Armenians should have an unimpeded access to the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral of Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said Friday, October 8, on the anniversary of the double strikes on the sanctuary by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the Second Karabakh War.
Shushi, a historic Armenian city, ultimately fell under Azerbaijan's control, and pictures published later revealed that Azeri authorities have removed the dome of the iconic Cathedral.
On October 8, 2020, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched double air strikes on the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral using high-precision weapons, causing significant damage.
"The repeated deliberate striking of a place of worship is not only a condemnable crime under international law, in particular the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) and its Second Protocol (1999), but also as a symbolic demonstration of the intent; It is a clear manifestation of Azerbaijan's policy aimed at annihilating any trace of the Armenian presence in Artsakh," Hunanyan said in a statement.
"A year after the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, the fate of around 1,500 historical and cultural heritage sites and places of worship, as well as thousands of museum specimens in the territories of Artsakh fallen under the control of Azerbaijan, remains uncertain and endangered."
Hunanyan said it's no coincidence that Azerbaijan continues blocking or restricting the access of the UNESCO expert mission to the endangered Armenian cultural heritage sites, attempting to conceal its war crimes.
"The vandalism against historic-cultural monuments and places of worship representing people's cultural and spiritual heritage, are flagrant violations of international law, contradict universal values and are strongly condemnable," Hunanyan said.
"The Cathedral of Shushi is one of the most important centers of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Artsakh, and the servants and followers of the Armenian Church should have an unimpeded access to this sanctuary."
