News and Information

On February 22, 2023, the International Court of Justice in The Hague made the second decision regarding Azerbaijan's violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination adopted by the United Nations in 1965.

Armenia appealed to the Court on September 16, 2022 and stated that "Azerbaijan has subjected Armenians to racial discrimination for decades" and that Armenians have been subjected to systemic discrimination, mass murder, torture and other crimes based on ethnicity, as a result of the Armenian-hatred policy sponsored by the state of Azerbaijan. In addition, Armenia also asked the court to take into account that paragraph 2 of the decision of December 7, 2021 "Both Parties shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve" is violated by Azerbaijan.

On December 28, 2022, Armenia submitted a lawsuit to the Court for the third time, requesting the adoption of temporary measures. It specifically states that on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan "organized the blockade of the only road connecting the 120,000 ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh with the outside world," and Armenia asks the court to specify the following two temporary measures:

• Azerbaijan must stop organizing and supporting alleged “protests” that are blocking unhindered free movement in both directions through the Lachin Corridor.
• Azerbaijan should ensure uninterrupted free movement of all people, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.

On January 26, 2023, the representative of Armenia submitted an additional text to the court, specifically stating that " Azerbaijan must immediately fully restore and refrain from disrupting or obstructing the supply of natural gas and other utilities to Nagorno Karabakh" https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/180-20230222-SUM-01-00-EN.pdf .

The court reminded that Azerbaijan, a state party to the Convention, violates Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. According to Article 2, States Parties "condemn racial discrimination and undertake by all appropriate means and without delay to pursue a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms" and according to Article 5, States Parties undertake to guarantee the right of all before the law to: "from the right to move and reside freely within the borders of the state", "the right to leave any country, including one's own country, and to return to one's own country" and "the right to public health, medical care, social security and social services".

In addition, the Court concluded, in accordance with Article 41 of its Statute, that the continuation of Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor could lead to irreparable damage, so there is a need to take urgent measures https://www.icjcij.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/180-20230222-SUM-01-00-EN.pdf .

Therefore, the court found that since December 12, 2022, the connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia through the Lachin Corridor has been disrupted, which has caused a number of consequences, and that the impact on the victims continues to this day. Information available to the court indicates that the disruption of the Lachin Corridor prevented the transfer of Armenians or persons of ethnic origin hospitalized in Nagorno-Karabakh to medical facilities in Armenia for emergency medical care. Evidence also shows that there have been barriers to the importation of essential goods into Nagorno-Karabakh, causing shortages of food, medicine and other life-saving medical supplies.

The court also noted that restrictions on the import and purchase of goods essential to humanitarian needs, such as food and medicines, including life-saving drugs, treatment of chronic diseases or preventive care, and medical equipment, can have a serious detrimental effect on the life and health of individuals. http://www.icjcij.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/180-20230222-SUM-01-00-EN.pdf .

In the light of the considerations set forth above, the Court concludes that the Court's alleged disregard for the rights deemed credible may have irreparable consequences. The court also recalled the statement of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the President of the Russian Federation on November 9, 2020, which, among others, stipulates that "Lachin Corridor, which is the road to ensure communication between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia, remains the property of Russia Under the control of the peacekeeping forces of the Federation". The statement further states that "Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of persons, vehicles and cargo moving in both directions through the Lachin Corridor."

The court, by a vote of thirteen to two, notes the following temporary measure. In accordance with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to take all measures at its disposal to ensure the unhindered movement of people, vehicles and goods in both directions through the Lachine Corridor. In addition, we note that "orders on provisional measures under Article 41 of the Court are binding" and create international legal obligations for any party.

It should be added that the Court did not satisfy Armenia's requests to "stop organizing and supporting the alleged complaints by Azerbaijan" and "refrain from disrupting or obstructing the supply of natural gas and other utility services to Nagorno Karabakh" on the grounds of not providing sufficient evidence to the Court.

The court also reminds that the temporary measures mentioned in the decision of December 7, 2021 remain in force.

Let us add that referring to the claims against Armenia regarding alleged mine laying, the Court unanimously rejected these claims.

