Azerbaijan trying to misappropriate Tsisternavank monastery in  Artsakh 

ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani authorities have announced plans to restore the Armenian  Tsitsernavank Monastery, located in Artsakh and under the control of  Baku, but the true intentions of this restoration and the future of  the monastery raise serious doubts. This was reported by the press  service of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The diocese expressed concerns that the monastery could be  transferred to the Albanian-Udi Christian community supported by  Azerbaijan, which would be another attempt to appropriate Armenian  cultural heritage.

"According to the Azerbaijani news agency Trend, the special  representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the Berdzor region,  Huseyn Guliyev, said that the state bodies of Azerbaijan are  developing proposals for the restoration of the monastery," the  diocese noted.

In addition, the report noted that Azerbaijan calls the Armenian  Tsitsernavank "the Agoglan monastery", seeking to change not only its  cultural but also its historical identity.

On May 27, an international conference dedicated to the preservation  of the Armenian spiritual and cultural heritage of Artsakh opened in  Bern. The event was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC)  jointly with the Swiss Protestant Church on the initiative of  Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II.  During the conference, it  was noted that after the occupation of Artsakh, Azerbaijan continues  its barbaric destruction of ancient Armenian monuments, Christian  shrines, settlements and cemeteries. Garegin II also drew attention  to Azerbaijan's attempts to Albanianize the Armenian spiritual and  cultural heritage in the occupied territories.