We Are Our Mountains

We Are Our Mountains
LocationStepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan
Coordinates39°50′13.5″N 46°46′11.42″E / 39.837083°N 46.7698389°E / 39.837083; 46.7698389

We Are Our Mountains (Armenian: Մենք ենք մեր լեռները, romanized: Menk' enk' mer leṙnerə) is a monument north of Stepanakert in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. The sculpture, completed in 1967 by Sargis Baghdasaryan, is widely regarded as a symbol of the Armenian heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, with some considering it to be a symbol of Armenian identity as a whole.[1]

The monument is made from volcanic tuff and depicts an old man and woman hewn from rock, representing the mountain people of Karabakh. It is known colloquially as "Tatik-Papik" (տատիկ-պապիկ) in Armenian and "Dedo-Babo" (Դեդո-Բաբո) in the Karabakh dialect, which translates as "Grandmother and Grandfather". The sculpture is prominent in Artsakh's coat of arms.[2]

On 29 September 2023, Azerbaijani officials placed the flag of Azerbaijan on the monument, on the same day of the Azerbaijani takeover of Stepanakert,[3] after the Azerbaijani military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh undertaken ten days earlier and the subsequent flight of the Armenian population.[4] Concerns were raised that Azerbaijan could demolish the monument.[5][6][7] Instead the Azeri government would appropriate the monument, claiming that "it was built in the city of Khankendi in Azerbaijan in 1967 and that it is one of the many examples of Azerbaijan's tolerance of multicultural and national-religious monument" while also claiming that the monument was "Armenianized" and had always truly been an Azeri symbol.[8]

5 Artsakh dram coin with Tatik Papik.
Plaque about the 2013 restoration.
  1. ^ We Are Our Mountains, 29 July 2023, retrieved 2023-09-20
  2. ^ Coat of Arms
  3. ^ "Armenians describe journey to safety after fall of their homeland". The Independent. 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  4. ^ "Presidential consultant in Karabakh shares picture from Azerbaijan's Khankendi". 29 September 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  5. ^ "The Cultural Genocide Against Armenians". TIME. 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  6. ^ Nayyar, Rhea (2023-10-02). "Symbolic Armenian Monument in Artsakh at Risk of Destruction". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  7. ^ Rusia, Redacción (2023-09-27). "Artsakh: the end of history". Pressenza. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  8. ^ "Azerbaijan starts process of appropriating Karabakh's 'We Are Our Mountains' monument". News.am. Retrieved 23 September 2024.