We are pleased to announce that the book "Fortresses of the Kashatagh region of the Republic of Artsakh" by G. Sargsyan, A. Gnuni and L. Mkrtchyan has been published. The book presents 37 fortresses of the Kashatagh region of the Republic of Artsakh, including the peculiarities of their planning, natural-historical and archaeological context. Within the framework of the presented book, through the study of fortresses, the patterns of their location, construction methods, both intraregional and interregional cultural and political interactions and patterns of development are considered. Accordingly, typological analysis and classification of fortresses were made, their boundaries and occupied territories as well as the chronology were defined, visual and other connections between those were clarified.

We are glad to announce that Tigran Aleksanyan's book "The Study of Medieval Monuments in the Territory of the Khachen Principality" has been published. The book is dedicated to the history of the study of medieval monuments in the territory of Khachen princedom. On the basis of various historical documents, all materials related to the problem, both the work of Armenian and foreign researchers, have been summarized. A separate section also presents brief results of excavations of medieval monuments of the region. The electronic version of the book is available here.

The Foundation for Research of Armenian Architecture (RAA) has published Raffi Kortoshyan's book "The Endangered Armenian Christian Heritage of Artsakh" in English. It was published with a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, approved by the decision of the Academic Council of the Foundation for Research of Armenian Architecture and edited by Talin Grigor, Professor of Art History. The book consists of two sections. The first section presents materials confirming the destruction of Armenian historical and architectural monuments in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan from 1991 to the present day. In the second section, the historical and cultural monuments that came under the control of the armed forces of Azerbaijan after the 44-day Artsakh war are presented by regions (Hadrut, Karvachar, Kashatagh, Askeran, Martakert, Martuni, Shushi).

The digital version of the book is available on the RAA website: www.raa-am.org

Dear colleagues, friends and subscribers, the team of the “Monitoring the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh” project wishes everyone a Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. We wish you peace and a productive year!

Below we present to you the results of the work done by the Monument Watch team in 2022.

1. In the section "Sites and monuments" of the website, the number of presented monuments has reached 150. Every week, a description of at least two monuments is added. The description of the monuments corresponds to the standards formed by the scientific leaders of the group.
2. The number of articles in the "Alert" subsection has reached 78. Our media monitoring specialists follow the Azerbaijani news field, responding to threats to cultural heritage.
3. The "Latest News" section presents news related to the preservation of cultural heritage and making it public, announcements, meetings, discussions and events of the team of the Monument Watch.
4. A new section of the website is being prepared, which will present museums and collections that have come under the control of Azerbaijan, their history, museum exhibits and all the information available today about those.
5. On June 6, 2022, in Stepanakert, at the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Artsakh, the official presentation of the monumentwatch.org website took place.
6. In 2022, the team of the Monument Watch carried out field work in Artsakh: on June 4-7, the members visited the Monastery of Hakobavank (Kolatak village) and the house-museum of Nikol Duman (Tsaghkashat village), on October 9-12, they made research visits to the monuments of Avdur, Hats, Mets Shen, Khnushinak and Berdashen villages.
7. During this year, members of the Monument Watch team participated in several national and international conferences, where they presented the problems of preserving the cultural heritage of Artsakh and current challenges.

Sincerely,

The Monument Watch Team

Photos

1. Surb Astvatsatsin Church in Banadzor, 1639
2. Khachkars, 12-13th centuries, Surb Astvatsatsin church in Tsovatech village

On December 12-13, 2022, the 4th Global Forum "Against the crime of Genocide" was held in Yerevan, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, dedicated to "Prevention of genocide in the era of new technologies." The forum was opened by Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as UN Deputy Secretary General, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Vairimu Nderitu made a video message. The event was also attended by President of the UN Human Rights Council, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the UN Office at Geneva Federico Villegas, Chairman of the Global Action to Prevent Mass Crimes, Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi, President of the International Association of Genocide Researchers, Associate Professor of International Law Melanie O'Brien, as well as other high-ranking guests.

Thematic discussions were devoted to the latest technologies and the risk of genocide and social platforms as a tool for spreading hatred (a tool for prevention). One of the thematic discussions on the topic "The latest technologies and the protection of cultural heritage in the context of genocide prevention and post-genocide reconstruction" was chaired by the director of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide Harutyun Marutyan.

