Baku and Yerevan Wage War of Monuments

Baku/12.02.21/Turan: Numerous publications in the Azerbaijani media and statements by representatives of the country have had an effect: in the Armenian-populated part of Karabakh, they discuss and publish information about the upcoming demolition of the monument to Garegin Nzhdeh. A sculpture depicting a fascist supporter Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (Nzhdeh) was installed in the Karabakh city of Khojavend (formerly Martuni) in the summer. The security of the population in this region of Karabakh is ensured by the Russian army.

In the years after the First World War, Garegin Nzhdeh commanded the destruction of more than 30 Azerbaijani villages in Zangezur, and on his conscience is the execution of about 400 Red Army prisoners in 1920.

During World War II, Nzhdeh in Germany formed units of Armenian fascists to be sent to the Soviet rear. He was caught and sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes against the USSR.

The erection of a monument to a Nazi accomplice in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers is a slap in the face of both Azerbaijan and Russia, the editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine Igor Korotchenko told Vestnik Kavkaza.

There was no grand opening of the monument, and the Armenians explain this with the possible discontent of Moscow, whose military personnel now rule in the region. But since January of this year, the Azerbaijani press began to report on the care of the Russian military about the monument to the fascist.

Note that in the same Khojavend-Martuni, a monument to the ASALA terrorist Monte Melkonyan was erected.

In February 2021, two materials were published on the Armenian website Lragir about the intention of the Karabakh administration to remove this monument due to the dissatisfaction of the Russian peacekeepers.

Yerevan decided to retaliate against Baku with information about the shooting of the monument to the Karabakh participants of the Great Patriotic War. The Armenian side claims that the monument in the village of Avetaranots was shot by Azerbaijanis. The press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova reacted to this:

Azerbaijan gave explanations to Russia regarding the desecration of the monument to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War in the village of Avetaranots of the Askeran region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku assured that an investigation was underway and the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Our principled position on the desecration of monuments is well known - any desecration of monuments is unacceptable, and when it comes to monuments to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, in principle, there can be no other position here, said the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In Soviet times, monuments to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War were erected in all regional centers of the country. A response has already followed from Baku in the Azerbaijani media, with a demonstration of photographs of the sculptural complexes in Jabrayil and Zangilan, damaged during the years of the Armenian occupation. –0—