26\u202411\u20242020, Yerevan, Armenia<\/p>\n
On the 27<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0 of September, 2020<\/strong>, on Sunday morning, violating the cease fire of 1994 Azerbaijan Armed forces attacked Armenian internationally not recognized state of Artsakh Republic. Among a number of war crimes against the civilians of Artsakh there were a number of \u00a0severe violations recorded against the movable and immovable cultural heritage, objects of warship, education and cultural practices.<\/p>\n Due to the\u00a0unexpected attack from the Azerbaijanian Army<\/strong>\u00a0early in the morning on Sunday, the staff of the museums had no chance or time to evacuate their collections. Moreover, after the attack the settlements of Artsakh including capital Stepanakert, Shushi, Martuni, Martakert and other major towns were under constant fire with the use of internationally banned weapons. This situation made it almost impossible for the workers of the cultural heritage to go out from the bomb shelters and to take care \u00a0of the collections during the war.<\/p>\n The movable heritage was\/is\u00a0preserved in 21 museums<\/strong>\u00a0located in different parts of Artsakh. Twelve of which, that are located in the fortress city Shushi, in Hadrut and other regions of Artsakh under current jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, preserved a vast collection of the history, arts, religion, everyday life, nature and culture of the region. After the ceasefire signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0of November, the Armenian side has no access and no information \u00a0about the fate of the museum collections. Majority of the museums were created after the ceasefire in 1994, some of the collections are donations from private collectors to the state of Artsakh, they belong to the history, religion, creativity of the people of Artsakh, caring and promoting the moral, religious, traditional values of those people that have created them.\u00a0Therefore we strongly recommend making the issue of protection and transfer of the collections to the people of Artsakh an inseparable part of the diplomatic negotiations.<\/strong><\/p>\n The museums in the cities of Martuni and Hadrut have suffered \u00a0\u00a0most according to various sources. Some soldiers witnessed, that the old district of Hadrut city, where the museum is located, was burnt by Azerbaijani Army. The collections of some museums could be exposed to\u00a0illicit trafficking<\/strong>\u00a0in the near future.\u00a0Interpol and other relevant international institutions should keep their attention on the possible cases of circulation of the cultural goods from Artsakh region.<\/strong><\/p>\n It is sad to witness, that during the last decades\u2019 destruction of Armenian cultural heritage is promoted and sponsored in Azerbaijan on the state level, which is turned into an everyday expression of hate against anything Armenian, in one word armenophobia<\/a>[1]<\/a>\u00a0. This tradition is practices by Turks and Azeri for more than a century (during and after the Genocide of Armenians that was implemented in Turkey from 1890s till 1920s) and is called cultural genocide, which is accompanied with the ethnic cleansings.<\/p>\n Cultural genocide<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0cultural cleansing<\/strong>\u00a0is a concept that lawyer\u00a0Raphael Lemkin\u00a0distinguished in 1944 as a component of\u00a0genocide.\u00a0The\u00a0Armenian Genocide Museum<\/a>\u00a0defines cultural genocide as \u201cacts and measures undertaken to destroy nations\u2019 or ethnic groups\u2019 culture through spiritual, national, and cultural destruction.<\/p>\n The monuments of Armenian historical and cultural heritage have been a subject of intentional destruction throughout centuries during armed conflicts, as well as in times of peace. Along with human lives lost, cultural heritage is under ongoing attacks and under danger of destruction on both sides. The cases of gross violation against the\u00a01954 Hague Convention<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict were many.<\/p>\n During the months of the war and nowadays videos and photos made by individual or groups of Azerbaijani soldiers being proud of fully\u00a0\u201ctaking revenge\u201d from the historical monuments<\/strong>, cross stones, memorials across the territories of Azerbaijani appearance in Artsakh, are many. Azerbaijanis express particular aggression against those historical monuments that may have Armenian inscriptions or crosses.<\/p>\n In the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0c. when the progressive world promotes diversity tolerance, religious and cultural, moral high values, equality, peace, wellbeing in the minds of men and women, this sort of approach can prepare a feeling of impunity and indirectly impact further actions against the cultural heritage of Artsakh.<\/p>\n Though almost all professional international organizations have made statements,condemning and calling on the importance of the protection of the cultural heritage by referring to the\u00a0UN Resolution 2347 on the protection of the cultural heritage located in the conflict zones, adapted on 2017<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>we still witness gross violations as against humans, particularly war prisoners, so the religious and cultural heritages of Armenians of Artsakh.\u00a0Constant propaganda on albanification of Armenian cultural heritage is the continuation of deliberate cultural cleansings by Azerbaijan on the territories under their jurisdiction. The fact of implementation of\u00a0such actions on the level\u00a0of state officials is\u00a0considered\u00a0to be a part of state policy, violating values of scientific, historical, religious, cultural, human rights of the indigenous\u00a0people of the region.<\/strong><\/p>\n Chronology of statements by international organizations for safeguarding the cultural heritage of Artsakh.<\/strong><\/p>\n Even the calls and demands on the protection and safeguard from the side of the international organizations or prominent individuals\u00a0\u00a0didn\u2019t stop violations after the cease fire of 10<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0of November.<\/strong><\/p>\n On the 15<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0of November<\/strong>\u00a0As an organization committed to safeguarding our shared global heritage,\u00a0World Monuments Fund<\/a>\u00a0(WMF)<\/strong>\u00a0continued to call for the protection of all cultural property within the Nagorno-Karabakh region.<\/p>\n We call on the international professional societies and institutions committed to the safeguard of the historical cultural heritage, regardless nationality, religion or geographical location to combine our efforts and to call upon Azerbaijani government and society to prevent from the ongoing violations against cultural heritage of Artsakh.<\/p>\n Ani Avagyan<\/p>\n Chair of ICOM Armenia<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Anti-Armenian sentiment, also known as anti-Armenianism and Armenophobia, is a diverse spectrum of negative feelings, dislikes, fears, aversion, derision and\/or prejudice towards Armenians, Armenia, and Armenian culture.<\/p>\n https:\/\/haqqin.az\/news\/191076?fbclid=IwAR0jpq20jfiG3N98-qXwC-8DpROtYM8r7wWs55ArlTaBLIiFbo3ROPHdc8I<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/iravunk.com\/?p=185223&l=am<\/a><\/p>\n The Kanach Zham Church in Shushi has been partially destroyed – FIP.AM<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n\t\t\n
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Some database on violations of cultural heritage.<\/span><\/h3>\n