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The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan commented on the remarks by the President of Azerbaijan during his visit of the XII century Surb Astvatsatsin Armenian Church in the village of Tsakuri, in the Hadrut region of Artsakh. 

To note, Ilham Aliyev named the Surb Astvatsatsin Armenian church an Albanian church and alleged that all the inscriptions on the church wall  were false. "These are the posts added later. They have created a false story for themselves. Meanwhile, they did not succeed. (…) Is a Turkish mosque. They falsified everything and turned it into a garbage dump. "Look at what they’ve done to place, and then they say it is Armenian," Aliyev claimed. 

"Tsaghkavank", from which the "Surb Astvatsatsin" church has been preserved. According to the khachkars, it dates back to 1198 and differs by its round door. The church is a masterpiece of medieval architecture and culture of Artsakh.

A few days ago, it was confirmed that the church of St. John the Baptist, popularly known as "Green Hour" in the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shushi, had been destroyed. Moreover, the church was destroyed not during the war, not during the armed attacks, but afterwards," the Ombudsman's Office said. 

It added that the RA Human Rights Defender will send the records of these facts to the relevant international bodies. "We especially note that for years in Azerbaijan hatred and enmity towards Armenians has been sown in this way at the highest state level, and it is not only hatred based on ethnicity, but it is also religious hatred.

The facts published by this statement clearly prove that in during the September-November war in Artsakh, the Azerbaijani authorities carried out ethnic cleansing and a policy of genocide; and, that policy continues today.

These same speeches and words of the President of Azerbaijan inspired the Azerbaijani soldiers to torture and behead, dismember bodies and commit other atrocities against Armenian servicemen and civilians in the April 2016 April and during the September-November 2020 war," said the Ombudsman.