Azerbaijan bulldozed a road through historic Armenian cemetery in Shushi

Between October 5 and November, three Azerbaijani bulldozers carved a road through an historic burial ground in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh, known as the Yerevan Gate cemetery, Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) warned on Wednesday.

“Nestled amidst the trees are at least 78 Armenian-inscribed tombstones dating between 1802 and 1913. Dense forest obscures the cemetery. We used maps and publications of Shusha/i to trace its borders. It’s unclear how many tombstones were damaged, but research shows that burials covered the area,” CHW said/

“The tombstones of women and men, young and old, tell stories of kinship, occupation, faith, status, and more. And they ask that the deceased may rest in peace.

“This is the fifth Armenian cemetery impacted since Nov 2020, after the destruction of Mets Tagher and Sghnakh, and damage to cemeteries in N. Shushi and near Vazgenashen/Hajisamly. Development cloaks a slow project to remove the ancestors of Shushi’s Armenian inhabitants,” the watchdog added.