Video: Azerbaijan Destroys Fraternal Cemetery in Artsakh's Haterk Village

On January 15, 2024, a video was posted on an Azerbaijani YouTube channel, showing the destruction at a memorial site in the occupied village of Haterk in Artsakh, dedicated to the victims of the Artsakh war. This information was reported by Monument Watch, an organization monitoring the monuments in Artsakh.

"The video reveals that the memorial commemorating the self-defense victims from the village during the first Artsakh war and the surrounding cemetery have been vandalized. Particularly, most of the memorial stones with portraits of the Haterk defenders have been overturned, along with some gravestones. The video was filmed by Azerbaijanis conducting some work near the memorial site. It also shows work tools and a gas cylinder placed on the memorial stones (see video)," the organization stated.

The village of Haterk suffered significantly during the first Artsakh war. In 1992, Azerbaijani armed forces attempted to ethnically cleanse and destroy the village. Between 1992 and 1993, Haterk was occupied twice by Azerbaijani military forces. Nineteen peaceful residents of the village who could not escape during the Azerbaijani invasion were killed by Azerbaijani soldiers. A total of 57 people were killed in battles fought for the self-defense and liberation of the village. The construction of the memorial dedicated to the fallen was initiated in 2002 and completed in 2005.

Our response: According to Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, any act of vandalism, theft, looting, appropriation, hostility, and reprisal against cultural heritage is prohibited. The first Protocol of The Hague of 1954 prohibits the destruction of cultural or spiritual values in occupied territories. The second Protocol of The Hague in 1999 reaffirms this requirement and qualifies such acts as international crimes under Article 15. Destruction of cultural property is also prohibited by the four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols concerning the protection of victims of war, as well as relevant resolutions of the UN and human rights treaties," the statement reads.