ArmInfo. Azerbaijan has razed another Artsakh village to the ground. The enemy destroyed the village of Tahot in the Hadrut region of occupied Artsakh. This is stated in a statement by the Ombudsman for the Cultural Heritage of the Armenian Highlands on her Facebook page.
The statement emphasizes that such actions not only confirm the systematic destruction of cultural heritage, but also indicate the deliberate destruction of historical Armenian settlements in order to finally erase the Armenian trace in Artsakh. In this vein, it is noted that the Azerbaijani authorities continue to pursue a policy of ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide, an integral part of which is the systematic destruction of Armenian settlements.
"This criminal process has reached unprecedented proportions, turning into a large-scale program for the liquidation of Artsakh settlements," the statement by the Ombudsman for the Cultural Heritage says.
As recalled in the statement, such settlements as the heroic Karintak of the Shushi region, as well as the villages of Msherenes, Mariamazor and Tsamdzor of the Hadrut region became victims of this policy. In addition, numerous residential areas of Stepanakert and other cities of Artsakh were destroyed.
"This is not just a strategic calculation, but a genocidal policy carried out at the state level, the purpose of which is not only the physical extermination of Armenians, but also the elimination of their bioregional and historical-cultural presence in Artsakh," the statement emphasizes.
At the same time, it is noted that the international community must immediately respond to these criminal actions by condemning Azerbaijan and taking concrete steps to stop discriminatory and illegal policies that violate international law. "Otherwise, silence will only encourage the use of this new mechanism of genocide, threatening the security and stability of not only Artsakh, but the entire region," the statement concluded.
Last summer, the Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) organization in its 7th report on the situation around Artsakh signaled a 75% increase in cases of destruction of Armenian heritage in the occupied territories of the NKR by Azerbaijan, and a 29% increase in the number of objects classified as under threat.
On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan, under the pretext of an "anti-terrorist operation", committed another act of aggression against Artsakh. This was preceded by an almost 10-month blockade of the unrecognized republic. Since the enemy aggression that began in the fall of 2020, which in September 2023 ended in the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh residents have lost their homeland and become refugees.