The Church of Holy Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew in Baku was built in 1911 by donations from E. Budagov and was designed by architect H. O. Qajaznuni (subsequently the first prime minister of the First Armenian Republic). In the 1930s, the Cathedral was pulled down and its foundation used for building the State Conservatory.
The Holy Resurrection Chapel was built in 1894 on the territory of the Armenian cemetery in Baku. The Chapel was demolished in the 1930s for construction of the Upland Park.
The Armenian Evangelical Lutheran prayer house was founded in 1912 on rented land owned by Our Savior’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of the German-Swedish parish. Nowadays, the building of Kirkha (church) hosts the Organ Concert Hall.
The Khunisavank Armenian monastery dating back to the 9th century was located in the village of Komintern, Kedabek region, on the left bank of Getabek river. In 1895, Bishop M.
Barkhudaryants wrote in his book Artsakh: “The monastery stands east from Nor Getabek, on the left river bank neighboring a Tatar-populated village of Mollalu. The small monastery has a splendid structure, but today it is desolate”.462 Today, the monastery is virtually destroyed.
The St. Stepanos Church was founded in the village of Pip, Dashkasan region in 1849, mostly by donations from Stepan Mirimanyants, a resident of Tiflis and local residents. The western wall of the church bears an inscription in memory of its founder. The latest reconstruction of the church dates back to 1862. In 1928, it was closed down.463 Today, the church is almost ruined.
The Holy Translators’ Monastery of the 4th century, south from the city of Dashkasan was founded by Saints Mesrop Mashtots and Sahak Partev. The monastery was reconstructed first in 989 and then in 1845. It is known that bishop Eprem was the prior of the monastery in 1772. The monastery reached the peak of its prosperity under Bishop Gabriel Harutyunyan Teryants. The next flourishing period covered the time under Archimandrite Stepanos Balyants in the 1830s. As of today, the monastery has been demolished.464
Numerous churches and Armenian cemeteries were destroyed in various regions.
Dashkasan region
In 1987, a church 8 km south from the village Banants (9-11th centuries) was bulldozed and dumped into the gorge; the bridge Nerki Andi (12th century) was blown up “for construction of a railway”; a church and cemetery in the village of Khachbulag (17-18th centuries) was completely destroyed in 1970; the church in the village of Kirants (12th century) was pulled down under the pretext of setting power-line supports; in 1970, all the tombstones – khachkars and tapanakars – of the cemetery near the village of Amrvar (13-15th centuries) were bulldozed and dumped into the river.
Shamkhor region
Dasno Karmir Yeghtsi Monastery in the village of Gyulambar (7th century) was pulled down in 1937; a monastery near the village of Barsum (10th century) was demolished in 1982;
the Hreshtakapetats Church near the village of Garnaker (1816) was partially destroyed in 1986; the church of the village of Patishen (Badakend) (19th century) was dismantled for building materials.
Khanlar region
The Mrtsunis church of the Getashen village (17th century) is partially destroyed; the church and cemetery near the village of Murut (17th century) were completely demolished in the 1960s; the walls of the Yeghnasar monastery near the village of Ghetashen (17th century) were deliberately damaged.
Shahumyan region
The Mandur church and cemetery near the village of Kharkhaput (1252) were completely demolished; the church near the village Russkie Borisi (12-13th centuries) was razed to the ground; the church in the village of Verinshen (12th century) was razed to the ground, too as it “stood on the way where a railroad was intended to be laid”.
St. Sargis Monastery 4 km west from the village of Dash Salakhli in the Qazakh region.465
The monastery rose on the top of the mountain Surb Sargis and used to count among pilgrimage sites of the region. It was visited at Easter and on Sundays. According to archived documents and inscriptions on the wall of the monastery, its previous restoration was completed in 1851 by Yesai Nurinyants, an Armenian from Tiflis. Interestingly, some sources suggest that 736 believers made donations for the restoration totaling 2210 roubles and 23 copecks. As for the last restoration, it was carried out by Arzuman Khachaturovich Ter-Sarkisyants, a resident of the village Kot, Qazakh region. Today, the church is in ruins.
The St. Vardan Church in the city of Qazakh was consecrated in 1901. According to some sources, today, the church is used as a coffee shop.466 The other church in the city, a Russian church, is used as a sports facility. The church was looted during the Armenians pogroms of 1905–1906. It is known that in 1907–1912, the Armenians of Qazakh expressed their desire to restore the fence of the church. Later, the church was raided by Tatars in 1918.
Ganja (Gandzak):
The church Surb Astvatsatsin (The Holy Mother of God) dating to the 18th century was turned into a club; the church Surb Astvatsatsin Cholaga (The Holy Mother of God) dated 8-10th centuries was pulled down; the church Surb Gevorg of the 19th century was demolished; the church Surb Grigor Lusavorish (Zham) dating to 1869 was pulled down; the church Surb Kirakos dating to 1913 was pulled down; the church Surb Sargis (17-18th centuries) was turned into a museum.
In Azerbaijan, all the restoration works of Armenian monuments sought to completely erase any Armenian inscriptions and any traces of the Armenian architecture. Under the Soviet regime, no Armenian architectural monuments were restored (or at least categorized) in either Nagorno-Karabakh, or on the entire territory of Azerbaijan. This fact may by no means purport to reflect the religious intolerance and oppression of the communists, since all sparse monuments of Islamic culture (incidentally, all of them dated back to no earlier than the 18th century) on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh were fully restored.
The period of the Azerbaijani administration of Nagorno-Karabakh and the years of Azerbaijan’s armed aggression against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh saw the destruction, blasting and complete demolition of 167 churches, 8 monastery complexes, 123 Armenian historical cemeteries and 47 settlements. Over 2,500 khachkars (cross-stone memorials) of high artistic merit and over 10,000 tombstones with epigraphs were dismantled for building material. 13 historical and archaeological sites were bulldozed to the ground. Monuments in the caves of Tsakhach, Mets Taghlar and Azokh were blown up. The khachkars, tombstones, churches and fortress walls (5-8th centuries) in the settlements of Mokhrablur, Sarashen, Aknaberd and Manadzor were ruined. Most of the wall of the unique fortress Mayraberd (16-17th centuries) was pulled down.467
The above examples are, regrettably, incomplete, but are illustrative of the terror tactics employed against the Armenian cultural heritage in the region aiming to completely erase any vestiges of their historical presence on the territory of today’s Azerbaijan.
15. Mythologization of «genocides»
The psychological warfare frequently includes the use of myths.
The myth is the information which accounts for the origins and further development of various phenomena based on real or fictitious events or facts, with subsequent exaggeration of distortion of the cause and effect relations.