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The Azerbaijani authorities are continuously implementing ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide policy in occupied Artsakh, systematically destroying Armenian settlements, warns Hovik Avanesov, Cultural Ombudsman of the Armenian Highlands.

“This criminal process has reached unprecedented levels, evolving into a large-scale program to raze Artsakh’s settlements,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Avanesov pointed to a photo shared on social media on February 18, which showed the near-total destruction of the village of Taghut-Taghot in the Hadrut region.

“This indicates that Azerbaijan is not only destroying cultural heritage but is also deliberately wiping out historical Armenian settlements in an attempt to erase the Armenian traces from Artsakh,” the expert wrote.

He recalled that the heroic village of Karin Tak in the Shushi region, as well as the villages of Mokhrenes, Mariamadzor and Tsamdzor in Hadrut, along with numerous residential areas in Stepanakert and other settlements across Artsakh, fell victim to Azerbaijan's policy of destruction.

“This is not merely a strategic maneuver but a state-sponsored genocidal policy aimed not only at the annihilation of Armenians but also at the erasure of their historical and cultural heritage in Artsakh," Avanesov emphasized.

He called on the international community to take immediate action against Azerbaijan’s crimes and put an end to its blatant violations of international law.