Evidence That The Presented Bones Are From Armenian Ancient Cemetery Corpses: Artsakh Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports

On March 24, 2022, due to Azerbaijani aggression, the vicinity of Parukh village and the former settlement of Karaglukh in the Askeran region of the Republic of Artsakh came under enemy occupation, and Azerbaijani armed forces immediately began the well-known practice of destroying Armenian historical and cultural heritage in the captured territory. This announcement was made by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Artsakh.

“In addition to its strategic importance, the area is also significant for its historical, cultural, and ecological environment. According to the state register of immovable monuments of history and culture, there are around 20 officially registered monuments in these areas, including 2 churches (including the Church of the Holy Mother of God, 13th century, photo attached), the famous Shikakar-Karaghlukh fortress, archaeological sites, cemeteries, khachkars, and gravestones. The Shikakar cave, where an international archaeological team from Azokh conducted research in 2011, is also located here.

However, it is necessary to emphasize that the area has not been sufficiently studied, as evidenced by the research conducted in December 2021, which revealed an additional three dozen monuments. Given Azerbaijan's bitter experience of its anti-Armenian policies, where the country systematically organizes and encourages cultural vandalism in the occupied territories of Artsakh at the highest level, we firmly declare that the historical and cultural heritage of Parukh and Karaglukh is also under threat from Azerbaijani occupation.

Our concerns are substantiated by a video released by Azerbaijani AZTV on March 30 this year, which shows Azerbaijanis presenting exhumed human remains. The Azerbaijani propaganda machinery is deceitfully presenting this fact as a mass grave of Azerbaijanis from the village of Ivanyan (known as Khojalu in Azerbaijani) following military operations in 1992. However, the reality is different, particularly:

1. Although the Azerbaijani side has long resorted to falsifications and accuses the Armenian side of mass murder of Azerbaijanis in Ivanyan, there are numerous irrefutable proofs that the Armed Forces of Artsakh provided humanitarian corridors to civilians before and during military operations, and that the massacre in question occurred precisely by the armed opposition of Azerbaijan near Agdam (known in Azerbaijani as Aghdam) under their control. They aimed to use this massacre in Azerbaijan as a basis for regime change, as was admitted by Azerbaijan's then-President Ayaz Mutalibov.
2. Based on our sufficient analytical data regarding video footage, geographic, and cultural parameters, it is unequivocal that the footage in question is from the Armenian cemetery called “Kalen Khut” in Parukh, dating back to the 9th-12th centuries (map attached). Therefore, the presented bones belong to the corpses from an ancient Armenian cemetery.
• Experts familiar with the area and residents of Parukh conclusively state that the video was filmed in the cemetery of “Kalen Khut.”
• The initial observation of cultural and archaeological specialists is enough to record that the human skulls presented in the video have a brachycephalic (round-headed) structure typical of Armenoid anthropological type, while the residents of Azerbaijan have a dolichocephalic (long-headed) structure characteristic of Caspian anthropological type (photos attached).
• All of the presented bones are smooth, which archaeologically indicates that they cannot be 30 years old, but centuries old, whereas the nomadic ancestors of the Azerbaijani population only invaded these regions of Artsakh in the 18th-19th centuries.
3. Moreover, the Azerbaijani propaganda machine uses such unfounded and false arguments that it can also be noted that Ivanyan (Khojalu in Azerbaijani) is located at least 17 kilometers away from Parukh (map attached), and it is clear that the military operations that took place in Ivanyan could not have any connection with Parukh.

These facts are so compelling that we must once again acknowledge not only another episode of the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage but also the Azerbaijani side's anti-Armenian falsifications and attempts to deceive their own people and the international community.

Therefore, considering the systematic and deliberate crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the rich Armenian and universal Christian cultural heritage in the preceding decades, which have gained unprecedented momentum since the 2020 aggression and have been documented by numerous international organizations, including the European Parliament by the resolution dated March 9, 2022, we call upon the international community and cultural preservation and human rights organizations not to remain indifferent and to take measures to curb the cultural ethnocide pursued by Azerbaijan. We regret that, to date, UNESCO has not dispatched a fact-finding mission to the occupied territories of Artsakh, contrary to its obligations and calls, and has made no significant efforts to prevent further crimes committed by Azerbaijan.