On 24 February 2026, the Telegram channel Kharabakh Records published a video showing that the Azerbaijani side had demolished the memorials in the city of Martuni dedicated to the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh war (https://t.me/KarabakhRecords/17775?single). These memorials in Martuni were erected in 2007.

This shows that the Azerbaijani side continues to destroy memorials in Artsakh dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. If memorials for those killed in the Artsakh war are demolished as symbols of separatism, it is unclear why those for the Great Patriotic War are also being destroyed. See more on this topic: https://monumentwatch.org/hy/alerts/%d5%a1%d5%a6%d5%b8%d5%ad-%d5%b3%d5%b5%d5%b8%d6%82%d5%b2%d5%b8%d6%82%d5%b4...

Our response

The destruction of memorials dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh Liberation Struggle constitutes a 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 the Second Protocol, adopted in 1999. It also violates the binding Order of the International Court of Justice of 7 December 2021, by which the Court required Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including, but not limited to, churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries, and artefacts: https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/180/180-20211207-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf

The destruction of the memorial violates Rules 38, 39, 40, and 41 of international humanitarian law. It is especially important to emphasize that the International Court of Justice has confirmed that provisions concerning the protection of cultural property have the status of customary international law, meaning they operate as universal and non-derogable norms, binding on all states.

The UNESCO Declaration, adopted by the 33rd General Conference in Paris in 2003, forbids the intentional destruction of heritage.

Information about other cases involving the destruction of memorials dedicated to the Great Patriotic War can be found in other publications on our website: the memorial in Shushi dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh Liberation Struggle has been destroyed, as has the memorial complex dedicated to the fallen in Hadrut and in the village of Hakaku in Artsakh. The Getavan memorial and the building of the Union of Freedom Fighters have also been destroyed.

Azerbaijanis have also destroyed the memorial and khachkar dedicated to the Artsakh Liberation Struggle in the village of Ukhtadzor in Artsakh’s Hadrut District. Memorials to heroes of the Great Patriotic War have likewise been destroyed, including the bust of Armenak Khanperyants (Sergey Khudyakov)—Marshal of Soviet Aviation and a native of Artsakh—and the MiG-17 fighter aircraft in the village of Mets Tagher, Hadrut District, as well as the bust in Stepanakert of Ivan Isakov, an ethnic Armenian admiral of the Soviet Navy, Hero of the Soviet Union, and military theorist.