Today marks the 5th anniversary of the completion of the last phase of destruction of Armenian cross stones located in the cemetery of the historic Armenian city of Djulfa located in Azerbaijan. This act of annihilation orchestrated by 200 soldiers of the Azerbaijani army and the support of its government at the border of Nakhitchevan and Iran was the final step of destruction of the 10000 cross stones that were erected between the 6th and 17th centuries.

Khatchkars are cross-stones approximately one metre wide and up to two and a half metres high, richly decorated with Christian symbols, flowers and arabesque climbing plants as well as depicting subjects from daily life. In November 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Armenian Khatchkar an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

Despite logged evidence of their atrocities, the government of Azerbaijan firmly denies these acts of violence against world heritage sites in Djulfa.

The Armenian National Committee of Canada calls on all Canadian authorities to condemn these acts of violence and request that UNESCO holds Azerbaijan officially accountable for this cultural Genocide. Dr. Girair Basmadjian, President of ANCC announced “The silence of the international community has proved in the past that violent acts can be tolerated and repeated if not condemned properly. The aggressive stance of the Azerbaijani government towards

Armenia and the Nagorno Karabagh Republic is a constant threat to the peace process and calm in the given geographic region. Throughout the past century, Azeri and Turkish hostility has repeatedly resulted in acts of genocide, deportations, and acts of violence against heritage sites such as destruction of monuments, churches and landmarks in eastern 

Turkey followed by destructions of cross stones in Djulfa, and the churches in the Nagorno-Karabakh or Nakhitchevan area.”

The present hostile situation in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the constant threats of President Aliyev against Armenia and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is convincing truth that any compromise from the Armenian people will jeopardize the lives and the peace of Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The lack of condemnation of such destructive practices by the Azeri authorities merely encourages the latter in its persistent policy of annihilation of all traces of monuments of Armenian cultural heritage in every region under their control, with impunity I should add. These acts represent the culmination of the pogroms and the ethnical cleansing policy of Azerbaijan for the last decades that eliminated the whole Armenian population from Azerbaijan, starting successfully from Sumgait, Baku and other major cities but unsuccessfully in Nagorno-Karabakh.