“You can endlessly gaze at 3 things: fire, a flowing river and how the symbols of Armenian terrorism are being demolished in the Karabakh. Structures erected by the separatist regime after the 1994 occupation of Karabakh are currently being dismantled,” wrote Azerbaijani media reports, about the demolition of the Artsakh (Karabakh) Parliament and War veterans’ buildings in Stepanakert.
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, you destroyed our Aghdam and Fizuli, now we are destroying your Stepanakert, Azerbaijanis usually bring such a counterargument on social media.
While the Parliament building is being demolished, Artsakh MPs made a statement warning that Armenian cultural monuments and churches are in danger.
“The latest manifestations of vandalism are the desecration of the Holy Mother of God Cathedral in Stepanakert, the destruction to the ground of the Artsakh National Assembly buildings and the Union of Freedom Fighters,” reads the statement.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan was nicknamed “son of the statue” for placing statues dedicated to his father and predecessor dictator, Heydar, all over Azerbaijan. Aliyev doesn’t like other statues. The statue of Charles Aznavour, Alex Manoogian, Khachatur Abovyan and Stepan Shahumyan, after whom the Artsakh/Karabakh’s capital city is named, was removed in Stepanakert. Following the Azerbaijani media, we can assume that Stepanakert will look completely different soon (how unusual is it to see the Stepanakert stadium in the colors of the Azerbaijani flag?). “All the “illegal” buildings and monuments built by Armenians will be removed in Karabakh,” the Azerbaijanis declare every day.
Stepanakert is a typical Soviet city with its khrushchevkas (typical Soviet three-to-five story apartment buildings) — you cannot compare it with Rome. But it’s not just about demolishing buildings. Demolishing the buildings destroys the lives of the people who lived there, their memories and dreams.
