YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — A senior European Union diplomat insisted on Monday, September 14, that she did not question Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian cultural and religious heritage with her visit to the region used by Azerbaijan for again claiming that its ancient churches are not Armenian.
Magdalena Grono, the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, was among foreign diplomats who traveled to Karabakh at the weekend on a promotional tour led by a senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The official, Hikmet Hajiyev, showed them around the territory and its 13th century Gandzasar Monastery in particular three years after an Azerbaijani military offensive that restored Azerbaijan’s control over Karabakh and forced its entire ethnic Armenian population to flee to Armenia.
Hajiyev repeated Baku’s claims that Gandzasar had been built not by an Armenian prince but a nobleman of Caucasian Albania, an ancient kingdom that covered much of modern-day Azerbaijan’s territory. He also showed mockups of old Armenian manuscripts kept there to deride Armenian arguments to the contrary, prompting laughter from many of the visiting diplomats.
The scene sparked an uproar from Armenian opposition and public figures as well as exiled Karabakh Armenian activists. Some of them were particularly enraged by Grono’s presence, accusing her of thereby helping Baku whitewash ethnic cleansing and erase traces of centuries-old Armenian presence in Karabakh.
“I certainly do not contest past Armenian presence and rich footprint in former conflict-affected areas in Karabakh,” Grono told the Armenpress news agency in Yerevan on Monday. “I could see it firsthand for the first time during the visit to Kalbajar and Aghdara (Martakert) districts last week.”
“I heard perspectives from both sides, and I know that both sides feel very strongly about them,” she said. “And I was very happy to also have the opportunity during my visit over the weekend to witness the heritage that is important that is indeed in Karabakh.”
