In the capital of Artsakh, Stepanakert, Azerbaijan demolished the monument to the prominent Armenian painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky. The monument was erected in 2021 with the participation of Russian peacekeepers, and its author is the well-known Russian sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov. It should be emphasized that this act fits into Azerbaijan’s broader policy aimed at the systematic destruction of monuments in Stepanakert.

The destruction of the Aivazovsky monument also caused concern in Russia. The Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, stated that the demolition of the monument to the world-renowned artist Ivan Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Ayvazyan) in Nagorno-Karabakh arouses deep regret and indignation:
“These destructive actions contradict the spirit of alliance, partnership, and good neighborly relations between our countries and peoples,” he emphasized.

According to Shvydkoy, the demolition of monuments to cultural figures can never serve as an argument either in history or in politics. He expressed concern about the increasing politicization of the cultural sphere: “Naturally, culture cannot exist outside politics, outside the realities of interstate relations, but at the same time, as it seems to me, culture should remain that connecting thread between peoples that must never be broken. Politics lives in the present, while cultural relations live in eternity, and this must be understood,” noted Shvydkoy.

Our Response

The destruction of the monument to Hovhannes Aivazovsky constitutes a direct violation of Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, as well as of its Second Protocol adopted in 1999. This act also breaches the binding decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague of December 7, 2021, according to which Azerbaijan was obliged to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration of Armenian cultural heritage. The Court’s ruling specifically included churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries, and artifacts among the protected objects — https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/180/180-20211207-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf.

The demolition of the monument also contravenes Articles 38, 39, 40, and 41 of International Humanitarian Law. It is important to stress that the ICJ confirmed: the provisions on the protection of cultural property possess the status of customary international law — that is, they function as a universal and inalienable norm and are binding upon all states (infra Jurisprudence).