Diocesan council chair: Azerbaijan erasing Armenian traces in Artsakh at Aliyev's behest
Approximately 5,000 monuments and 400 graves in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) fell under Azerbaijani control after its seizure, Lernik Hovhannisyan, the chair of the Artsakh Diocese Council, said at a parliamentary debate hosted by Armenian opposition MPs on Friday.
He pointed to Azerbaijan’s policy of appropriation and “Albanization” of Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh.
Hovhannisyan called attention to the erasure of Armenian inscriptions from churches and cross-stones in Artsakh at the behest of Azerbaijani President lham Aliyev.
“Upon his visit to Hadrut, Aliyev announced that the inscriptions were engraved on churches by Armenians later and had to be removed,” he added.