Azerbaijani gravestones destroyed in southern Armenia Vandalism continues

Tombstones belonging to Azerbaijanis, who once resided in their historical lands in present-day Armenia, have been destroyed as was the case with 900 cemeteries razed to the ground by occupying troops in Azerbaijan's Karabakh and East Zangazur regions during the 30-year occupation.

Photos posted by independent user Magsad Huseynov on Twitter on January 8 prove the case.

Most of headstones of the graves of #Azerbaijan|is have been smashed in a cemetery in southern #Armenia. @CIJ_ICJ, do not these acts amount to #racialdiscrimination and constitute violation of the obligations of Armenia under ICERD? #CERD #religioushatred #ICJ pic.twitter.com/mlJVKyYdmG

— Magsad Huseynov (@Magsad_Huseynov) January 8, 2023

In late December 2022, President Ilham Aliyev said that “the devastation committed by the Armenians in Western Azerbaijan must be communicated to the rest of the world".

“In general, it is necessary to provide the world community with more information about the suffering and deprivation of our people in the 20th century. We always tell the truth,” the head of state noted.

He added that "tens of thousands of foreign visitors to the liberated lands can see with their own eyes what atrocities our people have been subjected to... Western Azerbaijanis are a community that has been illegally deported many times. Their rights must be restored and they must be able to return to their native lands,” President Ilham Aliyev in a meeting with a group of intellectuals from Western Azerbaijan.

The president stressed that Baku wants to secure Azerbaijanis' rights through peaceful means and deliver to the international community information about historical facts, Azerbaijan's historical sites, palaces, mosques and cities destroyed by the Armenians, facts related to Azerbaijan's historical heritage erased by the Armenians.

To recap, during the 30-year every Azerbaijani settlement was levelled to the ground after it was occupied by Armenians. Nothing survived, even cemeteries, although not a single historical Armenian church was destroyed by Azerbaijan.

The US State Department's annual report "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Armenia" published in April 2022 noted that the facts of the destroyed Azerbaijani cemeteries are confirmed by thousands of photographs taken by foreign photojournalists. It noted that the Azerbaijani graves were desecrated by Armenian separatists. In some cases, evidence of looting these graves was found, including traces of their destruction by construction equipment.

During Armenia's three-decade occupation, some 900 cemeteries with over a million graves were decimated. Azerbaijani gravestones were even used to build stairs to Armenian homes. Car plates of killed and displaced Azerbaijanis were used to decorate public restrooms. Overall, during 30 years of occupation 927 libraries with 4.6 million books, 700 historical monuments and 22 museums with 100,000 exhibits were looted and destroyed by Armenia. Armenia looted and erased more heritage than ISIS terrorists did in Iraq and Syria. It is the worst cultural genocide of the 21st century.

To erase all traces of Azerbaijani culture and history Armenia systematically destroyed cultural and historical monuments. Out of 67 mosques, 65 were desecrated and destroyed. Many mosques were turned into pigsties and cowsheds like the Juma Mosque of Agdam (1870), Zangilan Mosque (17th century) or Marmar Mosque (18th century) in Gubadli.