Today, an international summit is being held in Armenia under the slogan “Leaders for Nature”. The event is attended by about 10 heads of state and government from various countries around the world, as well as high-ranking officials from about 50 countries.
The summit began with the performance of the Armenian national anthem. In the hall, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sat to the left of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sat to his right. Other high-ranking guests, such as Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, also participated in the event.
Modern.az reports that a remarkable event occurred during the solemn part of the event. The Armenian “Karin” song and dance ensemble presented a dance called “Karno Kochari”.
This once again clearly demonstrated the Armenians' plagiaristic activity against the Azerbaijani cultural heritage - the art of dance.
The point is that the dance the Armenians call “Karno Kochari” is actually the Azerbaijani national “Kochari” dance.
It should be noted that the appropriation of the "Kochari" dance by Armenians has been a topic of discussion in both local and international cultural circles for many years.
Armenians shamelessly claim that they created this dance, which they call “Kochari”, during the pagan period when nature was a cult (?). Armenians try to explain that the dance is related to the worship of an animal - a ram. Interestingly, the word “koç” (ram) is also of Turkic origin.
“Kochari” has been included in the list of Armenia's 4 best dances. Armenians, who constantly promote this, have tried to show the world that they are an ancient people by performing “Kochari” at various international events.
They even added this dance to the song performed by the Armenian singer at the “Eurovision-2011” international song contest.
At that time, the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan prepared an extensive study on the history of the dance, its connection to the Azerbaijani people, and even the etymology of the word “kochari”, and sent it to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
However, Armenians did not stop and repeatedly presented this dance to UNESCO as an “ethnic Armenian dance”.
Finally, the Armenian propaganda machine managed to convince UNESCO of its falsification.
Thus, on December 6, 2017, at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held on Jeju Island, South Korea, the Azerbaijani national dance “Kochari” was included in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list as a dance belonging to Armenia.
“Kochari” is one of Azerbaijan's famous folk dances and symbolizes the ancient Turkic nomadic lifestyle. As its name suggests, this dance is related to "koch" - meaning movement, displacement, nomadic life. The rhythm, performance style, and plasticity of the dance convey a fighting spirit, a call for unity, and heroic motifs. Different variants of the “Kochari” dance exist in various regions of Azerbaijan (e.g., Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Shaki, etc.)
Azerbaijani cultural figures and folklorists have repeatedly protested against the acceptance of “Kochari” as an Armenian folk dance, explaining with historical and scientific evidence that this dance is connected to Azerbaijan.
The Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan has made appeals to UNESCO regarding this issue.
Unfortunately, these appeals remained fruitless, and the formalization of the “Kochari” dance in the name of Armenians has not been rectified.
“Kochari” dance is a type of the ancient “Yalli” dance, which is very popular in Azerbaijan. Descriptions of the “Yalli” dance are also found on the Gobustan rocks, which are considered one of Azerbaijan's oldest historical stone monuments and date back to the Mesolithic period, covering the 12th-8th millennia BC.
The “Kochari” dance is mainly widespread in Nakhchivan, one of Azerbaijan's oldest regions. This dance, included in the repertoire by folklore groups from Sharur, Sadarak, Kangarli, Julfa, and Shahbuz districts of Nakhchivan, is also performed at weddings and public festivities.
The “Kochari” dance was a very popular dance performed by Azerbaijanis in the times before they were completely deported from their ancestral lands, i.e., Western Azerbaijan (present-day Armenia) (until 1988).
A. Gafarli
