Azerbaijanis destroyed the complex dedicated to the memory of the victims of Hakaku village of Artsakh. Monumentwatch.org

On January 15, 2024, a video taken by Azerbaijani soldiers at the beginning of the year was posted on some Armenian Telegram channels, where the latter are near the memorial complex built in memory of the participants who died for the self-defense of the village during the first Artsakh war. This is reported by the website "Monumentwatch.org", which monitors the cultural heritage of Artsakh.

"The video shows that the memorial plaques are broken and desecrated. In the video, the Azerbaijani soldiers show the broken commemorative plaques with assault rifles, move the broken parts, and hit them. It is worth paying attention that the soldiers are moving with rifles, sticking to the broken memorial plaques. Some plaques show traces of firing.

It is difficult to tell from the video when the memorial was desecrated. Considering that, according to Azerbaijani videos, military personnel are stationed in many places in the Hadrut region of occupied Artsakh, perhaps they were the ones who desecrated the complex.

Our response

According to the Hague Convention of 1954, which is also the basis of other international treaties, its first article defines cultural value as "the movable or immovable heritage of great importance to every people, regardless of origin or owner, such as monuments of architecture, art or history, regardless of their religious or secular nature."

According to Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict, any act of vandalism, theft, robbery, misappropriation, hostility or reprisal against cultural heritage is prohibited. According to the first Hague Protocol of 1954, it is forbidden to destroy cultural or spiritual values in the occupied territories," the website states.