Giant cross monument overlooking Karabakh capital toppled

PanARMENIAN.Net - A cross monument overlooking the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of Stepanakert has been toppled by Azerbaijan, according to a video spreading online.

The giant cross was erected on a hill and would lit every night, glowing neon white across the mountains.

After taking control of Nagorno-Karabakh in September, the Azerbaijani military proceeded to destroy Armenian traces. Footage published earlier showed the Azerbaijani military firing from an armored vehicle and firearms on the 13th century Charektar Monastery in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Concerns about the preservation of cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh are made all the more urgent by the Azerbaijani government’s history of systemically destroying indigenous Armenian heritage—acts of both warfare and historical revisionism. The Azerbaijani government has secretly destroyed a striking number of cultural and religious artifacts in the late 20th century. Within Nakhichevan alone, a historically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani forces destroyed at least 89 medieval churches, 5,840 khachkars (Armenian cross stones) and 22,000 historical tombstones between 1997 and 2006.