Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Davit Babayan today addressed letters to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay in regard to the Azerbaijani authorities’ systematic and deliberate elimination of Armenian cultural heritage in the territories of Artsakh that are under the control of Azerbaijan which is a gross violation of international law.

In his letters, Babayan thoroughly presents facts showing that the Azerbaijani authorities have consistently committed similar crimes, and the deliberate eradication of several thousand medieval Armenian cross-stones in the Old Julfa Armenian cemetery of Nakhchivan in 1997-2006 as the biggest tragedy.

The foreign minister also informed about the destruction and eradication of 167 Armenian churches, 8 monastic complexes and 123 cemeteries by the Azerbaijani authorities in the Soviet era and during the military aggression against Artsakh in 1992-94.

Babayan particularly emphasizes that Azerbaijani’s policy became more intensive during the military aggression that Azerbaijan unleashed against Artsakh on September 27, 2020 and continues to this day, adding that this poses a real threat to complete destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in the territories under Azerbaijan’s military occupation in the near future. He also calls on the leaders of international organizations to take effective measures to guarantee the protection of Armenian historical, spiritual and cultural heritage monuments and demand that the Azerbaijani government respects and fulfills its commitments to preserve the Armenian cultural heritage that is currently under its control and renounce the infamous policy of destroying the heritage.