Stepanakert: Azerbaijan is pursuing policy of not only ethnic  cleansing, but also cultural genocide against Artsakh

ArmInfo.We strongly condemn the statement made on 2 May by the Chairman of the State Committee on  Religious Associations of Azerbaijan, which says that the Armenian clergy should leave Dadivank Monastery, because it allegedly belongs to Caucasian Albania and, sooner or later, will be governed by the  Albanian-Udi religious community. This is stated in the statement of the Foreign Ministry of Artsakh.

The Foreign Ministry of the NKR added that such a statement by the  head of a state body of Azerbaijan constitutes a gross violation of  the ICJ ruling of 7 December 2021, and once again demonstrates that  the authorities of Azerbaijan are implementing a consistent policy of  ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, destruction and appropriation of the  Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage.  "In this  regard, we consider it necessary to remind that since November 2020,  Dadivank Monastery has been under the control of the Russian  peacekeepers, who are called to ensure the unimpeded and safe access  of citizens to the sanctuary. Furthermore, UNESCO, as the world's  leading specialised organisation, has repeatedly emphasised that  historical and cultural heritage should not become a tool for  political goals, and has called on all member states throughout the  world to respect this principle.

As a result of the war and occupation of the territories of Artsakh  in 2020, as many as 1.5 thousand Armenian historical and religious  monuments, including monasteries, churches, khachkars (cross-stone),  archaeological sites, fortresses, castles, sanctuaries, etc., came  under the control of Azerbaijan. During the 44 days of aggression,  the armed forces of Azerbaijan deliberately targeted, destroyed or  desecrated a number of monuments and sanctuaries, and immediately  after the war, the Azerbaijani government initiated a policy of  "albanisation" of the Armenian historical and religious heritage,  trying to erase all traces of the millennia-old Armenian presence in  Artsakh and promoting pseudo-historical theses to justify the  destruction and transformation of the Armenian monuments. In  particular, in 2021, during a visit to the village of Tsakuri in the  occupied Hadrout region, President Aliyev, pointing to the Armenian  writings on the Tsaghkavank Church of the Holy Mother of God (12th  century), stated that they were fake, that the church was Albanian,  and personally ordered to erase those writings. Later, even a working  group of "Albanian history and architecture specialists" was set up  in Azerbaijan, whose task was to remove the "false traces left by  Armenians" from the so-called "Albanian churches".

Among the striking examples of Azerbaijani vandalism are also the  bombing of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi during the 2020  hostilities, and after that its transformation under the guise of  repair work, the destruction of the Church of St. John the Baptist  ("Green Chapel"), the complete wiping out of the Armenian Church of  the Virgin Mary in Mekhakavan, etc.

All these cases of vandalism, as well as Azerbaijan's consistent  policy of denying access to the UNESCO mission to assess the state of  the cultural objects and monuments in the occupied territories of  Artsakh, show that the Armenian historical, cultural and religious  heritage in the occupied territories of Artsakh is in danger: they  are either transformed or destroyed due to Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian  state policy.  Thus, trying in every possible way to expel the people  of Artsakh from their historical homeland, Azerbaijan is pursuing a  policy of not only ethnic cleansing, but also cultural genocide  against Artsakh.

We once again call on the entire international community, all  relevant international institutions, and first of all UNESCO, to take  immediate and effective measures to ensure the access of  international missions and relevant experts to the occupied  territories of Artsakh to assess the state of the Armenian historical  and cultural sites and monuments that have come under the control of  Azerbaijan, and take them under international protection," the NKR  MFA's statement notes.