The session was attended by Salah al-Jaberi (Head of the UNESCO Research Unit on the Prevention of Genocide in the Islamic World, University of Baghdad, Iraq), Lori Khachadourian (Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University, co-founder of the Caucasian Heritage Watch Project), Simon Krbeck (Director of the Genocide Research Center in Theresienstadt, Czech Republic), Vassilis Mikhanetsidis (State University of Athens, genocide researcher), Tessa Hoffmann (Professor at the Free University of Berlin). International experts presented their research in the field of genocide prevention and heritage protection.

News source: https://www.genocideprevention.am/

On November 15, 2022 the French Senate voted 295 - 1 to adopt a resolution supporting Armenia and proposing sanctions against Azerbaijan, which, among other tasks, mentions the necessity to urgently protect the right of the deported population to return and the Armenian cultural and religious heritage.

Among other provisions, the resolution of the French Senate:

• demands the withdrawal of the armed forces of Azerbaijan and their allies from the sovereign territory of Armenia and the Lachin corridor, and to return to their original positions. Therefore, both security and an unchanged status should be ensured by the provisions of the tripartite agreement of November 9, 2020;
• calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan and all their partners in the region, especially Turkey, to respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Armenia in accordance with their international obligations;
• calls for the release of all Armenian prisoners of war and their repatriation to their homeland;
• condemns Azerbaijan's violations of the “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination” of January 4, 1969 and calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to respect international agreements and conventions aimed at ensuring the security of the Armenian population and their rights;
• calls for respect for the right of the deported population to return, as well as the preservation of the Armenian cultural and religious heritage;
• calls on the Government to act decisively so that the UN Security Council appeals to the International Criminal Court regarding Azerbaijan's aggression on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, including the investigation of mass and war crimes;
• invites the government to establish a humanitarian office in Nagorno-Karabakh;
• reaffirms the need for the recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in order to establish a lasting peace and turn this recognition into a negotiating tool;
• calls on the government to immediately take any initiative that will guarantee the security of the Armenian population and Armenia within its internationally recognized borders, and to this end request the deployment of an intermediate force under the auspices of the international community;
• calls on the government to make every effort to involve Azerbaijan through diplomatic channels in the negotiation process to achieve a stable peace in the South Caucasus.

News source: http://www.senat.fr/dossier-legislatif/ppr22-003.html.

On November 15, 2022 the First Lady and the Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva addressed a letter to the UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay expressing her decision to quit her activity as Goodwill Ambassador she had been involved into since 2004. In her letter to the UNESCO Director-General she emphasized the role of Azerbaijan in disseminating and preserving values and principles of UNESCO. Along with this she mentioned the importance of the Framework agreement signed between Azerbaijan and UNESCO in 2013, which is based on the intensification of cooperation in the fields of education, science and culture.

Besides that, according to the data presented on the official website of UNESCO, the Trust Fund of Azerbaijan transferred about 5 million dollars to UNESCO. ALieyeva’s letter also mentions the vandalism and policy carried out by Armenia against the cultural heritage and historical monuments of Azerbaijan during the nearly 30-year long occupation period. It was also emphasized, that after the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from long-term occupation as a result of the "Patriotic" (the 44-day) war, the First Vice-President was involved in the large-scale projects of restoration and revitalization of the region. It was noted that, taking into account the special role of the First Lady of Azerbaijan in the implementation of UNESCO programs, it becomes impossible for her to fulfill the duties of the Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO.

At the same time Mehriban Aliyeva expressed hope that the UNESCO mission to "the occupied territories in order to assess the damage caused to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan during the period of Armenian occupation" would not be delayed. At the end of the letter, it was also noted that Azerbaijan would continue to uphold the basic principles of UNESCO and promote the further cooperation with the organization.

According to many experts, the real reason for Aliyeva’s "resentment" is that Azoulay is from France. As stated in her letter, "the basis of the approaches of Audrey Azoulay is the French smear campaign against Azerbaijan and its contradictory position on Baku."

Moreover, Aliyeva's letter was addressed to UNESCO on the very day when the resolution supporting Armenia and proposing sanctions against Azerbaijan was to be discussed in the French Senate. With this step, the vice-president of a country that obstructs the mission of UNESCO and has committed serious crimes against humanity is trying to express his protest against the recent change in the opinion of the international community.

In recent months, the European Parliament has been preparing the Implementation of The New European Agenda for Culture and the EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations, among other urgent issues, the protection of the cultural values of Artsakh has been highlighted for the strategy of effective implementation of the global cultural policy.

