Complaint letter from the Geghard Foundation to the journal Universidad y Sociedad published in Cuba
2025-09-12
In recent years, the scientific journal “Universidad y Sociedad”, indexed in international platforms, has published a number of “scientific” articles that exhibit politically biased approaches, a pronounced anti-Armenian and anti-academic orientation, and contain blatant falsifications as well as hostile attitudes toward the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people.
Particularly,
1․ Aliyev Zaur Bilal Oglu. (2020). A vision on Аrmenian-Тurk conflict during the beginning of XX century
This article distorts the events that took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The Armenian Genocide is presented as forced migration, with Armenians accused of killing 518,000 Turks. The author portrays the events of 1915 not as genocide, but as a “clash between Armenians and Turks” during a civil war. http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rc/v16n77/1990-8644-rc-16-77-461.pdf
2․Bahadur Oghlu, F.Y. (2022). Economic Relations of the Safavid State of Azerbaijan with England in the Second Half of the 16th Century – Beginning of the 17th Century – In this article, the Safavid state is presented as Azerbaijani.http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rus/v14n4/2218-3620-rus-14-04-442.pdf։
3․ Vagif gizi Shukurova, G., P., (2022). Azerbaijani view of Nizami Ganjavi studies.
4․ Hajiyev, I. M. (2023). On the Ethnic History of the Nakhchivan Region of Azerbaijan – The history of Nakhijevan is completely distorted in this article, particularly the Armenian heritage of Nakhijevan http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rus/v15n4/2218-3620-rus-15-04-375.pdf.
5․Aliyev, S. (2024). The embodiment of the spirit of returning to western Azerbaijan in poetry: the formula of memory, homeland, displacement.
The territory of the Republic of Armenia is presented as “Western Azerbaijan,” which constitutes an explicit territorial claim by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Armenia, supported by Azerbaijani historians. https://rus.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/rus/article/view/4845/4831.
6. Amrahov, Z., & Balayev, K. (2024). Educational Schools in Irevan Governorate (1850–1917)In this article, the present-day territory of the Republic of Armenia is presented as “part of Northern Azerbaijan.” http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rus/v16n6/2218-3620-rus-16-06-297.pdf.
The “Geghard” Scientific Analytical Foundation draws the attention of the editorial board of the journal “Universidad y Sociedad” to publications in the journal that present themselves as “scientific.”
The “Geghard” Foundation has appealed to international scientific databases—including Citma Certificado, Emerging Sources Citation Index, SciELO Cuba, DOAJ, Citas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias, Rebit, and Latindex—requesting a review of these publications for compliance with scientific ethics.
If necessary, the Foundation is prepared to provide interested organizations and parties with detailed evidence regarding all of the aforementioned articles.
COMPLAINT
From “Geghard” scientific analytical foundation regarding the publication of many pseudo-scientific and anti-Armenian articles in the "Universidad y Sociedad" journal (Cuba).
In recent years, the journal “Universidad y Sociedad” has systematically published articles by Azerbaijani authors containing pseudo-scientific and anti-Armenian statements. An analysis of several materials published in this journal revealed:
a group of publications with an anti-Armenian focus,
inadequate and non-rigorous review of articles on South Caucasus topics,
systematic violation of academic standards.
Below are some historical and political observations regarding the following articles published in the journal "Universidad y Sociedad":
Bahadur oghlu, F.Y., (2022). Economıc relatıons of the Safavıd State of Azerbaıjan wıth England at the second half of the 16th century - begınnıng of the 17th century. Revista Universidad y Sociedad, 14(4), 442-446, http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rus/v14n4/2218-3620-rus-14-04-442.pdf․
Aliyev, S. (2024). The embodiment of the spirit of returning to western Azerbaijan in poetry: the formula of memory, homeland, displacement. Universidad y Sociedad, 16(S2), 384-393, https://rus.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/rus/article/view/4845/4831․
The analysis revealed that all seven publications demonstrate a consistent tendency towards the political distortion of historical material, the retrospective ethnicisation of the multicultural heritage of the South Caucasus, and the attempt to delegitimise the historical presence of Armenians in the region.
In this regard, the article by Z. Aliyev (Doctor of Philosophy in Political Sciences, Associate Professor, ANAS Institute of Philosophy and Sociology), is particularly indicative. In the article, he promotes Azerbaijan's historical claims toward the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. In our opinion, the editorial board of the journal should have had sufficient competence to know that Yerevan is an original Armenian city with an autochthonous Armenian population. The same author accuses Armenians of killing more than half a million Turks in 1915, denying the Armenian Genocide.
The topic of the Azerbaijanization of the territory of Armenia is also expressed in the article by Ziyad Amrahov (Associate Professor, PhD on History, Head of Department at Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences) and Khaqan Balayev (Associate Professor of the Department of General Subjects, Baku Engineering University), where the territory of the Yerevan Khanate is considered a significant administrative-territorial unit of “Northern Azerbaijan” during the period of Tsarist Russia (1850-1917).
Similar narratives appear in the article by S. Aliyev (Doctor, professor at Baku State University), who portrays the territory of Armenia as part of “Western Azerbaijan”. This concept was invented within the last two years to advance Azerbaijan’s territorial claims against Armenia. In reality, the concept of “Western Azerbaijan” is false irredentism and cannot be justified historically. Or Hajiyev, I. M. in his article distorts the history of Nakhichevan, particularly the Armenian history of Nakhichevan.
Azerbaijani authors distinguish themselves through their “masterful reconstructions” of Armenia’s history, politics, and culture and also the wider region. The following are also gross falsifications. For example, Yusif Bahadur Farzaliyev (PhD, Associate Professor) considers the Safavid state to be Azerbaijani, and Gulkhani Panah Vagif gizi Shukurova (Doctor of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor) considers Nizami to be an Azerbaijani poet.
All this indicates that representatives of the academic community of the Republic of Azerbaijan are engaged in serving and exporting the current political demands of the state, violating the principles of academism and science.
Based on the above, we urgently demand:
Investigate the mentioned publications.
Remove these and similar works from the journal and website.
Strengthen the review procedures for articles on topics concerning the region.
Ensure compliance with the academic standards of scientific publication.
