Caucasus Heritage Watch: Satellite Images Show Increasing Azerbaijani Destruction of Artsakh Cultural Heritage

A recent report on Armenian cultural sites published by Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) shows that the number of cultural heritage destructions targeted by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh has increased by 75 percent since the fall of 2023.

Validating experts' warnings about Azerbaijan's destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, a new report by CHW confirms a 75-percent increase in destroyed sites across the region since last year's mass displacement of its indigenous ethnic Armenian population.

Through a comparison of satellite images in Fall 2023, when more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians were expelled from their homeland by the autocratic Azerbaijani regime, the latest CHW report in Spring 2024 draws attention to the destruction of historic schools, graves and shrines, and reveals a 29-percent increase in classified sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, the report said.

Overall, the Spring 2024 monitoring identified the largest number of affected sites since Spring 2021, when CHW began monitoring cultural heritage after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the report noted.

CHW principal investigators Ian Lindsay, Adam T. Smith, and Lori Khatchadourian noted in their summary that they paid special attention to Azerbaijani activities in the Kalbajar region and the hilltop town of Shushi, which Azerbaijan had captured during the 44-day war in 2020, the report also said.