“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2025
2025
Armenian cultural heritage under Azerbaijani control, including historical monuments and cemeteries, has consistently been vandalized. Destroying the cultural heritage, Baku pursues an explicit objective: to deliberately erase the historical presence of Armenians and eliminate any trace of Armenian heritage from these territories.
Azerbaijan’s state policy, which openly contradicts the principles of the so-called “multiculturalism policy” it proclaims, is in reality aimed not only at the destruction of Armenian heritage, but also at the historical and religious legacy of other nations.
On its way to forge an “Azerbaijani identity,” the country targets, among others, the cemeteries of Russians and participants of the Great Patriotic War. Azerbaijani barbarism is not limited to the destruction of gravestones. As a result of state-sanctioned permissiveness, the burial sites of martyrs and veterans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as Russian, Armenian, and, in general, Christian cemeteries, become targets of “shadow business”. After destroying Soviet five-pointed stars, crosses, and tombstones, these burial places are resold to Azerbaijanis.
Strangely, in recent decades, roads in Azerbaijan have been constructed through cemetery grounds, using this false pretext to deliberately destroy Russian and Armenian burial sites.
Local residents have witnessed the deliberate destruction of Russian graves across Azerbaijan. One such incident was revealed by Nikolai Ivanov, who, back in 2017, spoke about acts of vandalism occurring at the Russian cemetery in Baku’s Yasamal district. In his letter of complaint, Ivanov noted that over the preceding four or five years, strange things had been happening in the cemetery, where his own relatives are buried. According to him, the Christian and Muslim sections of the Yasamal cemetery had previously been clearly separated, but over time, Muslim graves began appearing in the Christian part. “Vandalism is taking place in the cemetery, particularly at night as iron crosses and tombstones with the star symbol of Great Patriotic War veterans are being removed,” Ivanov reported.
Many residents confirm that this is about the “shadow cemetery business.” The price of a single burial plot costs 5,000 manats, while the price for two or three plots can reach 10,000 manats or more. It is clearly visible that the section of the cemetery originally designated for Christians now contains a significant number of large, luxurious marble Muslim graves.
“Members of a an organization visit the area, search for abandoned graves, and register them, most likely with the intention of reselling them at a high price,” reports local resident Antonina Vasilievna, whose husband is also buried in the mentioned cemetery.
А vandalized cemetery
Meanwhile, this is not the first case of the destruction of Russian cemeteries in Azerbaijan. In 2023, another act of vandalism occurred in the Zabrat neighborhood of Baku’s Sabunchu district, where more than 150 tombstones in the cemetery were destroyed. The Russian community in Azerbaijan publicly condemned the atrocities committed in the old Zabrat cemetery. Local residents confirm that thefts of metal fences and crosses from the cemetery grounds occur frequently.
Damaged tombstones have also been found at the cemetery in the Amirjan settlement of Azerbaijan. According to a citizen’s report, several gravestones were vandalized and crosses and fences completely destroyed. A formal inquiry was sent to the local authorities of Amirjan, to which they responded that “renovation work” was being carried out in the cemetery. Community representatives claimed that those “graves have no owners.” The existing tombstones, they said, date back 30 to 40 years and primarily belong to Russians, Armenians, and also Tatars—hence, they argued, there are no surviving grave owners.
However, photos shared on social media confirm that the extent and nature of the damage could not have been caused by renovation work. These appear to be deliberate and targeted actions aimed at erasing any evidence of the historical presence of other nations in the area.
Under the pretext of renovation or construction work, the graves of people from various ethnic backgrounds have also been desecrated in Baku’s Montin Christian cemetery where Armenians (it is also known as the Armenian Cemetery), Russians, Georgians, and Ukrainians were buried. Using the false excuse of road construction, heavy machinery has ravaged the area, destroying everything that bore traces of Christian or specifically Armenian heritage.
Thus, the vandalism of not only Armenian but also Russian cemeteries across the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan reflects the Azerbaijani barbarity. It reveals a deep-seated hatred and intolerance that is openly directed even against the Russian community. The desecration and destruction of people’s graves, used as a source of profit by the Aliyev regime or affiliated organizations, demonstrate the ruling administration’s complete disregard for even the most basic moral values.