The cross of the Vankasar church in Artsakh is missing in the photos published by Azerbaijanis. Hovik Avanesov

The cross of the church of Vankasari in the Republic of Artsakh is missing from the photos published on the social media platforms of Azerbaijan. This church is also represented by the state propaganda machine of Azerbaijan as a church. This fact proves once again that Azerbaijan is carrying out cultural genocide in occupied Artsakh at the state level. "Hayk culture ombudsman" Hovik Avanesov warns about this.

"According to Article 4 of the Hague Convention of 1954, 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.

It should be reminded that the Hague International Court of Justice in 2021. Desecration of Armenian churches was prohibited by the decision of December 7. "Azerbaijan is obliged to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration that were carried out against the Armenian cultural heritage..." (International Court of Justice, Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan), 7 December 2021, No. 2021/34)./ https://monumentwatch.org/... /decision-of-the.../

And by PACE Resolution 2583, the denial of the fact of Armenian cultural values and their belonging to the Agvans was recognized as an "Azerbaijani fiction" (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Humanitarian consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan / Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Resolution 2391 (2021), article 18.4)," wrote Avanesov.