Azerbaijan starts mass demolition of houses in Stepanakert

The Azerbaijani authorities have started mass demolition of residential houses in Stepanakert, the capital of Azeri-occupied Artsakh, warns Sergey Shahverdyan, the chairman of the Public Council for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh’s Occupied Territories.

“Over the past few days, the historic neighborhoods of the capital along Tumanyan Street have been razed to the ground in violation of the property rights of thousands of owners of 19th and early 20th century private buildings,” he said in a social media post on Thursday.

Shahverdyan urged the displaced residents of Stepanakert to demand that the Armenian authorities and international organizations make efforts to ensure the collective rights of the Artsakh people, including the rights to repatriation and to property.

“The NKR authorities should coordinate the mass movement in defense of the collective rights of the Artsakh people,” he added.