Azerbaijan's Barbaric Act of Destroying Aivazovsky's Statue is Foolishness: Zatuline

The destruction of the statue of the Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky in Stepanakert is an example of vandalism encouraged and incited by the Azerbaijani authorities at a state level. This was stated by Konstantin Zatuline, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma's Committee on CIS Affairs, as reported by Lenta.ru.

He emphasized that this is a barbaric act, frankly speaking, sheer foolishness. Aivazovsky is a universally recognized genius of painting, appreciated not only in our Russian Empire but throughout the world.

“These wonderful fighters against Armenian cultural influence, who today dominate the territory of the former Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, have not limited themselves solely to the destruction of Aivazovsky's statue. They have already desecrated monuments of the Soviet’s famed military leaders in the native village of Chardakhlu, destroying a large number of khachkars, that is, memorial crosses. Additionally, the Azerbaijani authorities are officially developing a theory about the supposedly non-Armenian origin of historical and cultural monuments located in Nagorno-Karabakh. This refers to monasteries dating from the 6th, 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries,” he elaborated.

It is also noteworthy that it was previously reported that the Azerbaijani authorities destroyed Aivazovsky's statue on the artist's birthday.