“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2026
2026
2026-01-26
The destruction and appropriation of Armenian monuments by Azerbaijan has a history of decades. It has become a state policy and an institutionalized mode of practice. On January 14, 2026, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, signed the document titled “Cultural Concept of the Republic of Azerbaijan – 2040,” which outlines the vision, objectives, and implementation mechanisms of Azerbaijan’s state cultural policy for the next 15 years in the short-, medium-, and long-term perspective. According to the 39-page document, Azerbaijan’s cultural and language policies are to be directly derived from the logic and provisions of this Concept.
In the Concept, Artsakh is presented as a “liberated territory,” whose “cultural heritage must be preserved and restored.” The action plan states that in the “liberated territories,” activities related to the protection of cultural heritage, including archaeological monuments, should be improved, awareness should be raised within the international community regarding the damage inflicted on cultural heritage, and measures should be undertaken to compensate for the damage caused.
In recent years, Azerbaijan has been engaged in the systematic destruction and appropriation of Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh, while simultaneously accusing Armenians of vandalism. Experience shows that, under the pretext of preservation, part of the Armenian monuments of Artsakh will be destroyed under the label of “occupational,” while another part will be rebranded as Albanian or Azerbaijani.
“One of the key objectives of the Concept is to ensure Azerbaijan’s cultural return to its historical geography, to restore the destroyed and devastated historical and cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people, and, as a unifying factor, to restore the regional role of the Azerbaijani language.” Incidentally, such wording reflects Azerbaijan’s ambitions not only toward Armenia but also toward other neighboring states, including Iran, Russia, and Georgia. In Azerbaijani official discourse, these formulations are regularly repeated with reference to Armenia, within the context of unfounded accusations.
The Concept does not explicitly mention the expansionist and fabricated thesis of “Western Azerbaijan”, however, given that it is actively promoted at the highest level of the country’s leadership, including by the president himself, it is reflected in the document. One of the provisions of the Concept states: “The implementation of measures related to the attribution, protection, and restitution of the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people in the historical geography where the cultural heritage created by the Azerbaijani people is located.”
The bodies responsible for the implementation of this provision are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, the National Academy of Sciences, and other state institutions.
In his speech at the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan in November 2025, Ilham Aliyev stated: “The Azerbaijani people have lived and continue to live across a vast geography. Suffice it to say that the Azerbaijanis live everywhere beyond our borders. They also lived in Armenia, but were driven out of there. But I am sure that they will live there again. Because we can see across our borders with all neighboring countries that the Azerbaijanis live in their ancient historical lands.”
It should be recalled that, under Aliyev’s directive, work to establish departments in the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan began in 2024. As a result, a department for the study of manuscripts and documents of “Western Azerbaijan” was opened at the Institute of Manuscripts; a “History of Western Azerbaijan” department was established at the Bakikhanov Institute of History; a “Folklore of Western Azerbaijan” department at the Institute of Ethnography; and a “Topography” department at the Nasimi Institute of Linguistics.
A number of other institutions in Azerbaijan are also engaged in the rewriting of history, aimed at denying the indigeneity of Armenians in Armenia and the region, and at appropriating and destroying the Armenian cultural heritage created over centuries. The guidelines set by Ilham Aliyev apply both to the Concept and to the activities of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, and the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” concept should also be viewed in this context.