Satellite imagery analyses yield evidence of the demolition of a church, cemetery, and an entire village in the last seven months as experts warn of “cultural genocide.”
Experts’ fears regarding Azerbaijan’s accelerated destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites across Artsakh (also known by the Russian name Nagorno-Karabakh) have been realized in the last seven months since the autocratic regime forced more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians from their homeland. As Azerbaijani law prevents free and independent press access to the region, archaeologists and anthropologists are relying on satellite imagery to monitor attacks on hundreds of important sites pertaining to Armenian culture and spirituality.
Between December and April, the 177-year-old St. John the Baptist Church in the town of Shushi was razed alongside the entirety of the Karintak village, according to the Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW), a team of scholars affiliated with Cornell and Purdue universities that formed in 2020. In May, reports also surfaced of the complete destruction of the St. Ascension Church in Berdzor.
The attacks on Armenian patrimony have been characterized by leading scholars as “cultural genocide” and may be in violation of the International Court of Justice’s (ICC) November order emphasizing Azerbaijan’s obligations to take “all necessary measures” to prevent the vandalism and desecration of Armenian landmarks, places of worship, cemeteries, artifacts, and monuments. Last month, the Center for Truth and Justice in California petitioned the ICC to investigate Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for genocide against Armenians not only in Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh but in Armenia itself.
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