We live in troubled, difficult and sad times. However, we live with anticipation and hope for a good future. The publication of books continues, which can shed new light on the history of the state called Azerbaijan, which now borders on the country of Ararat, its ancient inhabitants with more than 6-7 thousand years of history.
History of the Eastern part of Armenia. Aghvank, Utik, Gardman (second, revised edition). I present a small part of the book. Who are the Aghvans or Albanians?
The history of one hundred years old Azerbaijan is presentation as the history of an ancient country. In the course of the presentation, a foreign culture, created long before the emergence of modern Azerbaijan, is appropriated: archaeological objects, ethnographic material, folklore. And Christian culture, churches, monasteries, khachkars, is attributed to the Albanian tribes, the heirs of which the Azerbaijanis consider themselves to be.
Research allows us to say that there was no separate people, such as the Aghvans or Albanians, and Aghvank is mentioned by Armenian historians (cf. Vaspurakan, Lori, Shirak), and Albania, mentioned by Greco-Roman historians, is the name of the Armenian region, not the name any ethnic group.
The Greeks and Romans adapted the name of the Armenian Aghvank to their language, presenting it under the name Albania, which was later allegedly presented as a kind of union of 26 Caucasian tribes with their languages.
According to Movses Khorenatsi, Aghvank, originally inhabited by Armenians, got its name from the docile, good, literally – sweet – agu (աղու) of Sisak, originating from Hayk. At that time, the son of Sisak, Aran’s, was appointed caretaker in Aghvan in the north-east of Armenia by king Vagharshak. Aghvan was part of Armenia on the plain at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains.
Most of the tribes mentioned by Greek, Roman and Armenian historians such as: Alavats (now Akhti), Kheki (now Tsakhurs), Tavaspars (now Tabasarantzi), Leks (now Lezgins), Lpni (now Laichi), Didois (Didoeti) and other Caucasian tribes, and today they live in their original habitats, in the southern spurs of the Caucasus Mountains, near the Caspian Sea, in Dagestan and in the northern regions of modern Azerbaijan, and are not related to Aghvank.
