Andrey Areshev: The trend towards the albanization of Armenian heritage began a long time ago

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Andrey Areshev commented on Azerbaijan’s policy of “albanization” of Armenian cultural and historical heritage in Artsakh.

The other day, it became known that the Azerbaijani authorities are planning to organize an Albanian museum in the Surb Harutyun Church in Hadrut and “reconstruct” the church itself.

“Well, this is not the first action of this kind. As far as we can judge from fragmentary information and video clips coming from the territories occupied by Azerbaijan, a similar situation is observed in Shushi in relation to the Ghazanchetsots temple. I believe that, unfortunately, similar trends will not bypass other Armenian churches in the region, such as Gandzasar and Dadivank.

The trend of rewriting the cultural heritage of the region, including the albanization of the Armenian historical and cultural heritage, began in Azerbaijan neither yesterday nor today. We know that after the events of 2020, in the territories that came under the control of the Azerbaijani authorities, in particular Kelbajar, Lachin, and some other regions, in the same Hadrut, there was information about the so-called Udi services of the Udi parish in the Dadivank monastery.

Taking into account the close relationship between religion and politics, any religious activity—and especially activity in conflict regions—and the rewriting of the historical, cultural, and religious heritage of the people who left these places, unfortunately, can hardly be limited. And here, government agencies do whatever they want. In any case, this question is quite complex, and, by the way, it is not unique to the Caucasus. We see what is happening in Ukraine and in some other areas. Unfortunately, these kinds of issues are hostage to state policy and, above all, to policies carried out by force of arms,” Areshev said.

When asked what Armenia can do regarding the barbaric actions of Azerbaijan in the occupied territories of Artsakh, Andrey Areshev expressed a skeptical opinion on the actions of the Armenian authorities, at the same time hoping that only the structures of the Armenian Church will fully promote the Armenian cultural agenda on different platforms.

“What could Armenia do? Well, the Armenian authorities, as far as I understand, are not going to do anything special about this. I believe that only efforts remain at the level of the dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church of both Catholicates and, let’s say, educational activities aimed at preserving and maximizing the representation of the religious and cultural development and image of Nagorno-Karabakh, outside its borders, in Armenia and wherever possible,” the expert concluded.