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Resolution of the scientific and public session “Society for peace in Nagorno Karabakh: a year later”

Crossroad

24.12.2021

in Russian — https://crossroadorg.info/resolution-16-12-2021/

On December 16, 2021, a scientific and public session “Society for peace in Nagorno Karabakh: a year later” was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. Below is the Resolution following this event. Translation by “Crossroad” (Khatchmeruk) NGO.

List of speakers – http://crossroadorg.info/en/16-12-2021-en/

Information on the web sites (in Russian):

Resolution

of the scientific and public session

“Society for peace in Nagorno Karabakh: a year later”

On December 16, 2021, a scientific and public session “Society for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh: One Year Later” with international participation was held in the St. Petersburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The event was organized by the Department for Church and Society Relations of the St. Petersburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, with the support of the St. Petersburg branch of the World Russian People’s Council, the Armenian Apostolic Church in St. Petersburg and the North-West region of Russia, the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Grant Agasyan Foundation.

The main topic of the scientific and public session was the preservation of Christian monuments on the territory of Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh. The event was attended by 29 representatives of public, religious and scientific organizations from Russia, Armenia, Georgia, also in online format.
Reports were heard:
– on the problems of preserving Armenian and Georgian Christian monuments on the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR, modern Azerbaijan and the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, which became part of Azerbaijan in 2020;
– on the falsification of the ethno-cultural and religious affiliation of monuments through their “Albanization”;
– about technologies for replacing religious identity on the example of a number of countries;
– on the destruction of Christian monuments in the “disputed” territories on the example of Syria and Kosovo.
Based on the results of the scientific and public session, the following recommendations were made:
– to strengthen international public and scientific cooperation on the preservation of Christian sites on the territory of Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh;
– to create an international commission for the preservation of Christian monuments of Nagorno Karabakh, to establish, within its framework, direct and remote monitoring of the situation;
– to prepare Russian and English versions of the current list of Christian monuments of Nagorno Karabakh that need protection and ones that have been destroyed by now;
– to prepare and publish a catalog of Christian monuments of Nagorno Karabakh in Russian, followed by its wide presentation in public and scientific circles;
– to organize and hold an international scientific forum on the problems of preserving Armenian and Georgian Christian monuments on the territory of Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as Christian sites in Serbia, Cyprus and the Middle East;
– to provide information support to the Department of spiritual and cultural heritage of Artsakh of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in order to disseminate the results of its work in the Russian segment of the Internet and on the platforms of public and scientific organizations in Russia.
The participants of the scientific and public session emphasize that the solution to the problems of preserving Christian monuments is impossible by military means and violence. Following the session, an appeal will be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation with a request to include the issue of preserving Christian relics in the agenda of discussions on peace initiatives and interstate agreements, as well as to facilitate international monitoring missions organized both under the auspices of Russian public and scientific organizations, and under patronage of UNESCO.