ARMENIA
ON-SITE RESEARCH VISIT
SEPTEMBER 2024, YEREVAN
In September 2024, NOSTOS Strategies visited Yerevan to engage with key stakeholders and discuss the protection of Armenia's cultural heritage, particularly as it relates to the conflict in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with Azerbaijan.
Numerous sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, including cemeteries, churches, and the ancient city of Tigranakert, have been continuously threatened, damaged, or destroyed by Azerbaijani forces during and after the conflict. The destruction of ethnic Armenian historical, religious, political, and residential sites intensified following Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Artsakh, and the subsequent exodus of its population in September 2023.
Instances of heritage destruction occurred, for example, in Shushi with the removal of the dome of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and the alteration of its facade (see Monument Watch report here), as well as the desecration of Ghazanchetsots Cemetery. Azerbaijani forces have also destroyed memorials of the First War over Artsakh in the 1990s, and historical and modern khachkars (Armenian cross stones).
Another trend in Azerbaijan's practices related to Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh is the obstruction of access to residents and pilgrims to their heritage and cultural sites. Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, beginning in December 2022 and intensifying through the September 2023 military escalation, has denied Nagorno-Karabakh residents their right to freely participate in the cultural life of Armenians of Artsakh.
We note that the protection of cultural heritage featured in the provisional measures order of 7 December 2021 in the proceedings on the Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v Azerbaijan). In this order, the ICJ ordered that Azerbaijan take measures “to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artefacts”. In 2022, the European Parliament also passed a resolution (Resolution 2022/2582(RSP)) condemning “Azerbaijan’s continued policy of erasing and denying the Armenian cultural heritage in and around Nagorno-Karabakh”, and calling upon Azerbaijan to refrain from interfering with Armenian heritage sites.
The preservation of Armenia’s cultural heritage remains a pressing challenge for Armenia, as well as for the global Armenian community.
