Azerbaijan Destroys 19th Century Armenian Church and Builds Mosque

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Continuing the destruction of the Armenian Christian heritage in Azerbaijan, Muslim Azerbaijani authorities have destroyed the 19th century St. John the Baptist Church in the town of Shushi and are building a mosque in the village of Karintak where the church once was, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Karintak village and the church were in the Shushi province of Artsakh, which is now integrated into the Shusha province of Azerbaijan following the conquest of Artsakh in September 2023.

“The church in Shushi, built by Armenians in 1847, was known in Armenian as St. Hovhannes Mkrtich or Kanach Zham (the green chapel),” ICC said in its report. “Azerbaijan destroyed the church and several surrounding buildings during the winter of 2023-2024 according to satellite imagery published by Caucasus Heritage Watch, an investigative institution supported by Cornell University.”

“Likewise, imagery dated from April 2024 shows that the entire Karintak village is nearly razed to the ground,” the ICC report continues. “Caucasus Heritage Watch, which also published the imagery of Karintak, assessed that Azerbaijan likely destroyed the village to build a new village for Azerbaijani resettlers.”

ICC said Azerbaijan is building a large mosque in Karintak. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the mosque’s construction site, which is due for completion this year.

The United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recently named Azerbaijan a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC), a designation that USCIRF applies to “countries that commit systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

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