“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2025
2025
At the end of the 1990s, after Armenians were completely depopulated from Nakhijevan, the Azerbaijani authorities set out to eliminate all evidence and signs that can testify to the Armenian heritage in those territories.
Khachkars (cross-stones), which are significant monuments[1] of Armenian cultural heritage, became targets of Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy. In Nakhijevan, the city cemetery of Jugha, which was the largest Armenian cemetery and contained numerous khachkars, was vandalized.
After the deportation of Armenians organized by Persian Shah Abbas in 1604, the French traveler Alexandre de Rhodes, passing through Jugha in 1648, noted about 10,000 khachkars that remained standing. In 1915, photographer Aram Vruyr, and in 1928-29, S. Ter-Avetisyan, estimated that there were about 3,000 khachkars in Jugha. By 1971, only 2,707 khachkars remained, according to recorded data[2]. These were the khachkars that remained, but they were later completely destroyed by the Azerbaijani authorities.
In 1998, a letter and photographs signed by architects A. Petrosyan, V. Arakelyan, Ed. Zohrabyan, and V. Shahmirzayan were received from Tehran, stating that the Azerbaijanis were demolishing the old Jugha cemetery. Officials from the cultural heritage institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran also addressed to this issue. [3] However, as a result of protests in Armenia and the Diaspora, the destruction of the Jugha cemetery was halted through the intervention of the UN Commission for the Protection of Monuments and UNESCO. Nevertheless, by that time, approximately 10-15 percent of the cemetery had already been destroyed. [4]
When UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) demanded to stop the destruction of cultural monuments in Jugha, the Azerbaijani authorities, despite a wealth of irrefutable evidence, denied these accusations, claiming that Armenians had never lived in those areas. [5]
This vandalism continued in 2002-2003 and was completed in 2005. [6]
On January 19, 2006, the European Parliament condemned the destruction of the Jugha khachkars and called on the Azerbaijani authorities to cease the destruction. [7] The Council of Europe also sought to send a delegation to Jugha, but the Azerbaijani government rejected the request. In 2008, ICOMOS passed a resolution condemning the destruction of the historic cemetery of Jugha. [8]
Following the outcry and condemnations from Armenian and international organizations, the President of Azerbaijan dismissed these concerns, calling them a provocation. [9]
In 2006, the deputies of the Council of Europe proposed investigating the condition of the monuments on-site. However, the Azerbaijani authorities labelled it as "biased." [10]
Despite Azerbaijan's denial, in the spring of 2006, Idrak Abbasov, a journalist from the Institute for War and Peace and a native of Azerbaijan, visited the cemetery and reported that it had "completely disappeared." [11]
Hans Svoboda, the representative of the Austrian Socialist Party, commented on the rejection of the visit by the Council of Europe deputies to Jugha, stating: "If they do not let us come, it is a clear sign that something bad has happened. If something is being hidden from us, we ask why. It can only be because some of the claims are true." He also warned that one of the most important elements for any state seeking closer ties with Europe is respect for the cultural heritage of its neighbors. [12]
Charles Tannock, a British representative in the European Parliament, said: "This is similar to the demolition of the Buddha statues by the Taliban. They concreted the area and turned it into a military camp. If they have nothing to hide, they should let us see the place."[13]
Taking into consideration that Azerbaijan had prohibited investigations of the area by outside groups, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) obtained and analyzed satellite images to assess the destruction of cultural property. After evaluating satellite images from 2003-2009, the association concluded that in 2003, the Jugha cemetery contained hundreds of khachkars dating back to the 15th-16th centuries, many of which were missing in the 2009 photos.
Studies using modern technologies suggest that the khachkars were moved using specialized earth-digging equipment, after which those sections of the land were leveled. [14]
Thus, between 1998 and 2006, the Azerbaijani army completely destroyed the Armenian cemetery of Jugha, which was subsequently turned into a military shooting range by the Azerbaijani government. In his work "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe," Raphael Lemkin, a specialist in criminal and international law, defines "genocide" as not only the physical annihilation of an ethnic or religious group, but also the destruction of its national and spiritual culture. [15]
The destruction of the Jugha khachkars, along with the complete erasure of Armenian heritage in Nakhijevan, is a clear manifestation of cultural genocide. Armenian Artsakh could be the next victim of this policy unless international human rights organizations and the international community take strong and decisive action.
[1] In 2010, UNESCO included the art of carving khachkars in its "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity," as an Armenian cultural monument, https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/armenian-cross-stones-art-symbolism-and-craftsmanship-of-khachkars-00434
[2]Ayvazyan A., The Symphony of the Destroyed Jugha Khatchkars, Yerevan, 2007, p. 9.
[3] The old cemetry of Jugha, http://www.aravot.am/1998/12/04/784527/ ։
[4] Ayvazyan A., Այվազյան Ա․, The lithographic inheritance of Nakhidjevan, p. 5.
[5] Pickman S., Tragedy on the Araxes, archaeology.org, June 30, 2006.
[6] IWPR staff in Nakhichevan, Baku and Yerevan (CRS No. 336, 19-Apr-06), IWPR reporter confirms that there is nothing left of the celebrated stone crosses of Jugha․
[7] European Parliament resolution on cultural heritage in Azerbaijan, 16 February 2006, Strasbourg․
[8] 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS, Quebec, Canada, 30 September – 4 October 2008 RESOLUTIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY․
[9] IWPR staff in Nakhichevan, Baku and Yerevan (CRS No. 336, 19-Apr-06), IWPR reporter confirms that there is nothing left of the celebrated stone crosses of Jugha.
[10] Castle St., Azerbaijan ‘flattened’ sacred Armenian site, The Independent, 30 May 2006.
[11] IWPR staff in Nakhichevan, Baku and Yerevan (CRS No. 336, 19-Apr-06)․
[12] Castle St., Azerbaijan ‘flattened’ sacred Armenian site, belfasttelegraph.co.uk, 30 May 2006.
[13] Tannock Ch., Azerbaijan ‘vandalised’ sacred Armenian sites, The Independent, 30 May 2006․
[14] High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and the Destruction of Cultural Artifacts in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
[15] Lemkin R., Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, Washington, 1944, էջ 80-85