Artsakh rights body urges diplomats not to legitimize consequences of ethnic cleansing
14 September 2026
The Committee for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Artsakh has issued an open letter to diplomats accredited in Azerbaijan, warning that official visits to Artsakh risk legitimizing the consequences of the region’s depopulation.
The committee expressed concern over recent diplomatic tours of Shushi, Gandzasar, Stepanakert and other areas, arguing that such visits create an appearance of normalcy in a region from which its 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, warning that participation in state-organized tours, accompanied by photographs and public statements that ignore the displacement of Armenians, risks providing Baku with international legitimacy for the new reality on the ground.
The letter also criticized visiting diplomats for failing to publicly address the fate of Armenian prisoners of war, civilians and political detainees held in Azerbaijan, as well as what it described as politically motivated trials against them.
The committee raised particular concern over the fate of Armenian cultural and religious heritage, citing the destruction of churches in Stepanakert, the desecration of the historic Armenian cemetery in Shushi and attempts to present the centuries-old Gandzasar Monastery as “Caucasian Albanian.”
It called on diplomats to refuse participation in official tours that could legitimize the consequences of forced displacement, reject narratives that distort the Armenian identity of historic sites, and demand independent access for UNESCO, international experts and monitors.
The committee also urged diplomats to publicly condemn the destruction or alteration of Armenian heritage and to 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 letter said. “The international diplomatic corps cannot assist Azerbaijan in erasing the history, identity and heritage of the people of Artsakh.”
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.
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,
Respectfully,
The Nagorno Karabakh Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Artsakh People
September 14, 2026
September 14, 2026
