Christian Azerbaijani journalist: “Armenians harmed Russian Orthodox Church”

“After the capture of Khojaly, with the use of bulldozers and other equipment, all cultural monuments were completely destroyed including the Khojaly cemetery, which is considered one of the most ancient burial places,” she reminded the conference.  “In that cemetery, there were not only the graves of Azerbaijanis but also of other peoples, with different ethnicities who used to live there before.” 

“In the beginning of the 90s, very little attention was paid by the international community to the Caucasus, which made it possible to carry out ethnic cleansing,” Lavrina explained. “The Armenian political and military leadership felt they had impunity. They were openly speaking about their crime. No one reacted. Children continued to be killed during the ceasefire. The shelling of Ganja, Barda and Tartar during the 44-day war, as well as the mass graves found in Karabakh after the war, testify to this.”

“The Armenian invaders destroyed not only the historical and cultural heritage, but also many religious sites of both Muslims and Orthodox Christians,” she added. 

Describing how the Armenians “(Positioned) themselves as the defenders of the entire Christian world in the South Caucasus,” they targeted the Russian Orthodox Church, founded in 1894 and located 13 km from the center of the Khojavend region of Azerbaijan.

“Armenian forces built a military training ground very close to this place. The church served as a target, as evidenced by numerous traces on the facade of the building, from large-caliber shells. During the years of occupation, another Orthodox church built in 1847 in the city of Shusha was subjected to an act of vandalism. After the occupation of the city of Shusha by the Armenian armed forces in 1992, the church was illegally rebuilt into an Armenian church.”