Pan-Armenian Council for Preservation of Armenian Church accuses  Armenian authorities of complicity in destruction of Christian  heritage in occupied Artsakh

ArmInfo. The lack of response from the Armenian authorities in the face of Azerbaijan's destruction of Armenian Christian heritage in occupied Artsakh is not neutrality  or "peace diplomacy," but direct complicity and treason. This is  stated in a statement received by ArmInfo by the Pan-Armenian Council  for the Preservation of the Armenian Church regarding the destruction  of the Surb Astvatsatsin Church in Stepanakert by the Azerbaijani  occupation regime.

The Council emphasized that Artsakh is the only place in the world  where Christian holy sites are being destroyed with the tacit consent  of the international community. "The terrorist regime of Baku is  brazenly and with impunity destroying Armenian Christian heritage in  the occupied territories of Artsakh. The complete destruction of the  Surb Hakob Church and the Surb Astvatsatsin Church (the Cathedral of  the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God - ed.) in Stepanakert are  not isolated cases. The enemy destroys stone because it fears  Armenian memory, Armenian prayer, and the inalienable Christian  rights engraved in stone. They are obsessively destroying our holy  sites, seeking to completely erase the traces of our existence," the  Pan-Armenian Council for the Preservation of the Armenian Church  noted. The Council's statement also emphasized that the most  disgusting and shameful aspect of this situation is the stubborn  silence of the current Armenian authorities. "When the enemy  desecrates and blows up your national shrines, and the state  apparatus does not react, this is not neutrality or 'peace  diplomacy.' This is direct complicity and treason. The state's  cowardly inaction gives the green light to Baku's bulldozers," the  Council asserted. The Pan-Armenian Council called the lack of  response from the so-called "civilized world," international  organizations, and the global Christian community equally  hypocritical. "By your silence, you become complicit in the most  cynical terror of the 21st century. Impunity breeds new barbarity,  and you are also to blame," the Council noted. In light of the above,  the Pan-Armenian Council for the Preservation of the Armenian Church  demanded that international Christian organizations and UNESCO  abandon their cowardly status as toothless and meaningless observers,  immediately dispatch a fact-finding team to the occupied territories,  and impose effective sanctions against Azerbaijan. In turn, the  Council demanded that the Armenian authorities put an end to the  destructive process of humiliation and concessions and immediately  and publicly deal a decisive blow to this policy on all international  platforms.  "Your silence will not bring peace; it will bring new  massacres and desecration. We call on all Armenians to awaken from  their torpor and end their indifference. The churches of Artsakh are  not just stone buildings; they are the foundation of our identity.  Those who accept the destruction of their shrines today will lose  their home and statehood tomorrow. Those who remain silent in the  face of this crime will answer before history," the Pan-Armenian  Council concluded. It should be recalled that on April 21, it was  reported that Azerbaijan had razed the Surb Astvatsatsin Church to  the ground. Days earlier, news broke of the enemy's destruction of  the Surb Hakob Church in Stepanakert. The cultural genocide in  Artsakh is taking place against the backdrop of the tacit  encouragement of the so-called civilized international community. Day  after day, Azerbaijani occupiers are destroying sites that testify to  the millennia-long presence of Armenians on this land.

It should be noted that since the occupation of Artsakh, Azerbaijan  has completely destroyed or significantly damaged the following  cultural and religious sites. The Kanach Zham (Surb Hovhannes  Mkrtich) Church in Shushi was completely destroyed in April 2024, the  Ghazanchetsots Cemetery in Shushi was completely destroyed, the  village of Karintak was completely bulldozed, and monuments and busts  in Stepanakert, including those of Charles Aznavour, Hovhannes  Aivazovsky, Hovhannes Tumanyan, and Marshal Baghramyan, were  dismantled.

The Marshal Khudyakov Museum in the village of Mets Tager was  destroyed. Currently, approximately 4,000 Armenian cultural sites,  including more than 370 churches and 119 ancient fortresses, remain  under Azerbaijani control.