By Christ Iskenderian
Over a century after the Armenian Genocide, the struggle to preserve the memory of this heinous crime continues. Despite countless attempts to deny, distort, or erase the facts of the genocide, the voices of the reborn nation persist. These voices, rooted in survival, resilience, and truth, will continue to rise until justice is fully achieved.
The Armenian Genocide was not limited to the physical annihilation of the Armenian people. Its scope extended far beyond mass killings. It sought to eliminate every trace of Armenian existence: language, religion, heritage, and memory. Cultural genocide became a core component of this crime, targeting the very symbols of Armenian identity – religious, literary, and architectural heritage.
Cultural genocide refers to deliberate actions taken to destroy the cultural foundations of a people. These include the destruction of monuments, religious institutions, cemeteries, and the erasure of historical and intellectual traditions. Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who coined the term “genocide,” emphasized that it involves not only physical extermination but also the systematic destruction of a group’s cultural and spiritual life.
One of the earliest and most systematic examples occurred during the genocide in Western Armenia, where churches, monasteries, manuscripts, and sacred artifacts were deliberately looted and destroyed. In some cases, Ottoman authorities sold priceless Armenian manuscripts in European markets or repurposed books as packing material. These acts were not mere collateral damage but calculated efforts to erase the Armenian people’s presence from their ancestral homeland.
From the Hamidian massacres (1894–1896) to the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923), thousands of Armenian manuscripts, containing theology, philosophy, science, literature, and law, were lost. These manuscripts were vital not only to Armenian culture but to the shared intellectual history of humanity. Though much was destroyed, some were preserved through the bravery of individuals who risked their lives to save fragments of their heritage.
The campaign to erase Armenian heritage did not end with the genocide. In the decades that followed, Turkey continued this effort by destroying or repurposing Armenian churches and monuments across Western Armenia (present-day Eastern Turkey). By 1923, many of these structures had been irreparably damaged or lost. In addition to physical destruction, falsified restorations have emerged as a tool of cultural manipulation. For example, during restoration work in Ani, the medieval Armenian capital, the original Armenian coat of arms engraved on the fortification walls was altered – acts of historical revisionism designed to obscure the Armenian origin of these sites.
The destruction of Armenian heritage extends beyond Turkey. It continues today in confiscated Armenian lands under Azerbaijani control, particularly in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Nakhichevan. In these regions, countless Armenian churches, cemeteries, and historical sites have been systematically destroyed or repurposed. A notable example is the deliberate demolition of the Djulfa cemetery in Nakhichevan, where thousands of ancient Armenian khachkars (cross-stones) were destroyed in the early 21st century. The destruction of these monuments has been recognized as one of the most egregious cases of cultural genocide in modern history (The Guardian, 2019).
More recently, the 2020 and 2023 Azerbaijani military offensives intensified the destruction of Armenian heritage. Following the forced displacement of over 100,000 Armenians from their ancestral homes in the Republic of Artsakh, multiple human rights organizations, including Freedom House, reported alarming incidents of violence, including civilian deaths and mutilated bodies. In the wake of this humanitarian crisis, numerous Armenian religious and cultural sites were left vulnerable. Satellite imagery and independent experts have confirmed the defacement, alteration, and destruction of Armenian churches, cemeteries, and khachkars throughout the region. One of the most prominent examples is the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, which was shelled during the 2020 war and later subjected to controversial “renovations” under Azerbaijani supervision (Wall Street Journal, 2023). These actions raised significant international concern regarding the preservation of Armenian cultural identity in the region.
In November 2020, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay reaffirmed the global obligation to protect cultural heritage in conflict zones and proposed dispatching an independent mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to assess and safeguard endangered Armenian sites. However, persistent delays and restricted access have severely hindered any comprehensive evaluation or intervention, raising fears of irreversible damage to Armenian heritage (UNESCO, 2020).
Scholars and heritage experts have warned that the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in the region represents a defining test for international heritage protection systems. Professor Adam T. Smith of Cornell University emphasized that failure to act could result in the permanent loss of invaluable medieval and early modern Armenian cultural landscapes (Cornell University, 2020). Despite these early warnings, access to many of these sites remains obstructed, and their fate is uncertain.
In addition to this ongoing destruction, Azerbaijan’s actions have included renaming cities and altering the appearance of historical sites, with the aim of making them appear Turkified. This is a deliberate attempt to sever the deep connection between Armenians and their historic homeland. This process of cultural erasure also includes altering environmental landscapes for projects such as renewable energy initiatives, which have been criticized for covering up historical landmarks (Wall Street Journal, 2023). The recent demolition of Stepanakert’s Armenian center in December 2023 only further illustrates the scale of the cultural destruction.
Internationally, these actions have drawn condemnation, with the European Parliament recognizing the violations of cultural rights and the systematic erasure of Armenian heritage in Azerbaijan-controlled territories. The importance of preserving these cultural sites is not just a concern for Armenians but for humanity as a whole. The loss of irreplaceable cultural treasures, churches, manuscripts, and monuments is a blow to global heritage.
In conclusion, the Armenian Genocide was not merely a physical massacre; it was, and continues to be, a comprehensive cultural assault aimed at annihilating Armenian identity. The ongoing destruction of Armenian cultural heritage underscores the urgent need for international action. The responsibility to preserve this heritage falls upon the global community, whose commitment to safeguarding humanity’s cultural legacy must extend to the Armenian cultural landscape as well. The genocide is not a closed chapter; it persists, and its perpetrators remain unpunished.
About the author:
Christ Iskenderian is a civil engineer specializing in water resources engineering, as well as a Lebanese painter of Armenian descent. His art fuses structured precision with emotional depth, blending abstraction and figuration to explore themes of identity, resilience, and nature. Inspired by his cultural roots and personal experiences, his work reflects a dynamic dialogue between engineering logic and artistic expression.
Sources:
