Category: 2021

Palestinian-Armenian dispute over Jerusalem land deal intensifies

Antonian Lara
Arab News, Saudi Arabia
Sept 24 2021




Palestinians in Bethlehem protest against the selling of land to Israelis. (AP/File)

DAOUD KUTTAB

  • Israeli municipality and Armenians agreed to turn a piece of sensitive land in the old city into a parking lot, but ‘one could smell a rat’

AMMAN: A land row between Palestinians and an Armenian church in Jerusalem has intensified with the head of the Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine appealing for peace to the religious and political leadership in Armenia.
An agreement between the Armenians and Israeli Jerusalem municipality to turn a piece of sensitive land in the old city of Jerusalem into a parking lot took effect on Jan. 1. Jewish residents of the Old City have had exclusive use of the parking lot, which has caused concern among the Palestinian leadership and members of the tiny Armenian community. 


Officials of the Armenian Patriarchate insisted that the contract with the Israeli Jerusalem municipality and the Jewish-centric Jerusalem Development Authority does not constitute selling or leasing land but is simply a financial operation.
The Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine wrote to Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manoogian reminding him that the Armenian quarter is part of occupied Palestinian territories where UN resolutions, including the 2017 UNSC Resolution 2334, apply.
Letters by senior Palestinian officials were also sent to the Catholicos of All Armenians Patriarch Karekin II, calling land transactions in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem a violation of international law since the area inside the Old City of Jerusalem is an “integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories” governed by relevant international resolutions.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has also been “urged to intervene,” a statement by the Higher Presidential Committee stated.
The dispute follows the secrecy over land deals in the Old City of Jerusalem organized by the Armenian patriarchate in Jerusalem in cooperation with the Israeli institution.
Ramzi Khoury, the president of the Higher Presidential Committee of Churches in Palestine, told Arab News that the aim of the letters sent to Armenian officials is to force the church in Jerusalem to open up and coordinate with us: “Our main goal is to uncover what is hidden.”
The letters were sent twice, but there was no response.
While Khoury focused on a 10-year lease to the Israeli municipality of an empty plot to be turned into a parking lot, he did not specify a much more serious deal with a Jewish Austrian investor to lease the same land for 99 years to build a large hotel in a sensitive area between the Armenian and Jewish quarters.
Sources in the Armenian Patriarchate say that the hotel deal is opposed by the majority of the Armenian St. James Synod which has not met in more than three years.
A senior Armenian leader from Jerusalem told Arab News on condition of anonymity that he has always suspected a much bigger deal than the parking lot one: “From when the patriarch and his director of real estate began their effort, one could smell a rat.”
The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Sevan Gharibian and the head of the real estate department Rev. Baret Yeretsian are accused of going against the wishes of their own synod and that of the nearly 1,000 Armenian Christians who live in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
In a statement issued on Sept. 22 by the chair of the Armenian Patriarchate Synod, the church said that they had ratified the agreement and noted that the lease provides “a steady income of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to support the Armenian patriarchate.”
The statement signed by Father Samuel Aghazian admitted that a “luxurious hotel structure” would be built based on a long-term lease without imposing any risk to the full and exclusive ownership of this land.
An Armenian website Keghart called what is happening in Jerusalem a scandal. In an editorial on Aug. 31, the publication reminded the Armenian patriarch that the Armenian Quarter and other “Patriarchate-owned” real estate does not even belong to the Armenian Church or to the St. James Brotherhood.
“They are the possessions of the Armenian nation. Every last inch of holy land Armenian property was purchased through the donations of Armenian pilgrims, nobility, kings, and charitable organizations over a millennium. Twice in recent centuries, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was bankrupt and was close to losing all its real estate. It was rescued by Armenian merchants and regular Armenian patriots.”
The Keghart editorial supported Palestinian and international law by concluding that “every inch of the holy land falls under strict local and international laws hence no one has the right to split up that one entity into different trading parts.”

 

Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan is ready to start negotiations on peace agreement with Armenia

Elizabeth Jabejian

Sept 25 2021


    JAMnews, Baku

Azerbaijan is ready for peace agreement negotiations with Armenia

On September 23, during the general debates of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly of heads of state and government, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a video presentation. He spoke about the second Karabakh war, said that there is no administrative unit called “Nagorno-Karabakh” and expressed the readiness of his country to negotiate a peace agreement.

