What to do with the Armenian Church in Lachin?

The occupation administration in Karabakh announced its intention to liberate the Lachin region by August 23, including the city of Lachin and three villages inhabited by Armenians after the first Karabakh war (1991-1994). On this territory there are ancient Christian places of worship and new churches built during the years of occupation. In 2021, one prayer house for Armenian servicemen, built in the Jabrail region during the occupation at the expense of an Armenian patron, was completely demolished by Azerbaijani builders after the liberation of the region. Now the Yerevan press writes that allegedly "Azerbaijan has developed a project to turn the Church of Surb Hambartsum into Berdzor (this is how the Armenians renamed Lachin-ed.) mosque."

What should be done with the newly built Armenian churches and other places of worship in the Lachin region?

The Lachin corridor between Karabakh and Armenia, in accordance with the tripartite agreement of November 10, 2020, will come under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces on August 25. The Armenian population of the region intends to leave it, although no one is forcing them to do so from the Azerbaijani side, and move to Armenia or other regions of the Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which are temporarily under the control of the Russian Ministry of Justice.

During the years of occupation, the Lachin region was populated by Armenian settlers from Syria and Armenia. In 1998, at the expense of the Tufenkian Foundation (USA), the Armenian church of Surb Hambartzum was built there, which has become the cause of the disputes that have now unfolded in social networks. The question arose: what to do with this church remake? With medieval churches, as the debaters suggest, it seems clear. They are probably Albanian, and are part of the heritage of Azerbaijan. But the church erected in 1998 is absolutely Armenian, and was erected in honor of the victory of Armenia over Azerbaijan.

Opinions about the future of this church are different: some believe that it is not necessary to destroy the church, even taking into account the fact that it was erected on the territory of Azerbaijan illegally, without the permission of the relevant authorities of the Azerbaijan Republic. The argument of the supporters of this opinion is simple: one should not become like vandals. During the years of occupation, numerous Azerbaijani cemeteries and religious Muslim buildings were destroyed, and those that remained were deliberately desecrated and turned into pigsties. I emphasize: intentionally! In addition, those who oppose the demolition of a religious site in Lachin believe that it is impossible to “fight against churches”, since any religious object - a mosque, a church, a synagogue, etc. - this is the house of the Lord, in which the believer communicates with the Almighty.

The position of their opponents is unequivocal: they destroyed our mosques, which means that we must destroy them - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This is, of course, the simplest solution with controversial arguments.

In my opinion, we have another reason to show the world who we are and who they are. Armenian propaganda has been doing everything possible for years to dehumanize our people. They said: Azerbaijanis have nothing - neither their own music, nor cuisine, nor culture in general. A sort of "half-savage people", from which the very "ancient and civilized" Armenian people suffer, who, out of the kindness of their souls, shared their cultural achievements with the "nomads".

I'm not going to go into arguments about the absolute falsity and primitiveness of such maxims. It is obvious. It is noteworthy that the temporary local administration strictly forbade the Armenian migrants leaving Lachin to burn the houses in which they had lived for the last 20-25 years. These are the houses of Azerbaijanis, from which they were expelled in the spring of 1992. Such demands appeared not because there was a change in the mood of the temporary migrants, on the contrary, they promised not to leave anything and burn everything, as was the case during the exodus of Armenians from the Kelbajar region in December 2020, where they also "privatized" Azerbaijani houses and gardens. Then, for humanitarian reasons, the Azerbaijani side gave them additional time for training. But they used the allotted time to destroy houses, public infrastructure, cut down gardens and forests, and slaughter livestock that could not be stolen. And also for laying mines, on which Azerbaijani military personnel and civilians are undermined until today. The whole world saw this and once again thought about whether the “ancient culture”, which is so fond of remembering, really existed, or was it the way the world saw it in December 2020 in Kalbajar. The Armenian authorities could not allow a secondary confirmation of such antiquity.

Now some of the Azerbaijanis who participated in the discussion are demanding to be “demolished”, “destroyed”, “razed to the ground”… That is, in a certain segment of social networks, there was a rather loud call to do what those whom we justifiably call barbarians did for their destruction of Muslim places of worship.

Turning to them, I want to say: understand the simple truth, our enemies only expect such a step from us, they dream of such a “gift” in order to continue to dehumanize us. They will do it anyway, but why indulge them? Even these appeals themselves are already being actively used against us. And those who continue to insist on destruction, I ask you to ask yourself: how are you different from those who destroyed mosques? We all proceeded with just anger, characterizing them for their deeds, and now we call for the same? And how will we differ from them? There is an Armenian church in the center of Baku. It is definitely not Albanian. Why is it not proposed to be demolished in retaliation for the demolished mosques?

During the war, a rocket hit the Armenian church in the center of Shusha, causing minor damage to the dome. Now it is difficult to establish whether this was an accidental hit by an Azerbaijani missile. The first Armenian bell tower appeared in Shusha in the middle of the 19th century, 50 years after the Russian garrison appeared in the city and the mass settlement of the city by Armenians began. The beginning of the construction of the church itself dates back to 1868. Already two months after the victorious end of the war, in January 2021, repair and restoration work began in the temple. I heard the opinion that the temple is supposed to be given under the control of the Orthodox Church of Azerbaijan. In Armenia, hysteria has already begun on this occasion. It is respectful that the Azerbaijani authorities are not guided in making decisions by momentary emotions, and unlike their neighbors, they do not destroy or desecrate religious buildings, and in such a simple way demonstrate to the whole world who is who.

How can the new church in Lachin be used? The Albanian-Udi Orthodox Church is the legitimate historical successor of the Albanian Autocephalous Church, which has carried its values ​​and canons to this day. The former Armenian-Monophysite church in Lachin can be transferred to the management of priests for holding divine services in the Orthodox canon, as it was in the Middle Ages, until the Albanian Church, at the call of the Armenian Catholicos, by force of Arab arms was finally transferred to the hierarchical subordination of the Armenian Church. For example, the cathedral in Dadivank in the Kalbajar region is supposed to be transferred to the control of the Albanian-Udi church. You can use the building to organize an exposition under the code name "Destruction and desecration of religious buildings in the occupied territories." After all, it is simple: to use in one's own interests and turn to one's own advantage that which itself asks to do so.