PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijan is planning to turn the Armenian church of the Holy Resurrection in Berdzor into a mosque, the Council for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh has said.
According to the Azerbaijani project, the belfry of the dome and the spire will be dismantled, and two minarets will be built onto the structure instead.
“Azerbaijan is going to great lengths to destroy, desecrate and ruin Armenian monuments, and in order not to avoid new such scenes after August 25, evacuation of historical and cultural heritage from Berdzor, Aghavno and Nerkin Sus is underway,” said Lernik Hovhannisyan, Karabakh’s Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have ordered the residents of Berdzor, Aghavno and Nerkin Sus – all three situated within the Lachin corridor connecting Kaabakh to Armenia – to leave their homes by the end of August. The ceasefire statement of 2020 calls for the construction of a new highway withing three years. Azerbaijan, however, has demanded the closure of the existing corridor and suggested that the Armenian side use a bypass road which has yet to be constructed. Two Armenian soldiers were killed and 19 others wounded on Wednesday when Azerbaijan attacked Karabakh on August 3.