  • US Congress demands Azerbaijan to release all Armenian prisoners of war
  • Op-ed: why is Azerbaijan closely following Armenian media?
  • Op-ed: USA and France are competing with Russia for Armenia

Aliyev recalled that on September 24, 2020, speaking at the UN General Assembly, he drew the participants’ attention to “the continuation of the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia and the aggressive statements and actions of the Armenian government.” “Today I say with pride that Armenia was defeated on the battlefield and Azerbaijan put an end to the occupation”, the President of Azerbaijan added.

According to him, four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in 1993 demanded the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan: “While some resolutions of the UN Security Council are implemented within a few days, when it comes to us, they remained outstanding for 27 years. And this is a clear example of double standards”. Aliyev added that Azerbaijan itself fulfilled the requirements of all these resolutions.

Ilham Aliyev noted that three days after his speech at the UN General Assembly in 2020 – September 27 – “Armenia launched a large-scale offensive against the military positions and civilians of Azerbaijan”.

“In response to this, Azerbaijan, taking advantage of the right to self-defense, enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter, launched a counter-offensive operation against Armenia on its territory”, he stressed.

“Azerbaijan has resolved the 30-year-old conflict by military-political means, restored its territorial integrity and historical justice. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a thing of the past.

There is no longer an administrative-territorial unit in Azerbaijan called Nagorno-Karabakh. By presidential decree of July 7, 2021, we created the Karabakh and East Zangezur economic zones.

Taking this opportunity, I urge the UN member states and the UN Secretariat, when referring to our territories, not to allow the use of manipulative names that do not exist from a legal point of view, politically biased”, Aliyev said.

Noting that the conflict is already in the past, the President of Azerbaijan spoke about the large-scale construction work carried out in the liberated territories.

“However, the main difficulty is connected with the presence of numerous mines placed by Armenia in the liberated territories. After the signing of the act of surrender by Armenia on November 10, 2020, 30 Azerbaijani citizens have been killed, including two journalists, and 130 people have been injured.

Azerbaijan is one of the countries in the world, the territories of which have undergone the greatest mining. This hinders the recovery process in the liberated territories and the return of internally displaced persons to their homes.

Armenia refuses to transfer accurate maps of minefields to Azerbaijan. The accuracy of the minefield maps for the three regions that Armenia was forced to transfer is 25%. The international community must force Armenia to give us accurate maps of minefields in the liberated territories”, Aliyev said.

“Azerbaijan has already announced its readiness to start negotiations on a peace agreement with Armenia on the basis of the principle of delimitation and demarcation of borders, mutual recognition of each other’s sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Such an agreement could turn our region into a region of peace and cooperation. However, we still do not see a positive reaction from Armenia to our proposal”, the President of Azerbaijan noted.

According to him, transport projects can become one of the spheres serving peace and cooperation: “In this context, the Zangezur corridor, which will connect the main part of Azerbaijan with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic and Turkey, will create new opportunities for our region.

… We hope that the long-awaited peace, security, and stability will finally be established in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan will continue its consistent efforts contributing to regional peace and development, serving to strengthen the region”.

Armenian PM calls for international observers to be deployed along border with Azerbaijan

Emil Lazarian
TASS, Russia
Sept 25 2021

UNITED NATIONS, September 24. /TASS/. Armenia believes that the process of delimitation and demarcation of a disputable section on the border with Azerbaijan should be carried out with participation of international observers, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a video address at the General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday.

“I must state with regret that it is difficult to imagine a border delimitation process on the backdrop of almost daily shootings and various provocations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” he said. “To overcome this situation, we have suggested the following actions: In the above-mentioned section, the armed forces of both Armenia and Azerbaijan should withdraw simultaneously to the Soviet times border, international observers would be deployed along that border and under international auspices we would start delimitation and demarcation. We are ready to implement this proposal at any time.”

Armenia is ready for a constructive dialogue that will help sustainable and lasting peace to come to the region, Nikol Pashinyan said.

“Armenia is ready for a constructive dialogue, which should lead to the establishment of sustainable and lasting peace in the region. In this regard, we propose to complete the process of return of prisoners of war, hostages and other captives without delay,” Pashinyan said. “It is also necessary to resume the peace process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.”

Pashinyan emphasized the need to move forward “through dialogue, overcoming incrementally the atmosphere of painful hostility in our region, but Yerevan realizes that “the path will be difficult and long.”

“Unfortunately, the incidents designed to delegitimize the peace agenda and deepen and institutionalize the atmosphere of hostility occur on a daily basis. Violations of the ceasefire, aggressive and insulting statements against Armenia and the Armenian people continue to escalate the atmosphere,” he said.

