On 19 February, the letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Artsakh Republic Davit Babayan to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the systematic deliberate destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage in the occupied territories of the Artsakh Republic, which is a gross violation of international law, was circulated as an official document at the UN. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Artsakh Republic informs.

“The letters present detailed facts about the consistent commission of similar crimes by the Azerbaijani authorities in the former Soviet Union and then in the following years, with the aim of partially or completely destroying any evidence of Armenian presence in the territories under Azerbaijani control.

In particular, the most tragic fact of the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage is mentioned in 1997-2006. About the deliberate destruction of several thousand medieval khachkars in the Armenian cemetery of Old Julfa in Nakhichevan.

The letter also informs that during the Soviet period, and in 1992-1994, during the military aggression against the Artsakh Republic, 167 Armenian churches, 8 monastic complexes and 123 cemeteries were completely destroyed by the Azerbaijani authorities.

During the same period, about 2,500 Armenian khachkars, more than 10,000 Armenian tombstones were destroyed and used as construction materials,” the statement reads.

The full letter is here.