Azerbaijan is now at war with Armenian cultural property in the Artsakh territories controlled by it, Artsakh’s State Service of Historical Environment Protection (Artsakh Monuments) said in a statement on Wednesday.
The monitoring of the state institution and testimony of eyewitnesses have revealed extreme forms of vandalism against Armenian monuments dedicated to the Artsakh Liberation War in the territories occupied by Azerbaijan during the 2020 war.
“Barbaric acts are committed against the graves of the fallen freedom fighters. They have broken and destroyed the monument in honor of the victims of World War II in the village of Tog, the tombstones of Vigen Grigoryan, a prominent figure of Artsakh liberation war, a knight of the "Battle Cross" order of the second degree of Artsakh and Armencho, an active participant in the Liberation War and a knight of the "Battle Cross" order of the first degree.
“The cemetery of the Mets Tager village of the Hadrut region has been leveled to the ground. In Talish, Karin Tak, Mokhrenes, monuments to the Artsakh Liberation War were ruined, and in Zardarashen and Avetaranots they were desecrated, individual khachkars were destroyed in different villages.
“The enemy is now at war with our cultural property,” the statement said.