The Armenian prime minister said, “Azerbaijan not only still holds several dozen citizens of the Republic of Armenia in captivity, but also has sentenced many of them to 6 to 20 years’ imprisonment on trumped-up charges. In addition, there are persons whose captivity has not yet been confirmed by Azerbaijan, although there is clear evidence that they were captured.”

According to Pashinyan, “in the parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, which came under the control of Azerbaijan, the Armenian people were subjected to complete ethnic cleansing.”

“Today, no Armenian lives or practically could live in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan,” he added.

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been disputed by Baku and Yerevan since February 1988 when the region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. Under the statement, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintain the positions that they have held and then Armenian forces turn over control of certain districts to Azerbaijan. In addition, Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the contact line and to the Lachin corridor, which links Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Tensions began escalating on the border on May 12, 2021. Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported then that Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces had attempted to conduct “certain work” in an area bordering the Syunik region to “adjust the border.”.

Iran Lawmaker Warns Republic Of Azerbaijan Amid Apparent Tensions

Chakhmakhchian Vatche 
Iran International
Sep. 24, 2021
Fada Hossein Maleki, an Iranian lawmaker and a member of the Iranian
parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has warned
the neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan for obstructing transit of
goods between Iran and Armenia and objected to a joint military
exercise at the Iranian border by the military forces of Azerbaijan,
Turkey and Pakistan.
Maleki also warned(link is external) that Iran closely monitors
developments beyond its northern borders and is sensitive to
suspicious moves close to its borders.
He added that Iran did not expect such a military exercise regardless
of why it was carried out. He added that Iran also expects Turkey and
Pakistan to seek Tehran's views before arranging such joint exercises.
Maleki said, "Regardless of the label of the joint military exercise,
security circles all over the world will perceive it differently."
Meanwhile, he warned Baku to be weary of suspicious moves as
belligerent countries such as Israel are planning to disrupt the
security balance of the region. He told Baku “Not to play in the hands
of regional troublemakers, as most of those troubles would be targeted
at Baku."
There have been several reports in recent days that Azeri forces which
have entered Armenian territory north of the Iranian border after last
year’s war with Armenia have been stopping and preventing free
movement of Iranian vehicles. The Iranian ambassador in Baku has
complained to Azerbaijani officials. Maleki raising the issue said,
"Armenia is an independent country and Iran wishes to have trade
relations with Yerevan."
Social media accounts have been warning about a military build-up at
the Azerbaijani border since last year’s war between Armenia and
Azerbaijan around the Karabakh region.
Last week, users commenting on reports about security developments on
the IRGC's channel on the popular social media platform Telegram
observed that tensions were rising at Iran's northern borders(link is
external). One user wrote: "Azerbaijani media have reported that
drones with Azerbaijani flag have been flying along the border with
Southern Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. I have seen them, but I am not
sure whether they belong to Iran or Azerbaijan."
Meanwhile, several Iranian social media users posted warnings and
threats against the Republic of Azerbaijan. One user posted a picture
of Iranian "Persian Gulf" missiles(link is external) and threatened
that "We are prepared to pound Aliev's spider house. I wish they would
do a mistake, so that we could give them a historic lesson."
Most recently, on September 22, the Twitter account @twmelli, which
identified itself as Twitter-e Melli (National Twitter)(link is
external) posted another picture of an Iranian missile, and reported
that, "Iranian forces at the northwestern borders are in a state of
full alert. Missiles are ready to be fired, choppers ready to fly and
drones constantly on patrol. They are waiting for one mistake from the
Baku republic to end Azerbaijan's stupid laughable illusions."
There were mixed reactions in the comments to that post, with a lot of
still more serious threats. One user said(link is external): "We
should not hit Baku. We need to beat the delusional local governor [on
the Azeri side]."
Another user said(link is external) on September(link is external) 23:
"The military power of Iran and Baku cannot be compared with each
other. With its missile power, Iran can destroy Azerbaijan's airports
and military centers in a matter of one day. Iran is hesitant only
because of shared religious concerns, otherwise, Baku would have
realized how sharp Iran's sword is."
On the same day, two other Iranian lawmakers, Mohammad Reza Ahmadi
Sangari(link is external) and Ahmad Naderi(link is external) also
warned Baku to watch its behavior toward Tehran as one of them quoted
an Azerbaijan Republic MP as having said that "Iran should be wiped
off the map,"

Armenpress: OSCE MG Co-Chairs welcome first meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani foreign ministers since ceasefire

Emil Lazarian

OSCE MG Co-Chairs welcome first meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani foreign ministers since ceasefire

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 11:00, 25 September, 2021

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Stephane Visconti of France, Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, and Igor Khovaev of the Russian Federation) made the following statement:  

“On the sidelines of the General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, the Minsk Group Co-Chairs met separately in New York with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. The Co-Chairs also hosted both Foreign Ministers at a joint meeting. The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCiO) Andrzej Kasprzyk participated in the meetings.  

