Former Artsakh official to foreign diplomats: You must not allow ethnic cleansing in the NKR to be turned into a tourist route

Arminfo.  The former Minister of Culture, Youth and Tourism of the NKR addressed an open letter to foreign diplomatic missions accredited in Armenia  amid the visit of foreign diplomats to occupied Artsakh.

"Dear representatives of diplomatic missions, I am addressing you as a person who was born and raised in Artsakh and whose home was in Stepanakert. A few days ago, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Azerbaijan visited occupied Artsakh. In Stepanakert, they visited the so-called "Victory Park" and took a commemorative photograph. While diplomats take photographs at the site of the homes of expelled Armenians, Armenian hostages remain in Azerbaijani prisons. This is not simply a "Victory Park." It is a place where victory is celebrated over people who were deprived of their homes, homeland and freedom. For me, this is not an abstract story," Shahverdyan wrote on his Facebook page.

He added that the place where the group photograph was taken had once been the site of his home—one of hundreds of homes belonging to residents of Stepanakert that were razed to the ground following the forced expulsion in September 2023.

"That is precisely why I am addressing their colleagues from the diplomatic missions in Armenia:  You must understand that by taking part in such trips organized by the Azerbaijani authorities, you legitimize this expulsion. By visiting Stepanakert and posing in the so-called "Victory Park," you must not become part of a political and propaganda picture in which the consequences of the expulsion of the Armenian population are presented as "victory" and "liberation." When visiting Gandzasar and Dadivank, you must see not only the ancient monasteries but also what is happening to their Armenian identity and heritage. When visiting Shushi, you must remember the destruction, alteration and erasure of the city’s Armenian cultural heritage, including its churches.  You must ask questions," the former official added.

"If you visit Stepanakert, you must ask where its former residents are. If you visit an Armenian monastery, you must ask why its Armenian identity is being altered. If you visit Shushi, you must ask what happened to the city’s Armenian churches, museums and cultural heritage. I especially want to address the diplomatic missions of France, Russia and the United States—states that for decades served as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and were directly involved in seeking a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Your colleagues in Baku are not simply traveling around the region.  They are taking part in a carefully organized political and information campaign," Shahverdyan stated.

"You must understand: every diplomatic visit, every photograph and every official gesture has political significance. Behind the beautiful photographs of a "restored Karabakh" are real people expelled from their homes.  Myself included. And while we speak of peace, a just peace cannot be built on forgetting those who were expelled, erasing their heritage and remaining silent about those who are still imprisoned in Azerbaijan. You must remember this the next time you take photographs in Artsakh. You must not allow ethnic cleansing to be turned into a tourist route," he concluded.

It should be noted that it became known yesterday that representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps accredited in Baku had visited occupied Artsakh. They visited Shushi and Stepanakert, where the Azerbaijani occupation regime is erasing all Armenian presence with the tacit encouragement of the so-called civilized international community. Among the participants was also the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Magdalena Grono, who told journalists  of her intention to visit Armenia after Azerbaijan and occupied Artsakh.