Vandalism Cases in Stepanakert: Cross Removed from Church

The Azerbaijani state's policy of appropriation and destruction of Armenian cultural heritage continues to grow at an exponential rate in the occupied regions of Artsakh. Ombudsman of Armenian Culture, Hovik Avanesov, has raised concerns about cases of vandalism in the capital of the Republic of Artsakh, Stepanakert.

On February 4, the Azerbaijani 'REAL TV' channel published a video on its YouTube platform from occupied Stepanakert. Preliminary examinations of the video show that the cross of the Surb Hakob Church located in the Hekimyan district of Stepanakert has been removed, and the cross-stone in the yard is also missing. Further information will be provided upon new developments.

The church's foundations were laid in September 2005, and the construction took about 1.5 years, completing on May 6, 2007. On February 6, Facebook user Mkhitar Karapetyan reported that another video was published by Facebook user Rafik Mekhtiev from occupied Stepanakert, where the bust of Admiral Isakov was also missing. Karapetyan added that this was also shared on a Telegram channel.

From relevant monitoring, it was found that the video was published by Rafik Mekhtiev on January 30. The video clearly shows that the bust of the hero located on Admiral Isakov Street in Stepanakert has also fallen victim to the cultural genocide perpetrated by Azerbaijan at the state level. The bust was installed in 2018 by sculptor Albert Harutyunyan.

Another alert regarding the vandalism in Stepanakert was raised by Sergey Shahverdyan, the head of the Public Council for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Artsakh, who published photos of the statue of Alexander Myasnikyan destroyed by Azerbaijanis on his Facebook page.

On February 9, the 'Ararat' Telegram channel shared images of another desecration that occurred in the occupied Hadrut area, showing the vandalized gravestone of one of the monks in the yard of St. Harutini Church in historic Dizak area. All of this once again proves that Azerbaijan is systematically destroying the historical and cultural heritage of Artsakh.