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ARTICLE

A Survey of Recently Destroyed and Endangered Armenian Cultural Property in Nagorno-Karabakh

Claire Kedeshian and Sonya Nersessian

A Survey of Recently Destroyed and Endangered Armenian Cultural Property in Nagorno-Karabakh
Feng Wei Photography via Getty Images

The lands of Greater Armenia have ancient links to the Bible. One of the most familiar is the account of Noah’s Ark and its resting place on “the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4 NRSV). The landing site of the ark is traditionally associated with Mt. Ararat, the towering peak that overlooks the modern nation of Armenia from just across the border with Turkey. From the mountains of Ararat, according to the Bible, humanity was given a second chance, a new beginning that started in this ancient land.

As the first nation to adopt Christianity in 301 AD, Armenia's identity and culture has been closely defined by its Christian faith, which makes all cultural and religious symbols so important to their survival as a people. Christianity has sustained Armenians throughout their painful history, which has been marked by widespread persecution and mass suffering over hundreds of years. That history includes the first genocide of the 20th century, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman Turks, an event that both Turkey and Azerbaijan deny to this day. As Newsweek opined in an August 26, 2024 editorial: “That is why preserving these religious sites should be a precondition for any lasting peace between the two countries. By respecting and honoring that history, Azerbaijan would send a message that they truly want peace with Armenia. However, all signs show Azerbaijan heading in the opposite direction.”

This article focuses on Nagorno-Krabakh (Artsakh, to Armenians), a 3,170 square kilometers (1,220 square miles) region bordered by Armenia and Azerbaijan, primarily inhabited and self-governed by ethnic Armenians who over a period of centuries built homes, churches, schools, monasteries, and cemeteries in this area. It is a mountainous area and connected geographically to Armenia by a small pass known as the Lachin Corridor.

Amidst the global Covid pandemic, following 260 days of blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijani forces, ethnic cleansing occurred. By September 2023, nearly all the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh were ousted from their homes and displaced. Most of them fled to present day Armenia.

In addition to the human toll (120,000 people without food, heat, electricity, including 30,000 children out of school and terrified for 9 months), actions during the blockade caused extensive damage to cultural and religious heritage sites. Signs of destruction and cultural appropriation were immediate. Churches and monuments disappeared in areas now controlled by Azerbaijan, an ominous step towards the erasure of Armenian culture there.

The Armenian Government took legal action. In October 2021, Armenia sued Azerbaijan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The lawsuit alleged violations of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”). Azerbaijan counterclaimed, alleging Armenia transported and placed mines in Azerbaijan’s territory. On February 22, 2023, in a 22-page opinion, the ICJ by a 13–2 vote ordered Azerbaijan to "take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions." The ICJ also unanimously rejected Azerbaijan’s counterclaim.

To date, Azerbaijan has ignored the ICJ order. The Lachin Corridor” is now completely under Azerbaijan’s control. The litigation continued, and on November 12, 2024, the ICJ completely rejected all preliminary and jurisdictional objections raised by Azerbaijan. Specifically, the Court held that Armenia’s claims of murder, torture, arbitrary detention, and inhumane treatment based on national or ethnic origin fall fully within CERD.

But the destruction of Armenian heritage cannot be reversed by court orders. As of July 2024, Caucasus Heritage Watch geolocated 127 medieval and early modern cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, of which 98% have been totally destroyed.

The attacks on Armenian cultural property have been characterized by leading scholars as “cultural erasure” and may be in violation of the ICJ’s Order emphasizing Azerbaijan’s obligations to take “all necessary measures” to prevent the vandalism and desecration of Armenian landmarks, places of worship, cemeteries, artifacts, and monuments.

Unfortunately, efforts to apply UNESCO treaties protecting cultural heritage are fraught with challenges because Nagorno-Karabakh is no longer an “armed conflict” area and, in any event, it was not a member state to any of these treaties. However, since 2020, the Armenian Bar Association, a nonprofit U.S.-based organization, has prepared and distributed researched reports of Azerbaijani atrocities to the United Nations, U.S. State Department, World Council of Churches, among other entities, and translated these reports into Russian, Spanish and French for global distribution. And in 2023, the Center for Truth and Justice in California petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for atrocities against Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh but in Armenia itself, and members of the U.S. Congress have written to the U.S. Secretary of State and proposed legislation in both houses to save the Armenian cultural property in Nagorno-Karabakh, to hold Aliyev accountable for human rights violations, and to withhold US financial aid to Azerbaijan. Perhaps this pressure will save what’s left of Armenian cultural heritage in this region.

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