The Co-Chairs and Foreign Ministers discussed a wide range of outstanding unresolved issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Co-Chairs proposed specific focused measures to deescalate the situation and possible next steps. The Co-Chairs stressed their continuing strong support for the full range of indispensable activities and operations undertaken by the PRCiO and his team. 

On 24 September the Co-Chairs and PRCiO met with UN Under Secretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and OSCE Chairperson in Office Foreign Minister Ann Linde to brief them on their efforts over the past year, including the most recent developments in the process. 

The Co-Chairs welcome this first meeting of the two ministers of foreign affairs since November 2020 as a sign of the resolve of the two countries to reengage in the peace process through direct dialogue aimed at contributing to security, stability, and prosperity in the region.  The Co-Chairs reaffirm their commitment to continue working with the sides to find comprehensive solutions to all remaining issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with their mandate.”

Coronavirus: 1066 new cases confirmed in Armenia – 09/25/2021

Ani Tigranian

Coronavirus: 1066 new cases confirmed in Armenia

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 11:13, 25 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. 1066 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed over the last 24 hours, bringing the total cumulative number of confirmed cases to 257,620, the Armenian healthcare ministry reported.

6606 tests were administered.

586 people recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 239,113.

23 people died, bringing the death toll to 5239.This number doesn’t include the deaths of 1201 other individuals (2 in the last 24 hours) infected with COVID-19 who succumbed to co-morbidities.

As of September 25, the number of active cases stood at 12,067.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Anti-Corruption Committee Chairman files defamation lawsuit against newspaper

Adrine Hakobian

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 12:33, 25 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee Sasun Khachatryan filed a defamation lawsuit against the Zhoghovurd newspaper, court documents showed.

The newspaper had claimed in an article that Khachatryan owns an apartment in Moscow, as well as “numerous other apartments, cars and properties”. Khachatryan was serving as the chief of the Special Investigations Committee when the article was written. He denied the report and demanded the newspaper to retract it, otherwise he said he would file a lawsuit.

Court documents showed that Khachatryan’s defamation lawsuit was lodged at the Yerevan First Circuit Court of General Jurisdiction on September 24. The top anti-corruption official is demanding a retraction (public refutation) and a 2,000,000 dram compensation for damages.

Sources close to Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS that he’s planning to donate the sum of compensation to the rehabilitation center treating war veterans with disabilities in the event of winning the lawsuit.

 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Iran emphasizes crucial significance of guaranteeing traffic via Goris-Kapan road

Antranik Varosian

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 13:24, 25 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The need for guaranteeing traffic via the Kapan-Goris road and efforts for regulating transport shipments as a result of agreements on new demarcations in Syunik province have become of double importance for both Iran and Armenia, the Iranian embassy in Armenia said in response to an inquiry of ARMENPRESS, referring to the obstacles facing Iranian cargo truck drivers on the Kapan-Goris road caused by the Azerbaijani authorities in areas under their control, such as checkpoints and charging of duties.

The Iranian embassy added that clarifications made by Armenian government officials give great hopes around the swift development of the alternative bypass through Tatev, and that Iran is hopeful that in the nearest future they will witness the opening of a road with safe infrastructure. At the same time, the Iranian side expects that before the opening of the alternative road, traffic via the current road will resume normally.

ARMENPRESS – According to the official press release, on September 22 during a meeting with the Secretary of Security Council Armen Grigoryan, the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia H.E. Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri addressed the obstacles caused by Azerbaijan in the Kapan-Goris section of the interstate road, expressing concern over the problems around the use of infrastructures linking Iran with Armenia. What information can you convey over the course of actions in direction of resolving these problems and around the discussions over this issue with the Armenian and especially Azerbaijani sides? Does the Azerbaijani side continue to cause obstacles for Iranian motorists on the Kapan-Goris road?

