The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has strongly condemned an event held at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on April 10, titled “Christianity in Azerbaijan: History and Modern Times.” Organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy to the Holy See in collaboration with affiliated organizations, the event has sparked outrage for promoting what Armenian institutions describe as a revisionist and politically motivated narrative.
According to a statement issued by the Information Service Department of the Mother See, the event served as another attempt by Azerbaijani propaganda to deny the Armenian origins of Christian heritage sites in Armenia and Artsakh, while deliberately distorting historical facts in an effort to appropriate centuries-old Armenian cultural legacy.
“This event took place while the international community has yet to properly address the genocidal acts committed by Azerbaijan, the forced displacement of the Armenian population from Artsakh, and the destruction and appropriation of Armenian cultural and spiritual heritage,” the statement reads. “We deeply regret that such an anti-scholarly event was allowed to take place under the roof of a prominent Catholic educational institution.”
The Mother See announced it would take appropriate steps within the framework of inter-church communication to address the issue.
The event has also drawn criticism from the team behind Monument Watch: Monitoring the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh, which issued an urgent protest over the conference’s content and lack of academic balance.
Monument Watch highlighted that the conference, which included participants from countries such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, South Korea, the United States, and others, excluded Armenian scholars entirely and made no reference to Armenia’s role in the Christian history of the region.
“The event promotes a revisionist narrative that falsely presents clearly Armenian religious and cultural monuments—such as Amaras, Gandzasar, and Dadivank—as part of a so-called Caucasian Albanian heritage,” the group stated. “These monuments bear unmistakable Armenian inscriptions and architectural features, known to the international scholarly community.”
The team expressed alarm at the participation of respected global academics in a conference where Armenian voices were absent, warning that such silence contributes to the legitimization of cultural erasure.
Monument Watch called on Armenian academic institutions, cultural organizations, and government bodies to respond to what it described as an ongoing campaign to distort the cultural heritage of historical Artsakh.
The incident comes amid heightened international concern over the fate of Armenian monuments in territories now under Azerbaijani control, following the forced displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population. Both UNESCO and independent researchers have warned of the growing risk of cultural cleansing in the region.
Monument Watch stressed the need for vigilance and transparency from global institutions involved in cultural heritage discourse.
