A PYRAMID OF SKULLS OF SLAIN ARMENIANS

It appears that some Armenian circles during the Shah's time have supported the publication of a book in the Persian language entitled The Massacre ofArmenians(Katliami Ermeniyan). It was authored by a certain Ismail Ra'in, printed bythe "Emir Kebir" Publishing House (Teheran) in 1352 copies in the year 1979 (Shahinshahi 2537). This Persian book as well published (in black and white) on pages 151and 273 (See Annex 4) the same photograph with the trivial trick of printing the same in different focus and once from right and then from the left, to give the impression that they are different photographs. In other words, one photo is just the reverse of the other, the skulls, and the crows having changed places proportionally. The former has an Armenian and the latter a Persian legend underneath. They both present it as if the picture depicts massacred Armenians. For instance, the Persian legend specifically states that the subject matter of the photograph is the events of 1917.

It clearly says:
Serha-yi eramene-ike katliam shudend der sal 1917 (or "the skulls of Armenians massacred in the year 1917")

A certain "Committee for Support to Max Hrair Kilnjian" (Comite de Soutien a MaxHrair Kilndjian), based in Marseille, France, printed cards for distribution, on one side of which the same picture appears (See Annex *). Such a drive for reproduction and posting shows that such falsifications reach the level of "industry" as a result of the zeal of certain Armenian quarters in France.

Further, the daily Nova-Svetlina, dated April 23, 1985, of Bulgaria, published an article entitled "Tragic Memories" (Tragichni Spomeni) and signed by an Armenian, M.Sofian (See Annex 9). Ir reproduces the same pictures with the following legend:
"The terrifying traces of barbaric massacres of the Armenians in Turkey in the year 1915".

The original Bulgarian reads: "Potresavashchite sledi ot barbarskoto klane na armentsi te b Turtsiya prez 1915 godina". With such a forgery, author Sofian's powers of persuation would normally dwindle with the editors. The Bulgarian editors, on the other hand, may easily check and compare the information given here with the original of the Vereshchagin painting at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Let us come to the Gosudarstvennaya Tretyakovskaya Galleria, or the Tretyakov Gallery itself. Founded in 1895 and opened to the public three years later, it houses one of the best collections of paintings and sculptres by Russian artists and a large number of drawings and prints, works of applied art, and folk art of early Russia. The Museum's collections cover a period of nearly one-thousand years, from the Eleventh Century to the present day. They begin with the Russian icons and include some of the outstanding samples of artictic achievements, including those by A. Ivanov, P. Fedotov, V. Perov, I. Repin, I. Shishkin, A. Benois and others - certainly including Vasili Vereshchagin...

In Page 12 of the Novosti publication on the Tretyakov Gallery (for coverpages, see Annexes 10 and 11), there appears a paragraph (see Annex 12) on painter Vereshchagin and his celebrated work. I prefer to quote verbatim:
"Impressed by the glory scenes of war in the Balkans and Central Asia Vasili Vereschagin (sic)created on his convases an image of the soldier as hero and martyr. His imagination was stirred not so much by 'great' battle episodes as by the bloodshed, the misery and suffering brought by war. Perhaps his most striking picture on the subject is THE APOTHEOSIS OF WAR, which shows a pyramid of skulls. Itis a painting that has much to say to our own day and age. The artist expressed his indignation by dedicating this picture to 'all the great conquerors of the past, present and future.'"

Not a word about 1915! Not a word about 1917! Not a word about the Armenians! This massive catalogue is an official and a reliable Novosti publication, in page12 of which Vadim Olshevsky, who wrote the 'introduction' to the book, says the following in the concluding paragraphs of his manuscript: "Let us now look at the date of the paintings"...

So, let us look at the date of the Vereshchagin painting: It says in page 24 (See Annex 13) that the painting in question was done in the years 1871-1872. How can this be tied up with 1915? Such a falsification can throw dust only into the eyes of the mentally retarded. How can what is done in the early 1870s portray 1915? Especially when one remembers that the painter himself (as seen in the same Annex 13) passed away in 1904. The gallery or descendants of the painter may wish to demand damages for slander of title.

Quoted from a paper titled "An Armenian Falsification" Prof Dr Turkkaya Ataov, Chairman, International Relations Division, Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University.