An insight into how the Arabic-Islamic world perceived medieval Western Europe, refuting previous claims that the Muslim world regarded Western Europe as a cultural backwater, and instead arguing for the presence of cultural and information flows between the two very different societies.

Despite a history of persecution, oppression and dispersion, the Armenian people continue to display a determination for survival and a high degree of national self-awareness. Yet perestroika and glasnost found Soviet Armenia unprepared for the re-emergence of Armenian political nationalism. The focus of this book is on an issue crucial to Armenian identity – the disputed territory of Mountainous (Nagorno) Karabagh in neighbouring Azerbaijan. For centuries a centre of Armenian culture and intellectual life and with an Armenian majority, Karabagh (or Artsakh) has consistently been denied an Armenian identity by successive Russian, British and Azeri rulers. Since 1920 Armenians of Karabagh have been immured against their will in Azerbaijan and deprived of many basic rights. Today, the majority people of Karabagh still define themselves as Armenian and continue the struggle for unification with the Republic of Armenia, despite a crippling economic blockade. A unique work on the subject, this book also presents an objective history of the Armenian people in the USSR, Türkiye and the diaspora. Please note that the terminology in the fields of minority rights and indigenous peoples’ rights has changed over time. MRG strives to reflect these changes as well as respect the right to self-identification on the part of minorities and indigenous peoples. At the same time, after over 50 years’ work, we know that our archive is of considerable interest to activists and researchers. Therefore, we make available as much of our back catalogue as possible, while being aware that the language used may not reflect current thinking on these issues.