{"id":36968,"date":"2021-03-19T20:11:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/?p=36968"},"modified":"2021-03-19T20:11:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:11:39","slug":"aliyev-orders-removal-of-medieval-armenian-inscriptions-as-azeri-forces-destroy-shushis-kanach-zham-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/?p=36968","title":{"rendered":"Aliyev Orders Removal of Medieval Armenian Inscriptions, As Azeri Forces Destroy Shushi\u2019s Kanach Zham Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aliyev Orders Removal of Medieval Armenian Inscriptions, As Azeri Forces Destroy Shushi\u2019s Kanach Zham Church<\/p>\n

MARCH 19, 2021<\/p>\n

After visiting a 17th century church in occupied Hadrut, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev ordered the removal of medieval inscriptions, calling them \u201cfake\u201d (Video screenshot)<\/p>\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev ordered the removal of medieval Armenian inscriptions from Armenian Churches that have fallen under Azerbaijani control, calling them \u201cfake.\u201d In a separate incident, Azerbaijani forces currently occupying Shushi have destroyed the St. John the Baptist church, commonly known as \u201cKanach Zham\u201d leveling it to the ground.<\/p>\n

Aliyev issued the order to his entourage when visiting Hadrut with his wife and Azerbaijan\u2019s Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva this week, angering official Stepanakert and Yerevan, which condemned the Azerbaijani leader for advancing \u201ccultural terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch official visits are nothing but a manifestation of anti-Armenian and militaristic policy of Azerbaijan and an insight into its future aggressive plans,\u201d said the Artsakh Foreign Ministry in a statement it publicized on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Republic of Artsakh has alerted the international community on numerous occasions about Azerbaijan\u2019s state-orchestrated cultural terrorism, its efforts to erase Armenian cultural heritage in territories that are under its military occupation further advancing its genocidal expansionist policy,\u201d said the Artsakh Foreign Ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis genocidal policy is a crime against humanity, a gross violation of international norms, conventions, resolutions and agreements, and a threat to the entire civilized world,\u201d added the ministry. \u201cWe call on the relevant international organizations to take all the necessary measures to prevent the eradication of Armenian cultural heritage as well as to resolutely condemn the genocidal policy of Azerbaijan. Inaction and indifference are fraught with unpredictable consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The St. John the Baptist Church\u2013or Kanach Zham\u2013in Shushi was destroyed by Azerbaijani forces after the war ended<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Artsakh\u2019s Foreign Minister David Babayan called the destruction of Kanach Zham \u201ccultural genocide,\u201d adding that the \u201cactions by Azerbaijan against Armenian historical-cultural monuments is the continuation and the manifestation of their fascist policy in a disgusting and dangerous manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAzerbaijanis know our history very well and the destruction of that Church is nothing but a message from the Azerbaijani president and the state that they will do the same if they are able to take control of all of Artsakh,\u201d added Babayan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch actions of Azerbaijanis in no way differ from the actions of terrorists in the Middle East, who destroyed universal monuments,\u2019\u2019Babayan said, adding that the only difference is that if in the Middle East some terrorist groups are responsible for the atrocities, in the case of Azerbaijanis those actions are state-sponsored.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aerial images show the Kanach Zham Church in October and later in February completely destroyed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Calling Azerbaijani blatant destruction of heritage a contempt for international law, Babayan said \u201cthe civilized world should take measures, because if today they are destroying Artsakh\u2019s cultural heritage, the international community\u2019s indifference may resulting in them knocking on their doors tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armenia\u2019s Foreign Minister on Thursday called on the international community, particularly UNESCO, to intervene to save the monuments in Azerbaijani-occupied territories of Artsakh that have not yet been destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the Azerbaijani occupation of the Hadrut region, the once prosperous settlements with tens of thousands of Armenian inhabitants were completely annihilated, and many civilians were killed. The international community, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, have expressed their clear position regarding the cases of blatant violation of the Geneva Convention in the Hadrut region, when captured civilians were subjected to extrajudicial execution,\u201d the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.\u2028\u2028It added that Aliyev\u2019s statements in Hadrut reveal an intention to destroy Armenian settlements and replace them with the Azerbaijani ones, which violates the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, according to which the displaced people must return to their places of residence. It also proves that the Armenians of Artsakh cannot survive under the Azerbaijani control.<\/p>\n

The ministry warned that under its policy of ethnic cleansing, Azerbaijan is taking consistent steps aimed at eliminating and appropriating the Armenian cultural heritage of Artsakh.<\/p>\n

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the destruction of Kanach Zham occurred months after the end of military actions in Karabakh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concerns that the Armenian side has been expressing since the very first days the Armenian historical-cultural monuments fell under the Azerbaijani control, are materializing. These facts demonstrate that Azerbaijan\u2019s assurances that it will preserve the Christian historical-cultural heritage and is willing to cooperate with UNESCO are completely false,\u201d said the ministry. \u201cUnder the current situation, the timely intervention of the international community, particularly UNESCO, to save the monuments that have not yet been destroyed becomes urgent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere cannot be solid and lasting \u2018peace\u2019 built on the basis of destruction of the peaceful settlements of Artsakh, its historical-cultural heritage, annihilation of the Armenian population and the replacement of the Armenian settlement with the Azerbaijani ones. We will continue our struggle for a just and dignified peace by working closely with our international partners,\u201d the ministry concluded.<\/p>\n

asbarez.com\/201241\/aliyev-orders-removal-of-medieval-armenian-inscriptions-as-azeri-forces-destroy-shushis-kanach-zham-church\/<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aliyev Orders Removal of Medieval Armenian Inscriptions, As Azeri Forces Destroy Shushi\u2019s Kanach Zham Church MARCH 19, 2021 After visiting a 17th century church in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36972,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36968\/revisions\/36972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lousavor-avedis.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}