Monitoring cultural heritage of Artsakhmonumentwatch.org:the site writes:
"According to the official propaganda of Azerbaijan, only the spiritual structures built in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century are examples of Armenian cultural heritage in the territory of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani propaganda machine "explains" this by the fact that "Armenians were resettled in Transcaucasia during the last two hundred years by the authorities of the Russian Empire." and the Armenian spiritual structures of the region were built by Armenian settlers The legacy belongs to these settlers and has been created over the last 200 years."
As we can see, with such a statement, official Azerbaijan "appropriates and owns" not only the RA, but also the entire cultural heritage created in the territory of Artsakh and other historical Armenian territories :
We can see that the Azerbaijani propaganda machine considers only the churches built in the 19th century as Armenian, based on their own propaganda theses, where the Armenians are considered newcomers.
Based on this propaganda thesis, the Azerbaijani side considers only the churches built in the 19th century as Armenian, because according to them, there were no Armenians in Artsakh until the 19th century will be demolished, because they were built in non-"occupation" years, but they also cannot be declared "Aghvan_Udian". Therefore, the question arises as to what In the last four years, the Azerbaijani side has been publishing propaganda videos of Armenian churches built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and still standing in Baku, Gandzak, Shamkor, to show that it is "tolerant" and has no problem with Armenian heritage ( see about this in more detail: "tolerance" of Azerbaijan).
But on the other hand, this legacy of the 19th century is also problematic for Azerbaijan, because there are such churches in almost all villages of Artsakh. Documentary testimonies and descriptions: Makar Barkhudaryants, traveling all over Artsakh, described the Armenian villages, the monuments in them, under construction, rural churches under renovation.
We can see that starting from 2020, in some cases, they are officially declared again as Aghvan-Udian, such as the St. The Church of the Most Saviour, thereby creating a contradiction with the main propaganda theses (see: about declaring the Church of the Most Saviour, St. Amenprakich of Talish village "Aghvana-Udian").
In some cases, we can verify that such churches dating back to the 19th century "disappear", are intentionally damaged during the "infrastructural" works carried out by the Azerbaijani side, as was the case with St. Sargis, St. of Madatashen village. Astvatsatsin churches (see: St. Sargis church in Mokhrenes, The enemy destroyed the school, culture house, monument and damaged St. Astvatsatsin church in Madatashen village).
In some cases, these churches are simply desecrated, covered with inscriptions, as happened in the case of the churches of Karintak, Jraghatsner villages (see: St. Astsvatsatsin Church of Karintak is subjected to vandalism, Azerbaijani military is chanting a Muslim prayer in the occupied St. Astsvatsatsin church of the occupied Jraghatsner village).
We consider it necessary to mention that we have a situation in the Hadrut region that even if the churches are standing, the villages were deliberately damaged and destroyed, and there are no Armenians left in the whole of Artsakh, that is, the community that built the churches does not exist, and its settlements are being destroyed.
The most difficult situation is created in Shushi. The Azerbaijani propaganda machine in general rejects the Armenian identity of the city, which was the main and final destruction of the Armenian cemeteries still preserved in the Soviet years. It is a fact that the Azerbaijani side decided not to see, even to eliminate, its propaganda machine in the city of Shushi Armenian heritage with theses (see: Azerbaijan destroys Shushi cemeteries).
Armenian st. Hovhannes Mkrtich (Green Hour) and St. The Most Savior (Ghazanchetsots) churches were officially declared Russian Orthodox and work was undertaken to restore these churches to their "original, historical" appearance, and then the Green Hour Church "suddenly" disappeared.
The most surprising thing here is that ambassadors accredited to Azerbaijan, leaders of religious communities were brought to Shushi to demonstrate the unquote restoration of the Green Hour (see about presenting the Green Hour Church in Shushi as a Russian Orthodox church and the illegal ritual organized there).
It is obvious that the Ghazanchetsots church has already been transformed into an Orthodox church: its dome has been removed, and its dome has been painted in a golden color there are a large number of archival, official documents that were compiled by the provincial authorities of the Russian Empire.
Thus, we can see that even the physical existence of the heritage built in the 19th century and recognized as Armenian is also of great concern to the occupants and these monuments are also subject to destruction."
