2024-07-10 21:04:56
The Ministry of Culture and the Intellectual Property Agency of Azerbaijan issued a joint statement in connection with the misappropriation and violation of copyright regarding the work of Azerbaijani composer Bahram Nasibov “Karabakh”.
As reported by Day.Az, the statement says that cases of theft and appropriation of original works and folklore belonging to Azerbaijan by Armenians continue.
“Another such case was the appropriation by Armenians of the work “Karabakh” (“Anadır arzulara hər zaman Qarabağ”), the words and music of which belong to the famous Azerbaijani composer Bahram Nasibov. It was performed by Gor Yepremyan with changed words and posted on the YouTube platform under the name “Sirun Jan” with the note “Armenian Folk”, that is, “Armenian folk song.”
As in the case of the appropriation of Uzeyir Hajibeyov’s works by Armenians, this plagiarism rightly caused a wide resonance in Azerbaijani society, and the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan gave an extensive commentary on this matter on July 9, 2024.
In this regard, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan declare:
1. The work “Karabakh”, the words and music of which belong to the Azerbaijani composer Bahram Nasibov, was created in the 20th century and was first performed by People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Arif Babayev in 1972.
2. The work was registered on June 2, 1972 in the Azerbaijan branch of the All-Union Copyright Agency, the successor of which is the Intellectual Property Agency, in accordance with the legislation of the USSR. The heirs of Bahram Nasibov registered many of the composer’s songs, including the song “Karabakh” on July 21, 2004 in the Intellectual Property Agency (at that time called the Copyright Agency), and they were issued a certificate of registration of the work under number 662.
3. The work is one of the most famous songs of Bahram Nasibov, it has been repeatedly performed in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other countries, there are a large number of video and audio recordings of the performance of this work.
4. Documents of state registration of the work in Azerbaijan, copies on various media and recognition of the work as the author of Bahram Nasibov during mass demonstrations are proof that Bahram Nasibov is the sole author of the work.
5. The use of the work is possible with the consent of the heirs of Bahram Nasibov and to the extent specified in this agreement, with the indication of its authorship. As can be seen from the descriptive part and the content of the video on Youtube entitled “Sirun Jan”, Bahram Nasibov is not indicated as the author, and on the contrary, the illegally performed work was posted on the Youtube platform as an “Armenian folk song”.
6. Based on the registration documents of the work and the history of its mass performance, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan unequivocally regard the above circumstance as plagiarism.
7. As additional evidence of plagiarism, the Work (in several different performances) and the video “Sirun Jan” were presented to experts of the Intellectual Property Agency in order to identify similarities. The experts were People’s Artists of the Republic of Azerbaijan, composers Faig Sujaddinov and Eldar Mansurov, who, as a result of the investigation, established that the music of the song “Sirun Jan”, performed by the Armenian performer, is completely identical to the music of the work “Karabakh”, written by Bahram Nasibov based on the mode of mugham “chahargah”. In addition, the original title of the work “Karabakh” was changed to “Sirun Jan”, and the original text in Azerbaijani, which includes the sentence “Anadır arzulara hər zaman Qarabağ”, was changed to a new text in Armenian.
8. Thus, the work was distorted, plagiarism was committed with respect to the music that constitutes the work. Thus, the performer Gor Yepremyan and the persons who participated in the illegal performance of the work, in its recording and posting on the Internet, violated the personal copyright of Bahram Nasibov and the property rights of his heirs. The said violation of copyright primarily created legal liability for Gor Yepremyan and other persons who committed the violation.
9. We declare that if Armenia does not conduct an investigation and does not eliminate the fact of the said violation, it will become a party that has violated the principle of “national treatment”, which is one of the fundamental principles established by Article 5 of the Berne Convention “For the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works” and other international treaties, including the Convention of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the Performers and Phonograms Treaty, to which it is a party.
In this regard, we demand the elimination of cases of mass performance and presentation of the work of the Azerbaijani composer Bahram Nasibov “Karabakh” as an “Armenian folk song” under the name “Sirun jan” with changed words performed by Gor Yepremyan and the elimination of plagiarism, the restoration of Bahram Nasibov’s copyright, the prosecution of persons who committed the offense in accordance with international law and national legislation and inform about the measures taken.
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