The latest work by author and ArmeniaNow analytical reporter Aris Ghazinyan offers new insights into the history of Azerbaijan that the author says are crucial to understanding where the relations of Armenia and its neighboring foe stand today.

The presentation of the book entitled “Polygon “Azerbaijan” took place at Armenia Marriott Hotel Friday. (In Russian, the word “Polygon” loosely means a testing ground; the author, thus, endeavors to present Azerbaijan as a testing ground for the idea of Pan-Turkism).

Ghazinyan, 42, says his 615-page book delves into some features of the historical development of Azerbaijan as a nation that underlie the understanding of the entire range of modern-day Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The book, 25,000 copies, is published in Russian.

“Recent years have brought along quite a number of studies on the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations where these relations are viewed through the prism of an isolated Karabakh problem. The main shortcoming of such works is about their methodology, as it is impossible to fit the whole spectrum of bilateral differences into the Karabakh frame that is limited by time and space,” Ghazinyan explains.

“The Karabakh problem is not the cause but rather a consequence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani antagonism. Therefore, its isolated view shifts the emphasis, creates a distorted reality and makes it impossible to find answers to some crucial questions that, by the way, are not in any way connected with resolving a separate conflict,” the author adds.

Ghazinyan suggests that, for instance, basing on the set of issues related to the Karabakh conflict alone it is impossible to understand the nature and direction of the following statement that once was addressed to historians by Heydar Aliyev, the late president of Azerbaijan and father of the incumbent head of state: “You must create works constantly proving that the land where Armenia is situated now belongs to Azerbaijan. We must do it…”

The book by Ghazinyan was published with the assistance of the Center for Public Relations and Information of the Armenian President’s Administration. It is hoped that “Polygon “Azerbaijan” will be translated into a number of languages.