As a result of the wars, genocidal actions, and ethnic cleansing of 2020–2023, numerous monuments throughout Artsakh have been destroyed by Azerbaijan. It is especially important to record, however, that Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh, has been and continues to remain at the center of Azerbaijan’s policy of vandalism.

In recent years, Stepanakert, as the center of Artsakh’s statehood and identity, has been subjected—and continues to be subjected—to appropriation, desecration, Islamization, and direct destruction. As a result of numerous studies and monitoring activities carried out in recent years, the team of the Monitoring the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh project has documented a number of cases of monument destruction in the city. These processes have also been accompanied by rhetoric promoting racial hatred on the part of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. In particular, on 21 December 2023, speaking at the stadium of Stepanakert, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared that “Khankendi [Stepanakert] is an ancient Azerbaijani settlement. This village was founded by the Karabakh Khan, and later a large city was created by Azerbaijani architects and builders with the funds of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” It is evident that the Azerbaijani president’s statement contains blatant falsifications and distortions of historical facts, and that the “Azerbaijanization” of the identity and history of Stepanakert—as in the case of numerous other settlements of Artsakh—is part of the Armenophobic policy of this regime.

With regard to the destruction of unique historical evidence, it should be noted that the Azerbaijani side has demolished the historic quarter in the center of Stepanakert, whose houses were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Monuments erected in memory of the Armenian Genocide and the Artsakh liberation struggles have also been destroyed. The Armenian inscription on the wall adjoining the bell tower-memorial erected in 2015 in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide has been erased.

In February 2025, the Azerbaijani side caused significant damage to and desecrated a number of tombstones in the area of the Stepanakert memorial complex. In particular, the faces of freedom fighters depicted on certain tombstones—the eyes and mouths—were deliberately carved out or erased. Some tombstones were also broken.

In addition, projects for new cultural infrastructure are being developed in the city, carried out through the destruction of Armenian heritage. In particular, on 20 July 2025, President Ilham Aliyev presented to the participants of the 3rd Shushi Global Media Forum a plan to build a “Victory Museum” in Stepanakert—officially referred to by Azerbaijan as “Khankendi.” According to the president’s statement, the museum will be located in the building of the former Party Committee of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast—the presidential residence of the Republic of Artsakh.

On 2 September 2025, the Independence Day of the Republic of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani side demolished the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh in the center of Stepanakert. This was an architectural structure built in the 1950s and included in the list of monuments of the Republic of Artsakh.

In February 2024, Azerbaijanis destroyed the memorial stone of Ashot Ghulyan (Bekor), created by sculptor Yuri Samvelyan within the framework of the 1996 annual Artsakh symposium. They also destroyed the Eagle Monument in Stepanakert’s Upper Park, built in the 1960s during the Soviet period and regarded as a symbol of childhood for the people of Stepanakert. The statue of Alexander Myasnikyan, a Soviet statesman, political figure, intellectual, and literary scholar, located on Martuni Street in Stepanakert and sculpted by Yuri Hovhannisyan, was also destroyed. Azerbaijan has also destroyed the bust of Charles Aznavour in Stepanakert’s Armenian-French Friendship Park. On 16 February 2024, the Azerbaijani side removed the bust of Admiral Ivan Isakov in Stepanakert. Azerbaijan also destroyed the monument to the renowned Armenian painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky, created by the famous Russian sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov.

On 10 January 2023, in the Artsakh district of Stepanakert, the bust of Anatoly Zinevich, former Chief of the General Staff of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh and Lieutenant General, was destroyed. The statue of Stepan Shahumyan, a public and political figure of Soviet Armenia, has also been targeted for destruction.

In Stepanakert, the Azerbaijani side is also destroying entire districts of the city. This is visible in the area surrounding Artsakh State University, where apartment buildings and private houses have been demolished, while the university building has been “reconstructed” and altered. For details, see the report on Azerbaijan’s demolition and deformation of the Artsakh State University building under the pretext of creating a “new university.” A tendency to alter the city’s external appearance and entire architectural complexes is also evident, carried out through large-scale destruction in different parts of the city. The private property of forcibly displaced residents of Stepanakert is being demolished together with all their belongings.

After the demolition of the National Assembly building, on 5 July 2023, Ilham Aliyev laid the foundation for a new administrative building on the site of the demolished National Assembly and Union of Freedom Fighters buildings.

The Azerbaijani side has also begun reconstruction works on one of Stepanakert’s central streets, Azatamartikner Avenue. It should be emphasized that the city’s music college and adjacent buildings are being subjected to Azerbaijani “reconstruction,” while construction equipment has been stationed near the Stepanakert Museum of Local Lore.

It should also be noted that the Azerbaijani side has toppled the 50-meter illuminated cross located on one of the hills near the village of Dashushen, in the vicinity of Stepanakert.

Recently, the data on destructions in Stepanakert were supplemented by Google Earth satellite updates published by the Artsakh Culture and Tourism Center. In particular, the statues of Marshal Hovhannes Baghramyan and pilot Nelson Stepanyan, heroes of the Great Patriotic War, have been destroyed, as have monuments to cultural figures Henrikh Barkhudaryan, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Khachatur Abovyan, and Vahram Papazyan, the human rights defender Andrei Sakharov, and participants of the liberation movement and defenders of the homeland Kristapor Ivanyan, Yuri Poghosyan, and Alexander Tsaturyan: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15u82qZ3xK/։

Our response

Azerbaijan’s actions against the monuments of Stepanakert contradict Articles 4 and 5 of UNESCO’s 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Under these provisions, each state is obliged to identify, protect, and preserve the cultural heritage located on its territory for future generations. The deliberate destruction of heritage, or the failure to take the necessary measures for its preservation, constitutes a gross violation of a state’s international obligations.

Attempts to appropriate and claim ownership over the city’s cultural layers violate UNESCO’s 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. In particular, under Article 11 of the Convention, the forced transfer of ownership of cultural property by an occupying power is considered unlawful.

The destruction of Stepanakert’s cultural heritage also strikes at the spiritual heritage of the population, which is protected by UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The alteration and “Islamization” of the city’s historical environment are aimed at erasing the social and cultural memory connected with these places, which contradicts the Convention’s principle of respect for cultural identity.

Moreover, the targeting of cultural heritage violates the provisions of the Faro Convention on the value of cultural heritage for society. This document establishes that everyone has the right to access cultural heritage and to participate in its preservation. The systematic destruction of the Armenian trace deprives the Armenian people of the exercise of their cultural rights and is regarded as a violation of human rights.

A key requirement of the Convention is that the protection of cultural heritage is directly linked to human rights and democracy.

Azerbaijan, as a state, is obliged to recognize that everyone has the right to benefit from cultural heritage and to contribute to its enrichment. The Convention emphasizes society’s right to participate in the preservation of its own heritage. The targeting or destruction of Armenian monuments in Stepanakert violates the fundamental right of the Armenians of Artsakh to participate in their cultural life.

The document requires states to protect heritage as an essential element of society’s identity and historical memory.

As a member of the Council of Europe and a potential party to the Convention—or a state expected to be guided by its principles—Azerbaijan bears responsibility for respecting cultural diversity and preserving heritage in the territories under its control, regardless of its ethnic affiliation.