The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) is one of several ecumenical groups to issue statements denouncing the destruction of Armenian Christian heritage sites and monuments in Artsakh, at the hands of the Azeri authorities.
These statements come in the wake of the announcement from an Azerbaijan government official, indicating that his government plans to desecrate Armenian Christian monuments in Artsakh and erase the evidence of their Armenian origin.
The strongly-worded NCC statement reads in part: “With full acknowledgement of the history of the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century, the NCC cannot ignore this new threat to the Armenian people. We cannot turn a blind eye to the similarities in tactics employed in all historical genocides. To erase a people’s history is to erase their existence, and it betrays a disdain for their very lives and survival as a people.”
The statement goes on to say that “the NCC affirms its solidarity with the people of Armenia against this threat to their very being through the destruction of their history,” and issues a “demand that the Azerbaijani authorities allow United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) representatives to enter Armenian territories under their control, which they have refused to allow since the conflict in 2020.”
Click the link (and see below) to read the full NCC statement.
Christian Leaders Express Solidarity
In early February, His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, responded to the initial Azeri announcement by calling on the world community to condemn this and similar acts of cultural erasure. His Holiness also directed the world’s Armenian Church dioceses to inform and seek action from their local authorities.
Diocesan Primate Bishop Daniel and Diocesan Legate Archbishop Vicken Aykazian have been working with various ecumenical groups to raise awareness of the crisis and enlist their support. Through their outreach, leaders throughout the Christian Orthodox and Ecumenical communities have been promoting the urgent need to ensure the preservation and integrity of Artsakh’s Armenian Christian heritage.
A message from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) references the NCC statement, adding: “Remembering the Armenian Genocide of a century ago, we condemn the Azerbaijan government’s plans to erase Armenian Christian history and Armenian Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region today.”
Click the link to read the ELCA message. ELCA’s Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton sent a copy of the message to Bishop Daniel along with a personal note expressing her deep concern and support.
Similarly, the Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Executive Director of Church for Middle East Peace, responded to the Eastern Diocese’s outreach by affirming that “Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is completely committed to the sustainability of the Christian community in the Middle East including in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. We have put out public statements calling for an end to the conflict and highlighting the devastating effects on Christians.”
Click the link for CMEP’s resources on the Artsakh conflict.
The full National Council of Churches statement appears below.
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NCC Condemns the Cultural Genocide Planned Against Armenian Christian Monuments in Nagorno-Karabagh
Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Proverbs 30:5 NRSV)
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) denounces the recent announcements from the government of Azerbaijan indicating that it plans to defile Armenian Christian monuments in the region of Nagorno-Karabagh and erase the evidence of their Armenian origin.
Since the early 1990s, Karabagh was governed as an independent Armenian republic, but in 2020 Azerbaijan attacked the region, waging a war that took the land as its own. As we know, this armed warfare displaced thousands of Armenians from their homes, which they lost along with hundreds of Armenian monuments.
In early February, the Azeri Minister of Culture announced his government would form in Azerbaijan a working group of experts in Albanian history and architecture that would be tasked with the goal of removing “false” traces left by Armenians on Albanian religious temples. The Culture Minister’s statement referenced a theory that Armenian inscriptions in churches on Azerbaijani territory are not original but were late additions to churches built under Caucasian Albania, an ancient Christian kingdom that ruled part of the territory that is today Azerbaijan. This theory has been broadly dismissed by mainstream scholars.
With full acknowledgement of the history of the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century, the NCC cannot ignore this new threat to the Armenian people. We cannot turn a blind eye to the similarities in tactics employed in all historical genocides. To erase a people’s history is to erase their existence, and it betrays a disdain for their very lives and survival as a people.
With this overwhelming connection to the evil that has been unleashed in all genocides, the NCC affirms its solidarity with the people of Armenia against this threat to their very being through the destruction of their history. We stand in witness to the existence of their ancient Christian churches and condemn the decimation of their Christian heritage.
We once again demand that the Azerbaijani authorities allow United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) representatives to enter Armenian territories under their control, which they have refused to allow since the conflict in 2020. Experts must be permitted to take an inventory of significant cultural properties in order to begin safeguarding the region’s heritage. The formation of this working group in Azerbaijan makes the call to abide by the 1954 Convention for the Protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict even more immediate and imperative.
The NCC calls for prayers for our Christian brothers and sisters in Armenia during this menacing threat to their very existence in history.
May the Lord guide and protect the people of Armenia, solidify the memory of their ancestors’ faith, restore their lives in the region, and incline us to spread the truth about the monuments in Nagorno-Karabagh, so that these important sites and artifacts can be preserved for generations to come. In Christ we pray. Amen.
February 24, 2022