The monumentwatch.org website monitored the monument in Artsakh's cultural heritage writes:
"On March 3, 2025, the Azerbaijani side has resettled 25 families in the village of Haterk, Artsakh, with 91 residents. The resettlement was carried out within the framework of the "Return of Liberated Areas" program. The video states that those departments were native residents of the village.
This statement, as mildly, surprises, as there are the data of the Census of Soviet years, which also indicates the ethnic composition of the population of the settlement, and Azeris are missing in Hateran. The settlement has always had an Armenian population. This is evidenced by the data of the late 19th century census. As of 2018, 1544 residents lived in Hater (Balayan 2020, 314).
The village of Haterk, Artsakh was one of the oldest settlements in Artsakh. The Armenian written and lithographic sources of the 12th and 15th centuries are many people with the center of the same name (Petrosyan, Kirakosyan, Safaryan 2009, 11-21). Haterk settlement was one of the important stations on the road on the road. This is evidenced by the 10th-century Arab Authors Al-Istah, Ibn Huukal, Al-Mukadadza (Mananandyan 1985, 171-175). Haterk village and its surroundings are rich in many monuments, which have been in danger of extinction after the complete Armenian depiction of Artsakh in 2023. The center of the village is located in the center of the village, the St. Astvatsatsin Church, which is dated to centuries, stands out with its unique khachkars. See more details about the church here.
In the Armenians of Armenia, the Azerbaijani side managed to destroy the monument to the victims of the Patriotic War and vandalize the fraternal cemetery of Haterk village. Since 2023, you can find dozens of videos on the Internet, where the houses of Haterk village are being robbed.
Our reaction
The settlement of Azerbaijani residents poses a threat to the village and its surroundings, which is already seen from the situation of the last two years. We consider it necessary to mention the fate of the monuments resettled by Azeris in previous Armenian settlements in the previous Soviet years, they have been destroyed and distorted. This has been repeatedly stated during the Soviet years. At the same time, resettling Azeris in the ancient historical residence of Artsakh, there is a tendency to falsify the historical and cultural environment of those regions of Artsakh.
Azerbaijan's policy violates a number of international conventions that support historical monuments and cultural heritage, banning their intentional destruction, falsification, illegal change. In particular, Article 4 of the Convention on the Protection of Cultural Values in the 1954s of the Hague of Hague states that States must undertake all possible means to maintain and not damage cultural heritage.
In addition, according to Article 5 of the same Convention, the High Contracting Parties, which have fully or partially captured the territory of another high-reaching party, support the national authorities of the occupied territory as much as possible to ensure the protection of its cultural values. In case of providing cultural values in the occupied territory and military action, it is necessary to ensure this, the occupying state undertakes to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of these values closely together with the mentioned authorities.
Similarly, the European Cultural Convention adopted in 1954 also obliges states to defend both national and international cultural values, regardless of their geographical or political affiliation. According to Article 1 of this Convention, States must ensure the preservation of cultural heritage under their jurisdiction, and it obliges states to refrain from actions that may lead to the destruction or distortion of other peoples.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan starts on April 25, 1997 and is obliged to protect the general cultural heritage of humanity. "
