Azerbaijani journalists entered the Armenian Yeghishe Arakyal Monastery, located near the village of Mataghis in the NKR Martakert region, Artsakh Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Lernik Hovhannisyan told NEWS.am.

The monastery, he said, is located in a neutral zone.

"We don't know yet how they managed to get into the temple and what they were doing there. The church is 5-6 kilometers from Mataghis. It is located closer to Azerbaijani positions. So that's probably the reason why the Azeris were able to penetrate there so easily.

We don't know whether there are peacekeepers there or not. In 2021 a video appeared on the Internet showing how armed Azerbaijanis entered and desecrated the St. Gevorg church in Mataghis," Hovhannisyan said.