The Committee for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Artsakh has called on diplomats accredited in Azerbaijan to avoid actions that could legitimize the consequences of the ethnic cleansing and forced depopulation of Artsakh.

In an open letter, the committee criticized recent state-organized visits by foreign diplomats to occupied Shushi, Gandzasar, Stepanakert and other parts of Artsakh, warning that such tours risk creating an appearance of normalcy after the region’s indigenous Armenian population was forcibly displaced following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive.

“Diplomatic visits must not become a tool for normalizing ethnic cleansing,” the committee said.

It warned that participation in Azerbaijani-organized tours, particularly when followed by photographs or public statements that ignore the forced displacement of Armenians, risks lending international legitimacy to the reality imposed by Baku.

The committee also criticized diplomats for failing to publicly raise the issue of Armenian prisoners of war, civilians and political detainees held in Azerbaijan, including those facing what it described as politically motivated trials.

The letter highlighted continued threats to Armenian cultural and religious heritage in occupied Artsakh, citing the destruction of churches in Stepanakert, the desecration of the historic Armenian cemetery in Shushi and attempts to portray the centuries-old Gandzasar Monastery as “Caucasian Albanian.”

The committee urged diplomats to reject narratives that erase the Armenian identity of historic sites, refuse participation in visits that could legitimize the consequences of forced displacement, and demand independent access for UNESCO, international experts and monitors.

It also called on diplomats to publicly condemn the destruction and alteration of Armenian cultural heritage and support the right of displaced Armenians to a safe, dignified and voluntary return to Artsakh in accordance with international law.

“Diplomacy requires independent judgment, historical responsibility and moral courage,” the committee said. “The international diplomatic corps cannot assist Azerbaijan in erasing the history, identity and heritage of the people of Artsakh.”

Read the full letter below:

“OPEN LETTER TO THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS ACCREDITED IN AZERBAIJAN

Diplomatic Visits Must Not Become an Instrument for Normalizing Ethnic Cleansing

We express our deep concern regarding recent official diplomatic visits to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Tours to Shushi, Gandzasar, Stepanakert and other areas are taking place in a territory where around 150,000 indigenous Armenians were forcibly displaced following Azerbaijan’s military assault in September 2023. Our grave concern is patent: diplomats cannot allow themselves to serve as props in Azerbaijan’s manufactured attempts to secure an international seal of approval for the consequences of ethnic cleansing. Your presence is providing Azerbaijan precisely the international whitewashing it seeks.

Your participation in officially organized tours, alongside the resulting photographs and public statements completely ignoring the complete destruction of the Artsakh Armenian presence, projects an image of normalcy in a fundamentally abnormal situation. Today in Nagorno-Karabakh, homes are showcased without their owners, and churches presented without their congregations. This is abhorrent, and the participation of the diplomatic corps – diplomats fully aware of the humanitarian catastriophe that was executed in Nagorno-Karabakh less than 36 months ago – is utterly perplexing.

It is equally striking—and deeply disturbing—that none of the diplomats participating in these visits publicly addressed the fate of the Armenian prisoners of war, civilian detainees, and political hostages unlawfully held in Azerbaijan, or the sham trials being conducted against them. While visiting territories emptied of their indigenous Armenian population, the diplomatic corps found words and gestures for carefully curated tours, yet remain utterly silent about the rights of individuals deprived of their liberty and subjected to proceedings that fundamentally violate the principles of justice and due process.

As alarming is the ongoing erasure of the region’s historical identity. While diplomats are entertained in a carefully curated farse, Armenian heritage sites are being systematically demolished, desecrated, or stripped of their identity. The recent destruction of churches in Stepanakert, the desecration of the historic Armenian cemetery in Shushi, and the deeply disturbing presentation of the centuries-old Armenian monastery of Gandzasar as “Albanian” cannot possibly be missed, intentionally and consciously ignored. These actions represent a deliberate campaign to erase the Armenian historical presence, in direct violation of provisional measures indicated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Diplomats cannot allow themselves to become the pawns of Azerbaijan’s self-serving political theater. A diplomatic visit must not become a stage upon which a people’s history is erased in the presence of the international community.

We therefore call upon members of the diplomatic corps to:
• Refuse Complicity: Decline participation in official, state-curated visits that legitimize the consequences of forced displacement and project a false sense of normalcy.
• Reject Historical Revisionism: Refuse to endorse, repeat, or lend credibility to official narratives that deny, distort, or appropriate the true Armenian identity of churches, monuments, and historical sites.
• Demand Independent Access: Insist on unhindered access to cultural and religious sites for international experts, UNESCO, and independent monitors, rather than accepting state-controlled tours.
• Condemn Cultural Erasure: Publicly raise concerns regarding the ongoing destruction, alteration, and desecration of Armenian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.
• Advocate for the Right of Return: Ensure the displaced Armenian population is not excluded from discussions concerning their homeland. Support conditions for their safe, dignified, and voluntary return in accordance with international law.

Diplomacy requires independent judgment, historical responsibility, and moral courage. What the world is witnessing, instead, is a diplomatic corps working in concert with Azerbaijan to legitimize the consequences of ethnic cleansing. This cannot be normalized.
The people of Nagorno-Karabakh have lost their homes – the international diplomatic corps cannot aid and abet Azerbaijan in destroying their history, their identity, and their heritage.

Respectfully,
The Nagorno Karabakh Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Artsakh People
September 14, 2026”