Azerbaijan’s plans to renovate and reconstruct the historical city of Shusha are under fire from both Armenians - concerned about cultural erasure - and from Azeris who are critical of the lack of transparency around the process.
Eurasianet (США): Азербайджан приступил к противоречивой реставрации армянского храма inosmi.ru - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from inosmi.ru Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Azerbaijan begins controversial renovation of Armenian church
Eurasianet
08 May 2021, 00:49 GMT+10
Azerbaijan has begun reconstructing a cathedral in Shusha to what they say is its original form, claiming that it had been inauthentically altered by Armenians in the 1990s. It is the most overt case thus far of Baku s intent to manipulate the heritage of the territory they now control again after winning the war with Armenia last year.
For some weeks the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, the largest church in Shusha, has been covered in scaffolding and on May 3, Armenian sources began reporting that the dome of the church appeared to have been removed. After an outcry from Armenians, including a statement from Armenia s Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling it vandalism, Azerbaijan acknowledged that it was planning to alter the form of the church.
The end of the most recent fighting in the disputed Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh has brought about a fragile peace. However, with several key issues unresolved, hostilities may not be over just yet.
During a break in trilateral talks at the Kremlin in January between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia over the future of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters that, “unfortunately, the conflict is still not settled”.
He is right.
The formal status of Nagorno-Karabakh – an enclave of ethnic Armenians within what is Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognised territory, which has been pushing for self-determination since the late 1980s – remains up in the air, a crucial point of contention.
What happened to the church azerbaijannews.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from azerbaijannews.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.