Azerbaijan Blocks UNESCO Experts' Access to Armenian Cultural Sites, Says Minister

The acting Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia, Vahram Dumanyan, has sent a letter to the Director-General of UNESCO expressing concern about the actions carried out by Azerbaijan at the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, Artsakh.

According to the Ministry, the letter states that during the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 27, 2020, among other war crimes, Azerbaijan deliberately targeted the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, resulting in the destruction of one of its two domes, thus violating the second protocol of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

Furthermore, numerous photographs and videos circulating online prove that after the ceasefire, the cathedral was subjected to vandalism, with the second dome being damaged by Azerbaijani forces.

Recently, Azerbaijan removed the dome of the cathedral under the pretext of “construction works,” attempting to alter the historical and architectural integrity of the monument and distort its Armenian identity.

Vahram Dumanyan emphasized that there are numerous grounds to believe that Azerbaijan is intentionally blocking the entry of UNESCO experts to Armenian cultural heritage sites in order to conceal its military crimes. Moreover, Azerbaijan is actively pursuing a policy of falsifying historical facts by referring to Armenian cultural heritage sites in Artsakh as “Caucasian Albanian.”

Appreciating the important role of UNESCO in the protection of cultural heritage, the acting Minister called on the Director-General to condemn attempts to destroy and appropriate Armenian cultural heritage sites.