The "Center for the Preservation of Artsakh Culture" NGO has issued an alert regarding what it describes as the institutional erasure of Artsakh's cultural identity in Armenia, highlighting the removal of a painting of the "We Are Our Mountains" monument as a deeply concerning incident.

The NGO reports that Armenian state authorities are failing to take sufficient steps to protect Artsakh's cultural heritage. Despite existing mechanisms under international law, the government has not initiated active processes within UNESCO, relevant UN bodies, or other international platforms. No legally grounded reports, documentation of violations, or legal actions have been introduced to hold perpetrators internationally accountable. Furthermore, the NGO expresses concern over public statements by Armenia's leadership that frame the preservation of Artsakh's Armenian churches and cultural heritage as an internal affair of Azerbaijan. The NGO argues that such rhetoric weakens Armenia’s legal and political standing, undermining future international legal initiatives.

Amidst this backdrop, reports recently circulated that certain state-funded cultural groups in Armenia received informal, internal instructions to remove the word "Artsakh" from the titles of their works and performances. To verify these claims, the NGO submitted an official inquiry to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia. In its response, the Ministry officially stated that neither the ministry nor its subordinate organizations have issued any written or verbal instructions to remove the name "Artsakh" from cultural works, and confirmed that there is no ban on displaying Artsakh symbols within its institutions. Despite this official denial, the NGO asserts that practical encroachments on Artsakh's intangible cultural heritage continue to occur at the level of individual institutions and administrators.

As a concrete example of this trend, the NGO highlighted a recent incident at the Anushavan Ter-Ghevondyan Music School in Yerevan. During an exhibition-competition, the acting principal of the school removed a student's hand-drawn painting depicting the famous "We Are Our Mountains" monument, locally known as "Tatik-Papik," in Stepanakert, reportedly calling the drawing an "anti-state act." Following an inquiry by the NGO to the Yerevan Municipality, the school's principal clarified in writing that the drawing was removed purely because of internal disciplinary violations, as it had been put up without prior administrative approval. The NGO found this explanation unconvincing, noting that the artwork fully aligned with the competition's overall theme and was the only piece singled out for removal. Additionally, in the principal's official explanation, the monument was referred to merely as the "image of grandmothers and grandfathers" rather than by its official name. Shortly after the incident, the student's art teacher resigned from her position in protest.

The NGO emphasizes that the significance of this case extends far beyond a single school dispute. While the physical components of Artsakh's cultural heritage, such as churches, monuments, and historical sites, are actively endangered in territories currently under Azerbaijani control, in Armenia, it is the intangible component, including cultural memory, historical names, symbols, and identity, that is under threat of gradual removal from public spaces. The accumulation of such cases, whether driven by central directives or individual self-censorship by local officials, risks normalizing a culture of silence surrounding Artsakh.

This trend directly contradicts the Armenian Government's own 2023–2027 Strategy for the Preservation, Development, and Promotion of Culture, which explicitly lists the preservation of the cultural rights and intangible heritage of displaced Artsakh Armenians as a state priority. The "Center for the Preservation of Artsakh Culture" NGO calls on local and international human rights organizations, cultural preservation bodies, state authorities, and the media to pay close attention to these developments and protect the right to cultural identity, which is a fundamental human right.