Azerbaijan destroys even those monuments of Artsakh that are dedicated to the memory of the heroes who died in the Great Patriotic War

According to the comparative analysis of Google Earth satellite photos, between April 19, 2024 and July 15, 2025, the Azerbaijani authorities destroyed the monument commemorating the Astghashen fighters who died in the Artsakh Liberation War, which was erected in 2012, in the Astghashen village of the Askerani region of the temporarily occupied Artsakh Republic. In the same period, the monument commemorating the people of Astrashen who died in the Great Patriotic War, which was built back in the 1970s, was razed to the ground.

These are not isolated or random incidents. They are another documented manifestation of the cultural genocide carried out by Azerbaijan at the state level.

The Azerbaijani regime is consistently implementing a plan to eliminate not only the physical territory of Artsakh, but also its historical memory, cultural identity and Armenian civilizational presence. Churches, monasteries, khachkars, cemeteries, monuments, museums, statues of state and public figures, memorials dedicated to the memory of war victims are being targeted. Everything that proves that Artsakh has been an integral part of Armenian culture, history and civilization for centuries is being destroyed.

With particular cynicism, Azerbaijan destroys even those monuments dedicated to the memory of the heroes who died in the Great Patriotic War. These monuments symbolized the joint struggle of the Soviet peoples against Nazism and were an integral part of the common historical legacy of the Second World War. However, even that circumstance has no importance for Baku. Political hatred and the state policy of falsifying history take precedence over any historical, moral or legal obligation.

What is even more worrying is that Azerbaijan is not limited only to the dismantling of monuments. In many cases, new Azerbaijani structures, squares, museums and religious objects are built in their place, with the aim of finally eliminating any trace of Armenian memory and creating a historical false reality. This is a classic policy of cultural occupation and memory engineering, the goal of which is not only to erase the past, but also to rewrite the future.

Dozens of monuments have become victims of this policy.
• The monument dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, the Great Patriotic War and the First Artsakh War was completely destroyed in Shushi. Currently, an Azerbaijani museum, a mosque and a square are being built in that area with the aim of completely eradicating the Armenian memory and reshaping the historical environment.
• The bust of Soviet Air Marshal Armenak Khanperyants and the “MiG-17” fighter-monument were destroyed in Mets Tagher village of Hadrut region.
• Three separate monuments dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War, the Armenian Genocide and the First Artsakh War were destroyed in Azok village, as well as the monument commemorating the victims of the Great Patriotic War and Artsakh Liberation War was desecrated and destroyed.
• In the center of Berdzor, the memorial complex dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War was completely removed.
• The bust of Admiral of the Soviet Union Ivan Isakov and the statue of Marshal of the Soviet Union Hovhannes Baghramyan were destroyed in Stepanakert.
• In Shushi, the monument of Ivan Tevosyan, the hero of Socialist labor, outstanding statesman of the Soviet Union, was demolished.
• In Haterk, Vank, Yemishchan, Karintak, Khnatsakh, Martuni, Avetaranox and many other settlements of Artsakh, the monuments and memorials dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh Liberation War were destroyed or damaged.
• The memorial complex of Askeran region was also completely destroyed.

This list is not complete. Almost every month, new satellite photos reveal another destruction. The cultural genocide continues in real time, and its scale is expanding year by year.

The actions of Azerbaijan have long gone beyond the limits of ordinary vandalism. They are a state-planned, systematic and purposeful policy, the main goal of which is the destruction of Armenian historical memory. Not only the stones, statues and monuments are destroyed, but also the people’s historical memory, symbols of identity and spiritual connection with the homeland. This is a policy of erasing history, which is aimed at proving the false thesis that no Armenian civilization ever existed in Artsakh.

This policy is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property, the fundamental principles of UNESCO, and fundamental human rights. It also contradicts the international obligations that Azerbaijan has undertaken by joining international organizations and ratifying international documents on the protection of cultural heritage.

The international community also bears a special responsibility. Concerns, appeals and statements that have been voiced for years have not turned into effective actions. After each unanswered destruction, Azerbaijan received an implicit permission to destroy new monuments, desecrate new churches and remove new historical traces. Impunity has become the main driving force of this cultural genocide.

Not only Armenian monuments are being destroyed in Artsakh today. A part of the world cultural heritage, a valuable layer of the collective memory of humanity is being destroyed. If the international community continues to limit itself to concerns, then in the near future the material memory of an entire civilization will disappear before the eyes of the world, and history will be written not by facts, but by bulldozers.

Artsakh cultural heritage ombudsman office,
Artsakh “State Service for Preservation of Historical Environment” SNOC