Save Artsakh’s cultural heritage: An urgent appeal to international structures

The “We Are Our Mountains” Development Agency is following with deep concern the ongoing reports regarding the destruction, vandalism, and attempts of appropriation of Artsakh’s Armenian spiritual and cultural heritage.

The agency’s statement reads, in particular: “The documented destruction of St. Hakob Church in Stepanakert, reports regarding the demolition of the Holy Mother of God Cathedral, as well as repeated cases of vandalism against churches, cemeteries, monuments, and visible symbols of Armenian identity, are not isolated incidents, but evidence of a systematic and dangerous policy.

In this context, the dangerous rhetoric circulating in Azerbaijani information sources regarding one of Artsakh’s most important symbols – the “We аre Our Mountains” monument – is particularly alarming. This rhetoric appears to prepare the ground for the monument’s destruction, desecration, or reinterpretation. The latest facts of destruction of Armenian heritage in Stepanakert make this threat real and urgent.

The systematic destruction of cultural heritage and, through it, the erasure of an indigenous people’s traces from their homeland contain elements of the crime of genocide and must be regarded not only as cultural vandalism, but also as a criminal policy directed against identity, memory, and historical rights.

We call on international cultural, human rights, and diplomatic institutions – first and foremost UNESCO and ICOMOS – to take urgent and effective action to prevent yet another irreversible loss of Artsakh’s Armenian heritage. Independent monitoring, documentation, and international access must be ensured in order to assess the current state of Artsakh’s cultural and spiritual heritage.

The silence and inaction of the international community have already led to grave consequences: the depopulation of Artsakh of its Armenian population, occupation, and the ongoing destruction of Armenian historical and cultural presence. Today, that same inaction may become the cause of yet another irreversible loss.”