Russian MFA warns Armenian authorities against distorting common history

ArmInfo. The Russian Foreign  Ministry issued a statement in which they pointed out the distortion  of information in the new history textbooks in Armenia. The  statement, published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry,  draws attention to the "extremely dubious content of the history  textbook for the 8th grade of Armenian schools, the text of which is  published on the official website of the subordinate structure of the  Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of  Armenia." "The digital version of the book is available for study and  ordering for the 2024/2025 academic year.

One of the chapters of the new manual under the provocative title  presents the  events in the South Caucasus of the late 18th - early 19th centuries  in a distorted form. In particular, the assessments of the results of  the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828 were revised. The Treaty of  Turkmanchay is called nothing less than the of Eastern  Armenia. Such a presentation is capable of causing shock in any  historian.

If you read serious sources, including Armenian ones, you can see  completely different approaches to the peace treaty of 1828. Until  recently, it was assessed in republican textbooks as having "colossal  significance for the future restoration of Armenian statehood," the  Russian Foreign Ministry recalled. 

Together in Moscow, they emphasized that attempts to question the  special role of the Russian Empire, and subsequently the USSR and  Russia, in the formation of today's Armenia means going against  well-known facts. "We are talking about another shameless attempt to  rewrite our common history. In the best traditions of Western  propaganda and political engineering, white is called black with the  "light hand" of certain Armenian figures who are especially zealous  in trying to curry favor with their sponsors.

The introduction of such formulations directly contradicts the  commitments in the field of preserving historical memory undertaken  by the Armenian leadership. Thus, in the Joint Statement of the  President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin and the Prime Minister  of the Republic of Armenia N.V. Pashinyan of April 19, 2022, it is  said: "the parties, maintaining a unified approach to the common  past, expressed their intention to continue the fight against the  revision of the results of World War II and the falsification of  history." We hope that the Armenian authorities will not allow such a  textbook to be transferred to schools, and will not "turn a blind  eye" to such unceremonious attempts to distort our common past," the  Russian Foreign Ministry summarized.

This is not the first case of scandals with new Armenian history  textbooks. Earlier, a scandal erupted in connection with the wording  contained in the 7th grade textbooks. Then experts in the field  accused the author of the textbook of trying to distort Armenian  history, to exclude important elements and dates from the history of  the Armenian people. The sound arguments of the experts were not met  with understanding in the Ministry of Education. The department  refused to change the controversial paragraphs. Experts are inclined  to believe that the current authorities of Armenia, in favor of the  current political situation, are trying to distort the past of the  Armenian people.