An introduction to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, especially the frozen conflict period and the 2020 war, and how that conflict has impacted the (lack of) protection of cultural heritage in the region.

1. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background,
War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage
U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield
Annual Meeting
25 March 2022
Gabriel Armas-Cardona, Esq.

2. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
OUTLINE
− Part 1. Background (pre-1990s)
− Part 2. After 1994: Frozen Conflict and the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war
− Part 3. Impacts on Cultural heritage
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3. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
BACKGROUND

4. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
WELCOME TO THE
CAUCASUS
▪ Three states of the
Caucasus: Armenia,
Azerbaijan and
Georgia.
▪ Three large external
actors: Russia, Turkey
and Iran
▪ Three break-away
regions: Nagorno-
Karabakh, Abkhazia
and South Ossetia
Source: Wikipedia, Caucasus Regions Map
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caucasus_regions_map.png
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5. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
THE CONFLICT IS
LONG AND COMPLEX
▪ The conflict between
Armenians and
Azerbaijans is more
than a century old
▪ Naturally, this
presentation only
scrapes the surface
▪ This long-running
conflict has promoted
animosity, which often
targets the cultural
heritage of the region. Source: Twitter, @deSyracuse, Nov 8, 2020,
https://twitter.com/deSyracuse/status/1325482748807700481/photo/1
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expelled

6. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
TIMELINE
− 1918-20 – Armenian-Azerbaijani War
− 1920 – The USSR takes over the territory of modern-
day Armenia and Azerbaijan
− 1923 – Moscow establishes the Nagorno-Karabakh
Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) In the Azerbaijani SSR.
An Oblast was a sub-Republic level administrative
area. The NKAO was predominantly Armenian.
− Feb/March 1988
− The NKAO votes to join Armenia.
− In response, the Sumgait pogrom occurs, a 4-day
pogram against ethnic Armenians by ethnic Azerbaijanis
− In response, the Gugark pogrom occurs, expelling
Azerbaijanis from the Gugark District of the Armenian
SSR
− Considered the unofficial beginning of the First Nagorno-
Karabakh War
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− Jan 1990 – Baku pogrom, lasting 7 days
− Dec 1991 – Soviet Union Collapses
− Early 1992 – Full-scale war occurs
− Multiple atrocious occur, including the Khojaly
massacre of 200-600 Azerbaijanis (primarily civilians)
− May 1994 – The war ends with a ceasefire
agreement, but it’s predominantly an Armenian victory
− Sept 2020 – Azerbaijan attacks, initiating the Second
Nagorno-Karabakh war
− Nov 2020 – The war ends with a ceasefire agreement,
but it’s predominantly an Azerbaijani victory

7. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
AFTER 1994:
FROZEN CONFLICT
AND THE SECOND
NAGORNO-
KARABAKH WAR

8. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
AFTERMATH OF THE
FIRST NAGORNO-
KARABAKH WAR
▪ Armenian forces
ethnically cleansed
regions around the
NKAO (in orange)
− To Azerbaijan
− 684,000 IDPs
− 185,000 Refugees
− To Armenia
− 72,000 IDPs
− 299,000 Refugees
(Source: UNHCR, 1996)
▪ NKAO leadership
declares itself a state:
the Republic of Artsakh
Source: University of Kent Conflict Analysis Research Centre, Mapping the Nagorno-Karabakh
Conflict, 15 April 2018, https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/carc/2018/04/15/the-nagorno-karabakh-conflict/
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Source: American National Committee of
America, https://anca.org/nagnorno-karabakh-
welcomes-vienna-meeting-of-armenian-and-
azerbaijan-presidents/

9. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
THE “FROZEN CONFLICT” STAGE
− The conflict was considered a frozen conflict from 1994-2020.
− It remained “warm”, with regular shootings and irregular attacks, but had no major
change during this time
− OSCE Minsk Group was the primary group aimed at reaching a negotiated peace.
Except for the 2008 Madrid Principles, there was no success reached.
− Seemingly intractable stances: Armenia emphasized the right to self-determination of
the ethnic Armenians, while Azerbaijan emphasized the core principle of territorial
integrity
− The Republic of Artsakh has never been recognized by any UN member
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10. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
THE SECOND
NAGORNO-
KARABAKH WAR
▪ Azerbaijan attacked on 7 Sept.
2020
− Azerbaijan used Turkish and Israeli
weaponry, including modern drones
− Armenia used mostly Russian and
Soviet weaponry, including
unguided artillery rockets
▪ Fighting primarily stayed in the
Karabakh region, but missiles were
launched outside, including Ganja
(AZ) and Vardenis (AM)
▪ Ended 10 Nov. 2020, in a ceasefire
agreement brokered by Russia and
Turkey. Russian peacekeepers
protect the ethnic Armenian
community.
▪ 45,000 Ethnic Armenians fled,
leaving ~100,000 in Artsakh Source: Wikipedia, 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War Map
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Nagorno-Karabakh_war#/media/File:2020_Nagorno-
Karabakh_war.svg
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11. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
IMPACTS ON
CULTURAL
HERITAGE

12. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
ARMENIAN APPROACH
TO PROTECTION OF
AZERBAIJANI
HERITAGE
▪ Generally, cultural sites were
not respected.
▪ After 6 years of war, there was
a lot of damage
▪ Damaged structures were
removed to create construction
space or left derelict
▪ Exceptions: Mosques were
preserved but left unprotected
▪ Local residents engaged in
vandalism or acts of
desecration like bringing cows
or pigs into a mosque
▪ Militarily strategic areas, like
the town of Agdam (which was
close to the line of contact),
were wiped out.
▪ Agdam was a town of 28,000 Source: Wikipedia, Agdam Mosque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agdam_Mosque
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The Agdam
Mosque: the
lone
standing
structure in
Agdam
Poet
Khurshidbanu
Natavan’s
18th century
house (later
museum) in
Shushi/a
Source: Qarabağ Open Data, War crimes relating to the destruction of cultural heritage, 16 May
2021, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/da3a4010b94949f098a0baa946887101

13. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
“PERSIANIFICATION”
OF AZERBAIJANI
CULTURE
− One criticism leveled on
Armenia is that it allowed
Iran to claim Azerbaijani
culture as its own
− Armenia and Iran have
friendly relations
− Note a language issue:
The term “Azerbaijani”
was coined in the 20th
century. Generally, “Turks”
or “Tatars” were the
previous names used for
the same people.
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Source: Wikipedia, Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukhari_Govhar_Agha_Mosque
− I am not aware of many
examples, but the clearest
one is the renovation of a
mosque in Shushi/a (right).
− It was renovated in 2019
with help by Iranian
specialists.
− Azerbaijanis claim the
mosque was being
“Persian-ified”.
− Suspiciously, the literature
released with the
renovation says nothing
about the mosque’s
origins, simply calling it the
“Shushi Mosque”

14. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
AZERBAIJANI
APPROACH TO
PROTECTION OF
ARMENIAN HERITAGE
▪ Generally falls into 3
categories: 1.
“Potemkin” sites, 2.
eradication or 3.
“Albanification”.
▪ Category 1 refers to
sites that have been
restored in image but
are controlled by the
government and don’t
serve their original
function.
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Armenian church in
Baku, now owned and
controlled by the
government and used as
a “book depository”
Source: Wikipedia, Armenian Church,
Baku
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Ch
urch,_Baku
Source: Wikimedia, Damaged Ghazanchetsots
Cathedral in Shushi 3.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damaged_G
hazanchetsots_Cathedral_in_Shushi_3.png
The Ghazanchetsots
Cathedral in Shushi/a will
likely become another
when fixed.

15. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
AZERBAIJANI
APPROACH TO
PROTECTION OF
CULTURAL HERITAGE
▪ Category 2 are sites that
were completely eradicated
▪ Most egregious example is
the Armenian Cemetery in
Julfa, which was eradicated.
▪ Azerbaijan responded
claiming “There are no
Armenian graves in the
territory of Nakhchivan. This
is just an Armenian
fabrication”
▪ Note: Julfa is not in the
Karabakh region but in
Nakhichevan, the Azerbaijani
exclave West of Armenia
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Source: Twitter, European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democract, 16 July 2015,
https://twitter.com/eafjd/status/621640290668032001
Source: AzerTac, Azerbaijani parliamentarian gives
convincing response to Armenian MP`s groundless
allegations, 24 Jan 2008,
https://azertag.az/en/xeber/572168

16. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
CAUCASIAN
ALBANIAN THEORY
− In Azerbaijani historiography,
there was a sizable kingdom
called the Caucasian Albania
(no relation to modern-day
Albania).
− This kingdom existed from the
2nd century BCE to 8th Century
CE
− The kingdom was Christian,
thus many of the Christian sites
in the region are claimed as
Caucasian Albanian.
− The Udi people are the
modern-day descendants Source: Wikipedia, Aghuank, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aghuank.jpg
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17. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
CAUCASIAN
ALBANIAN THEORY
− Azerbaijan has claimed
multiple Armenian cultural
sites as Caucasian Albanian
− I am not a historiography and
cannot comment directly, but
many historiographers,
excluding Azerbaijani and
Turkish scholars, say that it’s
being used for historical
revisionism.
− For the sake of argument, I’ll
assume the theory is true.
Regardless, its application
doesn’t align with dates and
locations.
Source: Twitter, Anar Karimov, 11 Nov 2020,
https://twitter.com/Anar_Karim/status/1326437397270310912
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− Here is the Azerbaijani
Minister of Culture
calling the Armenian
Dadivank monastery a
Caucasian Albanian site
− He (accurately) claims it
was built in 9-13th
century, but that means it
was built after the
Caucasian Albanian
Kingdom was gone
− Dadivank is located
125km West of the
alleged territory of
Caucasian Albania.

18. The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Background, War, and the Impact on Cultural Heritage | Gabriel Armas-Cardona
Faculty of Law
AFTER THE 2020
WAR
− Azerbaijan regained control
of a lot of territory. On that
territory are many instances
of, among others, Armenian
cultural heritage.
− There are already signs of
destruction of Armenian sites
in those territories
− This is what led Armenia to
request a provisional
measure from the ICJ on
protection of cultural heritage.
Source: Hakim Bishara, Satellite Imagery Reveals Azerbaijan’s Persistent Erasure of Armenian
Heritage Sites, Hypoallergic, 22 Aug. 2021, https://hyperallergic.com/663782/satellite-imagery-
reveals-azerbaijans-persistent-erasure-of-armenian-heritage-sites/
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