Iranian Embassy – In the recent months, while communicating with relevant authorities of Armenia, the [Iranian] embassy tried to evaluate the unique condition of the Goris-Kapan road, the prospects of its exploitation and various sides related to the transit of goods and passengers from this and other possible roads. Undoubtedly, until the present phase of this road it was the main route of trade continuation and movement of citizens of the two countries. Nevertheless, as a result of the latest agreements on new demarcations in the Syunik province, the need to guarantee traffic and efforts for settling transport shipments have become of double importance for both the Islamic Republic of Iran and Armenia.

We believe that the security of Armenia’s land road, in addition to the positive effect it will have on the current communication, can present the stable picture of the region to the businessmen and investors of the two countries and the region and guide them to plan their economic activity and raise the level of mutual interactions. The security of this two-way road, in addition, can show Armenia’s reliable position for advancing major infrastructure projects in the region.

Undoubtedly, what was being proposed in the recent months as a goal – to unblock regional transportation communications, is again in this format, which is becoming actual.

ARMENPRESS – In your opinion, how can in principle the problem of the road linking Iran with Armenia be solved? Do you have any offered formula in this regard?

Iranian Embassy – During the latest meeting of the Iranian Ambassador and Mr. Armen Grigoryan the unique condition of the Goris-Kapan road and the unusual move implemented in direction of charging only Iranian cargo trucks with duties, and current programs and initiatives were discussed. The clarifications coming from Armenian government officials inspire great hopes around the swift development of the alternative route through Tatev, and we are hopeful that soon we will witness the opening of a road with safe infrastructure.

Certainly, the Islamic Republic of Iran expects that before the opening of the alternative road, the traffic via the current road will continue normally. These concerns have been communicated to Armenian government officials on various occasions. At the same time, this issue, besides proper attention and consultation of the Armenian government with its colleagues, requires also the efforts of other sides. Therefore, parallel to expressing Iran’s expectations to Armenian authorities, separate contacts are underway with other sides, including with Azerbaijani government officials.

ARMENPRESS – Do you see political subtexts in Azerbaijan’s actions given the recent Azerbaijani media reports saying that Iranians are conducting cargo shipments to Artsakh Republic?

Iranian Embassy – In the bilateral dimension, with the purpose of further advancing cooperation projects, an agreement was reached to hold a joint forum of economic cooperation between the two countries, which we are hopeful will be implemented soon. Fortunately, as part of the Dushanbe summit constructive negotiations of the two presidents took place, and there is a comprehensive program of joint cooperation.

 

Aram Sargsyan

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan




Churches in a Siege: Armenians Alert about the Threat against Millennia-old Christian Sites

Emil Lazarian
Sept 27 2021

By Haykaram Nahapetyan

09/27/2021 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – In the early morning of December 27th of 2020, about 1.5 months after the combats in Nagorno-Karabakh (historic Artsakh) ceased, a caravan of SUV cars left Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, embarking on a challenging trip to Dadivank monastery. An Armenian couple under the protection of Russia’s peacekeepers was planning marriage at this historical site, which Azerbaijani soldiers now surrounded.

A key Christian monastery of the area, Dadivank is also one of the most precious sites of early Christianity: the grave of St. Dadi, a disciple of St. Thaddeus is located here, according to existing information. If you have ever wondered why the traditional Armenian Church is called “Apostolic,” here is the reason: as Armenian chroniclers suggest, Christ’s two apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartolomeo brought the emerging religion to Armenia shortly after the Crucifixion. One of them, disciple Dadi, was buried at Dadivank, where a church was built later.

“I wanted to marry at Dadivank,” said Aram Verdian when we sat down at one of Stepnakert’s main cafes for a brief interview. “I wanted to highlight that the Christian-Armenian traditions here did not cease to exist. A new marriage, a new family and, with God’s blessing, children to come – all these symbolize that the life in Artsakh continues.”

For background info: exactly one hundred years ago, the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh (historically known as the Armenian region of Artsakh) and its millennia-old Christian heritage were handed over to Turkic Azerbaijan by Soviet dictator Stalin who back then was in charge of Nationality Affairs in the first Bolshevik government.

“Though we do not know the full extent of the reasons for the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Joseph Stalin, we are fairly certain that the decision was arbitrary, circumventing, or rather disregarding both the ethnoreligious background of region’s inhabitants and their popular will,” says Dr. Artyom Tonoyan, a research associate at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Near the end of Soviet rule, in the late 1980s, the Armenians of NK attempted to withdraw from Soviet Azerbaijan and reunite with the neighboring Soviet Armenian Republic. Public rallies in NK were followed by massacres of Armenians in various settlements of Soviet Azerbaijan. After the USSR collapsed in 1991, the hostilities turned into full-scale war.

