Azerbaijan Systematically, “Maliciously” Destroying Armenian Christian Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, Report

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new report by the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) calls on the international community to hold Azerbaijan accountable for what it describes as the systematic “malicious destruction” of Armenia’s Christian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Neighbors Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have intermittently fought for decades over which country has the rightful claim to Nagorno-Karabakh – a region which is home to a wealth of Armenian Christian heritage sites. Azerbaijan has had control over most of Nagono-Karabakh since the Second Karabakh War which ended in November 2020.

Raising the alarm about Azerbaijan’s activity in Nagono-Karabakh over the last four years, ECLJ has published a report titled “The Systematic Erasure of Armenian Christian Heritage in Nagono-Karabakh.”

Having stated its intention to “bring attention to the malicious destruction and revisionism of Armenian Christian heritage,” the ECLJ reports: “Between November 2020 and September 2023, dozens of Armenian Christian heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh were destroyed or damaged. When not torn down, many of these sites were closed to the public, even to pilgrims. Now, with Azerbaijan’s complete control of Nagorno-Karabakh following a military offensive in September 2023, the destruction of Armenia’s cultural heritage has only grown more rampant.”

The ECLJ notes that Azerbaijan has “repeatedly refused to allow foreign observers to monitor Nagorno-Karabakh’s cultural sites” and therefore Armenia’s cultural heritage can only be monitored via satellite imaging.

Calling for effective intervention from the international community, the ECLJ asserts: “Azerbaijan’s destruction of Armenian culture warrants international attention not only because a people group’s invaluable heritage is in danger of being erased, but also because Azerbaijan’s actions contravene international agreements such as the 1954 Hague Convention and the World Heritage Convention.”

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