Artsakh cultural destruction marks continuation of genocide, scholar warns

Armenian legal scholar and church official Gevorg Danielyan has denounced intensifying acts of cultural desecration in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), asserting that the deliberate targeting of Armenian religious and historical sites represents an extension of genocide.

Writing on social media on Wednesday, Danielyan, a professor of law and member of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, said efforts to marginalize the Armenian Apostolic Church and normalize silence around atrocities have only emboldened perpetrators. “The attempts to target the Armenian church and impose an agenda of ignoring these crimes did not prevent barbarities against Armenian culture. They became even more brazen,” he wrote, noting that Azerbaijani servicemen now openly broadcast such acts online.

He recalled that Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II had forewarned of these developments during an April 10, 2025, conference in Switzerland titled “Religious Freedom: Preserving Armenian Spiritual, Cultural and Historical Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh. The gathering, attended by more than 400 senior clerics worldwide, underscored threats to Armenian heritage. Danielyan said the Armenian church leader’s remarks were met with dismissive responses from Azerbaijan’s religious leadership and coincided with intensified anti-church campaigns inside the country.

Danielyan argued that the desecration of Armenian religious sites in Artsakh mirrors earlier patterns in Turkey, framing it as part of a broader international crime. He criticized global institutions for failing to respond meaningfully, accusing them of being preoccupied with “phantoms of hybrid warfare” while ignoring what he called “the beam in their own eye”.