Editor’s Note: The Register’s Europe correspondent visited Armenia Sept. 20-26, 2025, as part of a press delegation organized by U.S. advocacy organization Save Armenia. She has produced a series of articles examining how Armenia — the world’s oldest Christian nation — still reeling from its recent war with Azerbaijan, struggles to secure its survival and spiritual heritage amid ongoing regional instability.

The main cathedral of Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh — also known as Artsakh — has become the latest casualty in what Armenian church officials describe as a systematic effort to erase Armenian presence from the region, in the aftermath of the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive that displaced the entire population — more than 120,000 Armenians.

The issue has now erupted onto the European stage. On April 30, the European Parliament adopted a resolution explicitly calling for those responsible for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh to be held accountable and demanding renewed international pressure for a UNESCO mission to assess the affected sites. The reaction in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, was swift. On May 1, Azerbaijan’s parliament voted to sever ties with the European Parliament entirely, while the European Union’s ambassador in Baku was summoned and handed a diplomatic note condemning the resolution as distorting facts. 

The alarm was first raised by the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, the spiritual center of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which warned on April 23 that Armenian Christian sites were systematically being targeted and spoke of a “state-sponsored vandalism.” Suspicions based on satellite imagery were subsequently confirmed by Baku authorities.

In a communiqué dated April 27, the Azerbaijani government-affiliated Caucasus Muslims Board referred to the demolition of “two buildings” — without naming them — widely understood to be the cathedral and a smaller religious building, St. Jacob Church. It argued the action “cannot be distorted in any way as the destruction of religious or cultural heritage,” describing the structures as illegally built during what it calls the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory.

For Artak Beglaryan, Stepanakert-born president of the Artsakh Union, former state minister and ombudsman of Artsakh Republic, this destruction is far from being an isolated incident. “This is not the first episode, and, unfortunately, it will not be the last — unless there is sufficient international pressure,” he told the Register on the eve of the 8th European Political Community Summit and the first EU-Armenia Summit, both to be held in Yerevan May 4-5.

A Pattern, Not an Exception

The two churches destroyed in April were relatively recent constructions, reflecting the modern development of Stepanakert, Artsakh’s capital city, established and largely built during the Soviet period.

St. Jacob Church had been built in 2005, while Holy Mother of God Cathedral — completed in 2019 — had quickly become the largest place of worship in the region, effectively serving as the “mother church” of Artsakh. “It was the central church,” Beglaryan explained, underscoring its symbolic importance for the local population.

Above, L to R: Holy Mother of God Cathedral in Stepanakert and St. Jacob Church, demolished in April 2026. ‘My second daughter was baptized at the central cathedral of Stepanakert in 2022. My first daughter was baptized at ‘Kanach Zham’ John the Baptist Church of Shushi in 2018, where my wife and I were married in 2017. That church was also fully demolished in 2024. So the destruction of both churches was very brutal for my family,’ Artak Beglaryan told the Register. (Photo: Edgar Kamalyan)

He insisted the destruction fits into a broader pattern. “They are not demolishing only the newly built churches,” Beglaryan said. “They are demolishing also medieval churches and in other cases vandalizing them or changing their identity — reclassifying them as ‘Caucasian Albanian’ churches — even when Armenian inscriptions from the Middle Ages remain visible.” 

Independent monitoring groups such as Caucasus Heritage Watch and Monument Watch estimate that between 100 and 150 Armenian Christian sites have been destroyed or severely damaged since the 2020 war, with the scope likely broader still after the 2023 offensive. Researcher Simon Maghakyan has estimated that up to 98% of Armenian Christian monuments in Nakhchivan were already destroyed between the 1990s and 2010. 

A Contested Legal Argument

Azerbaijani authorities have defended the demolitions as lawful, arguing that the churches were built “illegally” during what they describe as the Armenian “occupation” of Azerbaijani territory — a claim rooted in the decades-long dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a historically Armenian-populated enclave assigned to Azerbaijan during the Soviet era.

The Caucasus Muslims Board also argued that returning Azerbaijani residents had called for the removal of structures that did not exist prior to the conflict.

Armenian representatives strongly dispute these claims. “The U.N. International Court of Justice clearly ordered Azerbaijan to protect the cultural heritage and private property of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Beglaryan said, referring to rulings issued in 2021 and 2023. “These obligations apply regardless of the political status of the territory.”

A Wall of Silence — and the Price of Breaking It

Until the EU resolution, international reaction remained limited. To explain this omerta, observers point to Azerbaijan’s role as a major energy supplier to Europe as a key factor, especially in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. 

“Azerbaijan supplies gas and oil to many European countries, and that explains, in part, the silence of most European leaders,” Beglaryan said. He also suggested that Azerbaijan has developed influence in various international institutions, further complicating efforts to mobilize a coordinated response.

The Christian world has been conspicuously slow to react. The Vatican, in particular, has faced criticism for its lack of response, with critics pointing to Azerbaijan’s funding of Vatican-led restoration projects at Catholic sites in Rome as a possible explanation — fueling accusations of “caviar diplomacy” by a state grown considerably wealthier in recent decades through the exploitation of its vast energy resources.

The severity of Baku’s reaction to the European Parliament resolution revealed why that silence has been so hard to break. Accountability carries a diplomatic price, and most Western governments have so far been unwilling to pay it.

The Armenian government’s own posture has offered little help. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently described this issue as a “double-edged sword,” urging caution.

This stance is consistent with his broader policy of rapprochement with Turkey and Azerbaijan that has prompted him to sideline deeply sensitive historical issues such as the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. “I’m afraid that some of their statements might further encourage Azerbaijan in their actions,” Beglaryan lamented.

Calls for Action

The Armenian government’s unwillingness to champion the cause internationally has prompted displaced Armenians and civil society groups to seek their own avenues for pressure. And the upcoming European summits in Yerevan present a rare opening.

The Artsakh Union welcomed the European Parliament  resolution with cautious but pointed optimism. While praising the parliament’s “consistent and principled stance,” it noted that such resolutions “serve as clear benchmarks for the executive branches of the EU and its member states” — bodies that, it warned, “frequently ignore the rights of the people of Artsakh due to narrow interpretations of their own geopolitical interests.”

“As European leaders gather in Yerevan, they must decide whether to prioritize narrow energy interests or to uphold the values-based framework set by their own parliament,” Beglaryan said.

Christian Solidarity International has already called on Swiss President Guy Parmelin to use the summit to initiate an international peace forum addressing the right of return for displaced Armenians under international guarantees.

With more than 6,000 cultural monuments in Artsakh — including around 400 churches, some dating back to the third and fourth centuries — the stakes, Beglaryan warned, could hardly be higher. “We are the frontline of Christian civilization in this region; the world can no longer remain silent.”

https://www.ncregister.com/news/europe-pushes-back-armenian-church-demolished