Artsakh Union strongly condemned the Sept. 11-12 visit to occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) organized for the diplomatic corps accredited in Azerbaijan, involving 150 representatives from 58 countries and nine international organizations, according to a statement by the union.
The statement said this was “another episode in the systematic campaign pursued for years by Aliyev’s genocidal regime, aimed at legitimizing the occupation and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh in the eyes of the international community by portraying them as ‘revival’ and ‘development.’”
The park presented to diplomats in Stepanakert was built on the site of demolished Armenian homes and monuments, which the union described as clear evidence of the continuation of genocidal and occupation policies.
“Hikmet Hajiyev, an aide to Azerbaijan’s genocidal dictator, presented the Armenian monastic complexes of Gandzasar and Dadivank to diplomats as ‘ancient Caucasian Albanian’ heritage, linking them to the alleged ‘Albanian prince Hasan Jalal,’ whereas the Hasan-Jalalyan dynasty was an Armenian princely house, and both monasteries served for centuries as active centers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, with their Armenian inscriptions and uninterrupted Armenian liturgical tradition. This is a clear manifestation of the policy of ‘Albanization,’ whose actual purpose is to historically dispossess the Armenian people of Artsakh’s Christian heritage. During the same visit, H. Hajiyev made yet another false claim that the ancient Armenian manuscripts displayed at Gandzasar — in fact, copies of them — were ‘fake,’ and that both Gandzasar and Dadivank had been subjected to distortions ‘under the guise of restoration’ during the ‘years of occupation.’ Such accusations come from a side that, according to extensive independent evidence, is in fact responsible for the destruction or distortion of Armenian churches, khachkars, gravestones and other monuments in Artsakh,” the statement said.
In this context, Artsakh Union President Artak Beglaryan said: “Azerbaijan continues to use visits by diplomatic delegations as a mechanism to portray the genocidal destruction and forcible erasure of identity it itself carried out in Artsakh under the guise of ‘restoration.’ We demand that responsible representatives of the international community not become instruments for legitimizing crimes and falsifying history, but instead demand an independent and transparent investigation and publicly speak out against the forcible displacement of the people of Artsakh, the destruction of their heritage and the numerous violations of their rights.”
The statement noted that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order of Nov. 17, 2023, which remains in force and binding, requires Azerbaijan to ensure the safe, unimpeded and expeditious return of persons displaced after Sept. 19, 2023, prevent their further forcible displacement, and protect and preserve documents and records concerning their identity and property. It also reaffirms the Court’s previous orders issued in 2021 and 2023.
The union also recalled that an Oct. 11, 2023 joint statement by 40 countries at the 54th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council explicitly called on Azerbaijan to guarantee the safe, dignified and sustainable return of the indigenous population, protect Armenian cultural and religious heritage, and ensure independent international access to and monitoring of Artsakh. The diplomatic corps participating in the visit included representatives of many countries that signed that statement, making their participation in this Azerbaijan-organized unilateral tour directly inconsistent with commitments their countries had formally undertaken.
“Based on the above, we demand:
- Immediately ensure unimpeded and continuous access for UNESCO and other independent international expert missions to all Armenian historical, cultural and religious monuments in Artsakh to independently document their current condition, in accordance with the ICJ order of Nov. 17, 2023, the Oct. 11, 2023 statement by 40 countries at the U.N. Human Rights Council, and relevant European Parliament resolutions.
- States and international organizations represented in the diplomatic corps should refrain from participating in tours organized and escorted by the Azerbaijani state until adequate guarantees of independent verification, transparency and Armenian participation are ensured.
- Diplomats and other officials who have already participated or may participate in the future should publicly provide clear assessments of the forcible displacement of Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population and cases involving the destruction and appropriation of its cultural and religious heritage, rather than becoming instruments of Azerbaijani propaganda and international legitimization.
- The Armenian authorities, as guarantor of the rights and interests of the Armenian people and as the government of the country hosting the forcibly displaced population of Artsakh, should formally and publicly respond to this visit and to the policy of falsifying the history of the Armenian people, and consistently defend the rights of the people of Artsakh on all international platforms.
- We once again remind representatives of the international community of the right of approximately 150,000 forcibly displaced residents of Artsakh to a safe and dignified return, as well as the need for the immediate release of Armenian hostages held in Baku, which are minimum prerequisites for ensuring stable and lasting peace in the region.
The Artsakh issue can be considered closed only when our collective and individual rights are fully restored and firmly and sustainably guaranteed by the international community,” the statement said.
Hajiyev took diplomats accredited in Azerbaijan to Gandzasar and Dadivank, presenting them as part of the Christian heritage of “ancient Caucasian Albania.”
Sergey Shahverdyan, president of the Artsakh Tourism and Culture Development Agency NGO, sent an open letter to diplomatic representatives working in Armenia, saying foreign ambassadors who visited Stepanakert and posed for photographs in the so-called “Victory Park” should not become part of Azerbaijan’s political and propaganda narrative, in which the consequences of the Armenian population’s expulsion are portrayed as “victory” and “liberation.”
