The ombudsman of Artsakh’s cultural heritage, the vice-president of “Azkayin” historical and cultural NGO Hovik Avanesov is sounding the alarm.
“As a result of the monitoring of social networks, it became obvious that the cemetery of the fallen freedom fighters of the village of Vaghuhas, Martakert region of the temporarily occupied Artsakh Republic, became the next target of the Azerbaijani authorities’ vandalism. The study and analysis of the video published in the Azerbaijani social network domain, in the context of the destruction of cultural heritage, ethnic hatred and gross violations of international humanitarian law, allows us to record a number of highly worrying and reprehensible manifestations.
First of all, the circumstance of ethnic and religious targeting is obvious. The Armenian inscriptions on the tombstones and the images of the fallen freedom fighters clearly show that it was not just a cemetery that was targeted, but an important place of Armenian identity, national memory and spiritual heritage. This is not ordinary vandalism, but a deliberate act based on ethnic hatred, the purpose of which is to eliminate the Armenian trace and erase the historical memory.
The actions recorded in the video are characterized by exceptional cynicism and blasphemy. The author of the video deliberately walks over the tombstones, stands on the portraits of the deceased, hits and desecrates them. This behavior is not only damage to the graves, but also a deliberate disrespect to the memory of the dead, the sanctity of the funeral and human dignity. Such actions contradict not only international legal norms, but also the most basic principles of universal morality.
The video also clearly shows many broken, cut, displaced and damaged tombstones, which proves that the cemetery was systematically and purposefully destroyed. The scope and nature of the damages do not indicate an isolated incident, but a deliberate policy of destruction of cultural values. Such operations against Armenian cultural and memory sites in the territories temporarily occupied by the dictatorial regime of Baku have been of a continuous and systemic nature for a long time.
The component of psychological terrorism is also particularly dangerous and reprehensible. The video recording of the actions and their dissemination on social platforms, as well as the Azerbaijani expressions in the video, prove that the purpose of what happened is not only to destroy the traces of the Armenian cultural presence, but also to exert psychological pressure on the relatives of the victims, forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians and the entire Armenian society. This is an attempt to create an atmosphere of open humiliation, fear and defenselessness, which also has a propaganda character.
Considering the fact that the video may have a heavy psychological impact on the relatives of the fallen freedom fighters and the public, we do not publish it. The video is preserved in the archives of the Artsakh cultural heritage ombudsman’s office as factual evidence of another criminal operation against the Armenian cultural heritage.
It should be emphasized that this is not the first recorded case of desecration of the memory of those who died for the defense of the motherland in Vaghuhas village. Back on January 5, 2024, our partner, the State Service for the Protection of the Historical Environment of Artsakh, PUAK, alerted that Azerbaijani soldiers had destroyed the khachkar erected in 2021 in memory of Mkhitar Aghabekyan, who was killed during the large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in 2020, on the roadside of the village. The author of Khachkar was Yura Mangasaryan. This fact once again proves that the actions against the Armenian memory and cultural presence are not random or one-time manifestations.
The authorities of Azerbaijan in the temporarily occupied Artsakh destroy and desecrate the monuments and cemeteries commemorating the heroes who were martyred for the defense of the motherland with particular cruelty and consistency. These actions have already gone beyond the scope of individual cases of vandalism and turned into a coordinated policy implemented at the state level, the purpose of which is the elimination of Armenian historical and cultural heritage and erasure of national memory. More than a dozen similar facts have already been recorded in different settlements of Artsakh, which document the consistent process of cultural genocide.
The silence and inadequate response of the international community continue to contribute to the deepening of the atmosphere of impunity. Meanwhile, such actions against cultural heritage, sanctuaries and cemeteries should receive a clear political, legal and moral evaluation. When the graves of the dead and the places of national memory are targeted, not only the rights of one people are threatened, but also the universal values on which the existence of the civilized world is based,” he said.
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