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International Christian Concern (ICC) has issued a statement on  inauguration of the Military Trophy Park in the capital of Baku iopned by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and dedicated to celebrating the country’s genocidal military conquest in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

According to it the date of this inauguration was conducted in parallel to the beginning of Ramadan, a soft nod towards the religious freedom issues underscoring the 44-Day War. Multiple crimes towards Christians and Christian heritage sites were documented throughout the war. These crimes quite often involved the Grey Wolves, a Turkish ultra-nationalist extremist group.

It is noted that state media photos showed several concerning components of this event and the park. President Aliyev is wearing his combat military uniform during the park’s inauguration, further emphasizing the continued posture of war and conquest towards the Armenian community. Other alarming elements include displaying the helmets of Armenians killed during the conflict, as well as creating cartoonist wax mannequins of servicemen stylized in a way that reinforces degrading stereotypes of Armenian Christians. Additionally, many of these mannequins show these servicemen as either dead or dying.

Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “Inaugurating this kind of park is incredibly distasteful. Let us be clear: this is not a war museum. It is one thing to respectfully document the horrors of war as a way of showing why such a tragedy should not be repeated. The purpose of a war museum is the promotion of peace and reconciliation by acknowledging history, including any crimes committed by the winner’s side. It is another thing entirely to create a trophy park of a military victory, and to display the losing side in such a degrading manner. The posture taken by Azerbaijan towards Armenians is a posture facilitated and encouraged by Turkey. It is a posture of violence and genocide towards ethnic Christians. The international community should not be silent, such actions are the foundation from which other human rights violations flow.”