EU Lawmakers Call for Support in Installing Cameras on Artsakh’s Armenian Heritage Sites

A group of Members of the European Parliament has urged EU leaders to ensure that the EU takes active steps to protect Armenian cultural and religious heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Armenpress, this was stated by Member of the European Parliament Miriam Lexmann on her official page, where she shared the essence of a comprehensive letter addressed to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Robert Metsola, President of the European Parliament.

“We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, are concerned that the millennia-old Armenian cultural and religious heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh is under direct threat of destruction, desecration, and appropriation, in serious violation of international law and the legally binding ruling of the International Court of Justice. These sites constitute an important part of our European heritage, and it is our duty to ensure their protection,” the letter states.

“Since the war in 2020, symbolic sites of Armenian cultural and religious heritage, including churches, monuments, khachkars, cemeteries, and statues, have been destroyed in areas under Azerbaijani control, while Armenian inscriptions have been erased from the walls of Armenian churches and tombstones,” the letter continues.

The lawmakers are calling for concrete actions at the European level to ensure that the rich cultural and religious heritage of Armenians in the region is protected. This includes setting deadlines for the Aliyev regime to allow international monitoring, assessment, and fact-finding missions into the region, allowing UNESCO missions access, ensuring the right of return for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh under international mechanisms that guarantee their safety, imposing sanctions against the Aliyev regime for flagrant violations of international court rulings and norms of international law, and supporting the installation of 24/7 surveillance cameras on each Armenian heritage site in Nagorno-Karabakh to monitor these sites in real-time from anywhere in the world, with the aim of preventing further destruction,” the letter clarifies.