As a result of the discussions in the EU of the delegation of the Republic of Armenia with the colleagues of the European Parliament, a decision was made to submit an amendment regarding the resolution adopted by the European Parliament in March 2022 on the destruction of cultural values in Nagorno-Karabakh, in which there are clear and critical messages directed to Azerbaijan (taking into account the decisions on the destruction of cultural sites carried out by the ISIS/Da’esh  terrorist group on April 28, 2015 and on the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh on March 10, 2022).

The deadline for submitting the amendments (September 16th) coincided with the aggression launched on September 13 by Azerbaijan against Armenia, and Nathalie Loiseau also submitted a separate amendment as follows: “Condemns Azerbaijan's continued policy of erasing and denying Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh and its surroundings, violating international law and the court decision of December 7, 2021. Condemns Azerbaijan's renewed aggression against Armenia, which further endangers the Armenian cultural heritage, calls on the EU to actively pressure Azerbaijan to end hostilities and participate in efforts to protect endangered cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, in particular by deploying mechanisms to facilitate UNESCO's fact-finding mission.”

Another amendment was made by eight Greek and Cypriot deputies from the EPP faction: “Calls on the Turkish authorities to fully respect the historical and cultural character of cultural and religious monuments and symbols, especially those included in the UNESCO World Heritage List; calls on Turkey to comply fully with its international obligations to protect monuments of Christian, Armenian, Pontic and Jewish origin.”

On the eve of the vote, on October 12, a new report prepared by Caucasus Heritage Watch was sent to the factions of the European Parliament, in which the case of the destruction of Surb Sargis church in Hadrut was presented.

At the session held on October 13, the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) of the European Parliament adopted by the majority of votes the amendment regarding the reference to the previous resolutions, as well as the 106th and 137th amendments.

The adoption of the above-mentioned amendment 106 was important not only due to its clear condemnation of Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia on September 13, but also the reaffirmation of the AFET position condemning Azerbaijan's policy of destruction of Armenian cultural values in parallel with the development of reports on Armenia and Azerbaijan. After the adoption of the resolution on the destruction of cultural values in Nagorno-Karabakh in March 2022, Azerbaijan has been actively campaigning against the "one-sidedness" of this resolution.

The State Council for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Occupied Territories has so far documented and identified 1,026 works of fine art from the museum and private collections left in Shushi. This was announced on October 19 by the coordinator of the work of the State Council for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Occupied Territories, Sergey Shahverdyan during the presentation of the lost art collections of Shushi in the Stepanakert Center of Francophonie Paul Eluard’s House.

“One of our priority tasks is to identify all the collections left in the occupied territories. Besides the state museums, many private collections remained in the occupied territories as well. To date, we have managed to find out that 13 museum collections and collections of works of art remain in Shushi (in particular), including: 658 exhibits at the State Museum of Fine Arts, 51 in the Shushi International Sculpture Park, 66 in the exhibition hall of the Art Center, 36 from the collection of the Narekatsi Art Union, 168 exhibits at Samvel Tavadyan’s, 20 – at Artak Poghosyan’s, 37 exhibits at David Avagimyan’s workshops and exhibition halls” - Shahverdyan stated, adding that the collections of the State Museum of the History of the Fortified City, the Geological Museum, partly the Museum of the Artsakh Carpet, the Museum of Numismatics, the Art Gallery, as well as the house-museum of Vardan Dushman also remained in Shushi.

“We cannot be sure that this list is final. Because it is quite possible that people may appear whose private collections were also among them. This list will probably be supplemented with time,” the speaker noted. According to the coordinator of the work of the State Council on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Occupied Territories, the most difficult process is to identify the cultural property contained in these collections.  Not only museum pieces and collections of fine arts, but also their lists remained in Shushi”.

“All the documents that were supposed to be kept in the museum remained in Shushi. So we had to compile these lists again. They also have an evidence base, as these contain photographs or videos", - Shahverdyan emphasized, adding that a significant part of the exhibits from the lost collections of art works of some museums of Shushi was provided by private individuals for temporary display.

We are glad to inform you, that the research “Cultural heritage of Artsakh under attack” by Hamlet Petrosyan and Haykuhi Muradyan published with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Artsakh Republic is now available in electronic form on our website in four languages: Armenian, Russian, English and French.