By 1993, the NK Armenians established control over the area of Dadivank and eventually attempted to rebuild the site. The somewhat slow-motion restoration advanced between 2015-2018 as the new road running beside the temple brought more tourists and pilgrims to the area. However, last year, on this day of September 27th, the Azerbaijani attack supported by Turkey and mercenaries from the Middle East resulted in the loss of Dadivank altogether with many other religious sites. Russia’s peacekeepers came to the area in November. Now it’s them protecting this precious temple, with a growing number of Azerbaijani troops deployed in the vicinity.

Aram Verdian says the last war highlighted how a coalition of radical forces can attack an isolated Christian community in the 21st century. “The support of the Christian world that we received was mainly limited to statements of goodwill. We largely remained by ourselves against mighty powers, including mercenaries and Turkey’s soldiers. Does this mean we are disappointed in our Christian faith? No. To me, the last war highlighted the importance of surviving in a siege,” Aram continued.

As it has been reported earlier, International Christian Concern dispatched a crew for a field study to Artsakh last May. They met locals, the authorities and released a report shortly after the return. ICC’s observations are in line with what Aram told me. “Quite often, we were met with wordless grief as residents struggled to understand why they were left alone in their hardships and how it is that they have come to be surrounded by Turkic nations (Azerbaijan and Turkey) who seek only their complete annihilation,” highlighted ICC’s fact-finding mission. Referring to Nagorno-Karabakh as “an isolated enclave of Christianity,” ICC identifies the Azerbaijani-Turkic current policy against Artsakh as a “continuation of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.”

According to ICC’s regional manager Claire Evans, Azerbaijan wants nothing less than the total destruction of the Armenian people, and “they are attempting to justify those actions by rewriting history (which means destroying Armenian heritage sites).”

“President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev does to the Christian heritage of Artsakh what Recep Erdogan did to Hagia Sophia temple in Turkey: they Islamize or distort the Christian heritage,” Bishop Vertanes, the religious leader of Artsakh, said when we met at the diocese center. He alerted me that the archive of the Church of Artsakh remained in the currently occupied historical town of Shushi. BBC highlighted that a church in the southern area was razed to the ground.

It is still unclear how many Christian sites were lost to Azerbaijanis due to the War: it depends on what you count as Christian sites. According to a database prepared by Armenian-American historian from Tufts University Christina Maranci, the number can go as high as 4041 if we count everything from churches to gravestones. Otherwise, as Artsakh’s religious and political authorities say, there have been 13 cathedrals, 22 churches, four chapels, over 500 crosstones. *

“We have reports that Armenian gravestones are used to construct a highway in the occupied area of Hadrut,” David Babayan, the Foreign Minister, stated. This is not the first time that they have destroyed our gravestones, the Minister added.

Babayan, a native of NK himself, refers to the tragic precedent of the medieval Armenian gravestones that the Azerbaijanis had destroyed in the Nakhichevan region. The United States Commission for the International Religious Freedom referred to this act of vandalism in its 2015 report. Babayan highlighted that Azerbaijan’s authorities impose a growing number of restrictions on Armenian pilgrims who want to visit Dadivank.

“In the first weeks following the end of the combats, almost 100 pilgrims were able to visit this site each week. Now the number is down by about ten times,” the Minister said.

Artsakh’s foreign ministry is trying to draw the attention of international organizations to the conditions of the Christian heritage in NKR. So does the Armenian Church, which organized a conference in Armenia earlier this month. Armenian American community and the Embassy of Armenia to the United States have been in touch with the Bible Museum of Washington, D.C. to arrange a virtual exhibit dedicated to the Christian Armenian heritage of Artsakh. Jeffrey Kloha, the chief curatorial officer of the Museum, set up an online exhibition, “Ancient Faith: The Churches of Nagorno-Karabakh,” to alert about the existing situation. “We are alerting about seven notable Christian sites in Karabakh that need to be preserved,” said Mr. Kloha when we communicated.

While this report was being prepared, new images depicting severe destructions of the Green Church of Shushi became available on public domains. A soldier, presumably related to Azerbaijani forces, is posing in front of a half-destroyed Christian monument. This area was fully renovated before the last attack took place.

_____

Haykaram Nahapetyan is the U.S. reporter for Armenia’s First channel. He is a Ph.D. student at Liberty University in Virginia.

*Characteristic of medieval and contemporary Armenian art, cross-stones or khachkars represent a carved stele bearing a cross, often with additional motifs and ornaments.