We demand that government take measures to protect cultural heritage of Artsakh — Sergey Shahverdyan

The Council for the Protection of the Rights of the Artsakh People presented its demands to the Armenian government. The people of Artsakh demand that the authorities take measures to protect the cultural heritage of Artsakh.

Although Artsakh Armenians have yet to discuss this matter with executive authorities, Sergey Shahverdyan, chairman of the Agency for the Development of Culture and Tourism of Artsakh, stated that the government has assured them that a joint discussion will take place.

“Our proposals are based on the government’s strategic program for culture, adopted on November 9, 2023. This government strategy suggests that effective measures should be taken to protect the cultural heritage of Artsakh on international platforms. This means that the cultural heritage of Artsakh must be documented and databases created. We also emphasize the importance of protecting the intangible cultural heritage of Artsakh and have specific proposals in that regard. The contributions of 12 performing arts groups in Artsakh are currently at risk of vanishing, and they are already disappearing from social media due to Azerbaijan’s policies. Steps must be taken to preserve these cultural achievements,” Shahverdyan said.

According to Shahverdyan, 12 state ensembles of Artsakh and the Stepanakert Drama Theater named after Papazyan—a cultural institution with a 90-year history—were forced to cease their activities due to lack of funding after displacement in 2023.

“Our demand is that the activities of these artistic groups receive direct or indirect sponsorship. They were sponsored by various foundations, but now many of them have ceased their operations,” Sergey Shahverdyan said.

According to him, Armenia lacks a database for monuments from occupied Artsakh, and the government is not taking any steps to create one.

“We have approximately 30 museum collections, some of which remain either partially or fully under Azerbaijan’s control. Now the fate of some is unknown, while others, according to published photos, have been destroyed. Unfortunately, we don’t see any steps being taken to create these databases. For example, in the fall of 2022, the State Council for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh created catalogs of 7 cultural collections in Shushi. Today, with funding from the Embassy of the Netherlands, our organization is compiling catalogs for four other museums, but we do not see a government policy in this direction,” he said.

He noted that now monumental artworks in Artsakh are under threat, since many of them are in Stepanakert, which is now being destroyed by Azerbaijan.

Sergey Shahverdyan added that Armenia’s withdrawal of lawsuits filed against Azerbaijan in international courts would violate the rights of the Artsakh people.