| ID | 191076 |
| Title Proper | Place name wars in Karabakh |
| Other Title Information | russian imperial maps and political legitimacy in the Caucasus |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Saparov, Arsène |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Place names play important ideological role in the modern Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh. Both sides use toponymic evidence to claim a prior occupation of the disputed territory. Azerbaijan relies on the Russian maps to prove that the Armenian population are recent newcomers. Armenians point out to the medieval documents to prove the opposite. This article attempts to reconcile the contradictory evidence used by both sides by looking at the transformation of place-naming practises in the wake of the emergence of a modern bureaucratic state.
I argue that before the rise of modern bureaucratic state in Europe the place-naming was not within the realm of the state interest. The Russian conquest brought the uniformity of toponymic landscape into Caucasus where several toponymic landscapes coexisted in time and space. This resulted in elevation of one landscape into an official landscape and silencing of the other. |
| `In' analytical Note | Central Asian Survey Vol.42, No.1; Mar 2023: p.61-88 |
| Journal Source | Central Asian Survey Vol: 42 No 1 |
| Key Words | Ethnic Conflict ; Azerbaijan ; Armenia ; Karabakh ; Place Names |