The “Tatoyan” Foundation in cooperation with partners is taking measures to remove the fake Azerbaijani versions of the names of a number of communities in Syunik Province of Armenia in the Google Map and Google Earth applications. The former Human Rights Defender of the RA Arman Tatoyan reported.
The “Tatoyan” Foundation Center for Law and Justice has discovered that in Google Map and Google Earth applications, the names of locations of a number of communities in the Syunik Province of Armenia are referred to as Azerbaijani names of places and in the Azerbaijani language. The investigation was initiated after one of the residents of Sisian city sounded the alarm by notifying of these falsities to the «Tatoyan» foundation.
Our investigation shows that schools, parks, squares, etc. have been renamed and given false or non-existent names. For example, the river “Vorotan” is indicated by the Azerbaijani name “Bazarçay,” the Sisian park is falsely named after the former president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, another park is named after Ataturk, the location of the Syunik governorate is identified only in Azerbaijani language as “Zəngəzur Vilayəti Administrasısıyı”, etc. They even tried to change the name of Sisian to Qarakilise. The details of these falsities are presented in the attached photos prepared by “Tatoyan” Foundation.
It is apparent that these descriptions took place with the intervention of the Azerbaijani authorities. With such intervention, first of all, an attempt is made to subject the people of Armenia and especially the residents of specific communities to psychological oppression. Further, by doing so, an attempt is made to present to the world false information, specifically, that Syunik is Azerbaijani, an absolutely false thesis of the Azerbaijani authorities. Finally, an attempt is also made to legitimize the Azerbaijani attacks and criminal invasions on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
A similar approach has taken place with falsely renaming locations in Meghri and Kapan by referring to them in Azerbaijani.
The “Tatoyan” Foundation, in cooperation with the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-WR), is already in contact with the “Google” company and is taking measures to correct the misinformation campaign. As a result of measures already taken, some of the fake names are now removed.
If these steps do not result in corrections of all the misinformation, further measures will be undertaken with American Armenian lawyers to launch judicial proceedings with a demand to remove the Azerbaijani forgeries,” he wrote.
