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Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of embarking on a campaign between 1998 and December 2005 to completely demolish the cemetery of finely carved allegedly Armenian khachkars in Julfa. According to the European Parliament resolution regarding cultural monuments in the South Caucasus, the European Parliament "condemns strongly the destruction of the Julfa cemetery as well as the destruction of all sites of historical importance that has taken place on Armenian or Azerbaijani territory, and condemns any such action that seeks to destroy cultural heritage."

History

Nakhichevan is an exclave which belongs to Azerbaijan but Armenia's territory separates the two apart. Nakhichevan borders, however, on Armenia, Turkey, and Iran. It was from this area that the Persian King Shah Abbas, during the Persian-Ottoman war, forcibly relocated about 150,000 Armenians in 1620 and resettled them in the outskirts of his capital, Isfahan .

“Armenia gives a special significance to the deliberate destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage by the Azeri authorities, since those displays of vandalism not only destroy cultural monuments, but also do not contribute to the establishing of mutual confidence between the two nations. Azerbaijan’s actions in Nakhichevan in 2006 were at the center of attention of the RA MFA. In this regard a number of measures were taken in several directions at once. The Armenian MFA informed the international community on the vandalism, which was condemned by CoE and UNESCO. Currently the Azeri side refuses to grant mandates to any international mission for visiting Nakhichevan to estimate the situation on khachkars,” says the report.

Destruction

"Azerbaijan, having previously attempted genocide of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, is demonstrating a consistent pattern of criminal acts. As such, congressional and international attention and focus is needed to combat this latest assault and we very much appreciate the leadership of the Armenian Caucus in this regard," said Executive Director of Armenian Assembly of America US National Headquarters in Washington D.C. Bryan Ardouny.

The old Cemetery of Julfa is known to specialists to have housed as many as 10,000 of these carved khachkar headstones, up to 2,000 of which were still intact after an earlier outbreak of vandalism on the same site in 2002. Eyewitness accounts of the ongoing demolition indicate at the organized nature of the operation, qualifying it as cleansing. Azerbaijan, as a member of the international community, has national responsibilities within the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other relevant international frameworks to preserve the cultural and historical heritage in its custody.

Azerbaijan claims that Armenians never existed in those territories. With regard to destruction, according to the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the US Hafiz Pashayev, the videos and photographs that have surfaced show some unknown people destroying some mid-size stones and is not clear of what ethnicity those people are. Instead, the ambassador asserts that the Armenian side started a propaganda campaign against Azerbaijan to divert attention from the destruction of Azerbaijani monuments in Armenia.

Destruction of khachkars in Armenia

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There is a growing evidence and photos from Armenian sources of khachkars and other cultural heritage being destroyed by Armenians themselves, especially around their capital of Yerevan. Khachkars are also endangered in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh due to being damaged or moved. Most endangered are the old khachkar fields located near modern graveyards, where khachkars are being eradicated for the creation of new burial space. The "crown of thorns" belongs to the khachkar field in the village of Arinj, near Yerevan. The situation is threatening in the Noratus Cemetery (near the Lake Sevan) as well, where new burials are encroaching upon the khachkar field from at least three sides. The old graveyard of the village of Areni in Vayots Dzor is in almost the same situation.

The movement of khachkars voluntarily by different individuals is a widespread practice. In some cases this is done to allegedly create a new holy place, for example, the case of Karmir Dalakner of Gegharkunik region where the khachkar was brought from Kalbajar, Azerbaijan. Another case of moved khachkars is due to the decoration of new offices and especially entertainment establishments, as for example in the Vank village in Karabakh. The third and the most condemning practice is when khachkars are merely disappearing to decorate individual yards and houses.

References

1. European Parliament On Destruction of Cultural Heritage
2. Baku’s Vandalism in Nakhichevan in 2006 at the Center of Attention of RA MFA
3. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
4. Full text of the letter to Azerbaijani Ambassador Hafiz Pashayev - from Joe Knollenberg - Frank Pallone, Jr.
5. The new tears of Araxes - Documentary
6. Regnum News Agency Report
7. Khachkar.am

See also

• Khachkar

External links

• The new tears of Araxes
• Part 1 of the destruction caught on video tape
• Arran Erases Famous Armenian Medieval Cemetery
• http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/djulfa/index.html
• Destruction of the Armenian Cemetery at Djulfa by International Council on Monuments and Sites
• Evidence of destruction in Turkey by Armenian National Committee of Australia

• History of Armenia