Expert exposes Azerbaijan’s lies about Zorakhach Church in Artsakh

The Azerbaijani regime continues to appropriate and destroy Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), warns Hovik Avanesov, Cultural Ombudsman of the Armenian Highlands.

“A video from the Kashatagh region of the occupied Artsakh Republic, which was posted on Azerbaijani social media on April 4, falsely presents Zorakhach Church as Albanian as part of Azerbaijan’s efforts to distort history,” he wrote on Facebook.

Zorakhach Church is located 52 kilometers north of Berdzor, on the left bank of the Shalva tributary of the Hakari River, in the territory of Arakhish rural settlement.

“Azerbaijan portrays as Albanian not only a significant part of the Armenian cultural heritage of Artsakh and Nakhichevan, but also Armenia’s Tatev Monastery, Harichavank, Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Haghartsin, Haghpat Monastery, Sevanavank, Geghardavank, Holy Cross Church on Akhtamar Island and other spiritual and cultural sites,” Avanesov noted.

The expert highlights that Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict prohibits any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of, and any acts of vandalism directed against, cultural property.

Furthermore, the first Hague Protocol of 1954 explicitly forbids the destruction of cultural or spiritual values in occupied territories.