This research presents policy of Azerbaijan during the Soviet period and years of independence, emphasizing the dangers of preserving the educational and cultural heritage under the control of Azerbaijan, caused due to the war unleashed by Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020, the cases of vandalism registered to the present day, and the current challenges of the Artsakh Republic aimed at preserving cultural heritage.

According to the statement of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan at a press conference on June 27, 2022, after changing the route of the Goris-Stepanakert highway passing the village of Aghavno, Berdzor town and the adjacent villages of Aghavno and Nerkin Sus will come under the control of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, and the Armenian population will be evacuated. In early August, the authorities of Artsakh began the evacuation of cultural monuments from these settlements.

As of August 25, 47 cultural monuments were evacuated, including khachkars (Figs. 1-4), memorial stones (Figs. 5-7), busts (Fig. 8), memorial springs (Figs. 9-10). Unfortunately, in such a short time it was impossible to implement the evacuation of  Surb Hambardzum (Holy Ascension) Church in Berdzor (Fig. 11), Surb Nahatakyats (Holy Martyrs) Church in Aghavno (Fig. 12) and the memorial complex dedicated to the Artsakh Liberation War in Berdzor (Fig. 13). However, it was possible to evacuate some specific elements of the Church of the Holy Ascension: the tympanum above the entrance (Fig. 14), the eagle sculpture of the eastern facade (Fig. 15), the holy altar, the baptistery, and the crosses of the main church and a rotunda.

The evacuation of these monuments is being actively discussed in the Azerbaijani media space, accusations are being made about the “plundering” of the Church of the Ascension (Telegram Contact @KarabakhBulletin). If the enemy threatens to destroy, modify, wipe out and desecrate the monuments of the “occupiers”, if we have repeatedly witnessed the manifestations of Azerbaijan’s special barbaric policy towards new monuments (we would mention some of those: the chapel and khachkars of Mataghis village, the khachkar, dedicated to the First Artsakh liberation war in Vorotan, the memorial with a composition in the form of crosses in Shukurbeyli village in the region of Jrakan (Jabrayil), the khachkar in Arakel village of the region of Hadrut, the "Revived Talish"  monument in Talish village of the region of Martakert, the church of Mekhakavan (Jabrayil)) therefore, unfortunately, evacuation is the only way to save these monuments from desecration and destruction.

It should be noted that since 2021, the project of the Azerbaijani “Public Organization for Monuments Protection” has been spread on the social platforms of Azerbaijan, which intends to turn Surb Hambardzum Church into mosque.

We express our special gratitude to the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the staff of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia, the Deputy Minister Lernik Hovhannisyan for their assistance in the evacuation and organizational work. Our special gratitude to Aleksan Hakobyan, the former head of Berdzor administration.

The Armenian National Committee for Byzantine Studies issued a special appeal (https://us17.campaign-archive.com/?u=719696e03a73ee3361188422f&id=1e932c4790&fbclid=IwAR1JF5CqX0DV85zkvJktEm2N5SDB1pmyH9XEQEi4RLEe28YjzVurLIVIQjk)։

“Honorable colleagues,

the members of the Armenian National Committee for Byzantine Studies appeal to AIEB and to all the National Committees to express their solidarity with the statement recently made by the UNESCO intended to preserve historical monuments on the territory of Nagorno Karabakh. We hope that our declaration may be conducive to monitoring the protection of ancient and medieval monuments on this territory, a part of which is found, as a result of the war of 2020, under Azerbaijan's control. In the light of numerous cases of intentional destruction of Armenian monuments on territories controlled by Azerbaijan (cf. in particular the destruction of mediaeval Armenian cemetery in Nakhichevan), as well as the erasure of Armenian inscriptions on churches and especially in view of the recent declarations made by Azerbaijani authorities intending to ‘verify' the authenticity of ancient Christian monuments and to ‘cleanse’ them from what they claim to be traces of ‘Armenianisation’ of monuments of Caucasian Albania, the rich historical heritage of Nagornyj Karabagh is in imminent danger.

Therefore, we call you to raise your voice against this cleansing of the millennia-long presence of Armenian culture on the territory of Nagornyj Karabakh.
May our voice sound at least as eagerly as it did against the modification of the status of Hagia Sophia in 2020.

1 June 2022”.