a” in English word “map.” And the prosthetics (protezirovanie) of the “Kh/h” is the phonetic peculiarity of many Turkic languages. For example, Kazakhs pronounce the word “ayag” (leg) as “hayag”. Even in Garabagh the word “ana” (“mother” in Baku in its initial form) is pronounced as “hana.” In addition: “araba” [cart] – “haraba,” “achar” [key] – “khachar.” Also note, that Hayq spell the Turkic word “ot” (grass) as “khot.”

The translator of the primary source, N. Akinyan used to doubt that Mashtots “created” the alphabet. The Turkic belonging of Gargar/Kangar were proven by me via ethno genetic analyzes (“Azer Khalgi,” F. Agasioglu, Baku, 2000) and also by G. Geybullayev, Y. Yusifov, A. Alekperov, V. Gukasyan, etc., (contrary to the ruling anti-scientific conception, explaining the formation of Azerbaijani people on the basis of Iranian, Caucasian and Turkic stocks during some 100 years).

Thus, the question in the text is not about the creation of the Albanian alphabet, but about the fitting the Khazar language (more precisely, dialect, being similar to Gargarian) to the writing and reading the Evangel. Undoubtedly, the pointed out Khazar writing is a Turkic, used by the formers before accepting Judaism. During those times, it was necessary to translate the Evangel into the language of the people, turning to that religion. Meaning that, it was vital to write the God’s Word via runic letter. This religion became wide-spread in Albania among the Turks, like: Suvars/Savirs, Khazars/Azers, Sags, Albanians/arrans, Huns, Gogars, Kangars, Kipchaks and overall, among the ones who were known as “Garapapag,” “Garadonlu.” During that period the notions “Albanian” and “Erman/Arman,” were used mainly in the sense of “Christians,” rather than in ethnic sense. Before Hayq arrived in the Caucasus, the tribal unions “Alban” and “Arman” (confessing Christianity) had already lived there (note that “Arman” has nothing to do with the modern Hayq/Armenians). Probably, the Mashtots’ business was the translation and spread of Bible. But Armenian historians present it as “the creation of the Albanian alphabet.” There were 26 tribes in Albania and the majority was Turkic. So, did Mashtots “create” the alphabet for all the residents of that country? This is not serious because if so, Mashtots had to know the dialects of not only Turkic, but also Dagestani speaking tribes. No logics.

Thus, the fitting of the letter to write the Holy Scripture, (which is known up to know as “a creation of Albanian alphabet”), has nothing to do with those runic inscriptions, presented as “Albanian letter” (by the way, K. Aliyev successfully deciphered the best remained samples of Mingachevir letters, presented in the past as “Udish” [Caucasian speaking]).

Prior to Islam, the tribes, known as Albanians, lived in Azerbaijan (obviously, Albanians were the largest among all the tribes, which entailed the generalization of them as a unique name of the country; see G. Geybullayev “To the ethno genesis of Azerbaijanis,” Baku, 1991); the dialects of all those tribes were somewhat similar. And writings, similar to each other and found in Mingachevir, Gobustan, Nakchivan, Zangezur, Garabagh, outside Albania and Atroptena, belonged to one or another Turkic family. And Albanian dialect couldn’t possess the characteristics of the rude language. Even the Hay chronicler Mkhitar Ayrivanskiy names Albanian language as “melodic, beautiful” and not surprisingly, many Hay men of letters created their works in that language.

(*) The self-designation of modern Armenians is “Hay,” and this has nothing to do with Turkic people “erman/arman/ermen.” The proto-Hayq tribes, arrived in Asia Minor, after the consolidation with that peoples (who lived of the same name region “Arman”), got this name and were called that way by the neighboring peoples. Therefore, in order to avoid the confusion, created by Armenian (more precisely Hayq) scholars, it is necessary to call them according to their self-designation.

(**) In this case, it is out of the question to talk about the “creation” of the alphabet. It becomes obvious, that to write Evangel in the language of the people, turning to Christianity, Mashtots, along with Albanian clergy, suited already existing Ag-Khazarian dialect (being similar to Gargarian) to the norms of the reading and writings of the Holy Scripture.

By the way, having taking into consideration the missionary activity of Mashtots, it is incorrect to state that Christianity among Albanians was spread by Hayq. In particular, Musa Galakendli (Moses Kalankatuatsi) writes, that the church in Albania had been built before than that in Armenia.

(***) The point here is that the works by Musa Galakendli [“Gala” – “rock, tower” “kend” – “village”] were translated from Albanian into Armenian language and were distorted. Armenians tried to “prove” that they spread Christianity and Armenian Church were higher than Albanian one (And this when there were episcopate in Albania, but in Armenia – catholicosat?!!)

Anania Makatsi arrived in Khachen (Khachin) in the year 958, during the times of the Catholicos Gagik (948-962). Gagik informs that he has got a dedication in the name of the St. Georgiy, to become the Catholicos of Albania. As was initially written in “The History of Albania:” “orpes ev er b skzbane mal ev kargeal i patmut`ean aguaniz…” Anania ordered to rewrite “The History of Albania” in favor of Armenians (zor sireak` orum ev zangordn eak tesut`ean), after he had read the phrase: “226 years after the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, on the 17^th year of the Armenian tsar Trdad and during the days of the Albanian tsar Urnair, the sovereign St. Georgiy from Arshag family (and this is a TURKIC family!), the enlightener of Armenians, was dedicated on the throne by those apostles, while Trdad and Urnair were FIRE WORSHIPERS.” According to Stepanos Orbelian (“patmut yun nahangin Sisakan”),: “Following the advice of Anania, it was carefully added into “The History…” that the first Albanian episcope had been initiated by Georgiy (enlightener of Armenians) after the Urnair’s request. Albanians had been remained obedient to beneficiary thrones for 440 years, and Albanians were enlightened by Armenians, because Armenians were patriarchs but those (Albanians) – archbishops.” But obviously, Anania didn’t read in “The History…” (II, 47) that “the Albanian throne was established earlier than Armenian.” Needless to mention, that the last fact was not written in the translation by Sh. Smbatyan:

Mingachevir and Derbend characters, presented as Dagestanian.

The Greek characters, found in the Beyuk-Dakhna village. There are three seal symbols below the text.

Latin text. Gobustan, I century.

Runic letters, copied by the author of this article from the on-rock original in the Yanigli village of Tavuz district.

The sample of the Aramaic writing, found near the Geycha Lake (arm. “Sevan”)

The sample of the Pahlavi writing (Derbend).

Petroglyphic writings in Nuvedi.

The sample of the Agirshag (Turkic) runic writings. Djalilabad.

The sample of the Turkic runic writing, found in Transcaucasia by I. Dogan. Garakend village.

The samples of the Turkic writings, found in the grave of the Prince of the Saga/Saka tribe [column 1], and fixed by embossed design on iron, wood and other items, simplifies the reading of runic. It is worth to note that by the same way the Phoenician and Etruscan texts were fixed.