In Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, in addition to political and military issues, religious and cultural heritage topics have gained special weight in recent years. In this regard, the activities of Garegin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, involving vandalism, subversion, and looting, attract special attention.
Modern.az reminds that currently, the issue is not only discussed in the context of the confrontation between the Catholicos and Nikol Pashinyan's government within Armenia. Garegin II's previous statements regarding Karabakh, his position on Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, and the political line taken by the Armenian church on the Karabakh issue raise questions for Azerbaijan.
Moreover, there is already a criminal case against Garegin II in Armenia itself. The case confirmed by the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia is related to charges of obstructing the execution of a court act, and along with the Catholicos, 6 clergymen are also among the accused in the case. At the end of August, the procedural issue of which court would hear the case also came to the agenda.
This fact is related to the process within Armenia and is a separate legal process unrelated to Azerbaijan. What is important for Azerbaijan are Garegin II's statements and calls directed against Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, as well as his activities against material and cultural heritage during the occupation of Karabakh. Although Garegin II has been relegated to the archives of history of the so-called regime, he still issues appeals related to the “independence day” of the so-called regime and uses the terminology of the separatist entity.
From Azerbaijan's perspective, the problem arises precisely here: the support of a separatist agenda against Azerbaijan's territorial integrity by a religious leader with political rhetoric is considered unacceptable. In this regard, it is not possible to approach Garegin II's activities in the Karabakh issue merely as religious activity, and his extremist statements create criminal liability in accordance with Azerbaijani legislation. In recent days, another aspect of the topic - activities related to the transfer of religious and cultural heritage from Karabakh to Armenia - has been in the spotlight.
According to the statement of Sabina Hajiyeva, head of the State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage of Azerbaijan, to APA, information regarding frescoes and khachkars reportedly dismantled from the Khudavang monastery in Kalbajar and removed from Azerbaijani territory has already been submitted to Interpol for inclusion in the “Stolen Artworks” database. The information was reportedly forwarded to Interpol in October 2025.
During the “restoration” works carried out in Khudavang during the occupation, a number of elements were dismantled and subsequently removed from Azerbaijani territory. The same process was carried out in the Gandzasar monastery located in Aghdara region. The Albanian epigraphic monuments of the monastery were destroyed or dismantled and taken to Armenia and replaced with distorted Armenian texts. On the other hand, the original appearance of the monument was damaged by using construction materials brought from Armenia. Ancient manuscripts and monuments from the monastery were stolen and taken to Yerevan.
This issue is no longer just a historical dispute. Because it is about the location of specific cultural heritage samples and the legal basis for their transfer to another country. In fact, the Armenian church and personally Garegin II were active participants in these processes. During the Patriotic War and subsequent processes, the looting of heritage in Karabakh was carried out with his direct participation and curation, alongside the authorities. This fact itself creates another legal liability reality against Garegin II.
Ara Khzmalyan, head of the Matenadaran Institute in Yerevan, where manuscripts are stored, also admitted that the original manuscripts of the samples kept in Gandzasar were illegally stolen from the territory in 2020 and transported to Yerevan. Similar cases are not only related to religious monuments; there are numerous facts about Armenians illegally transporting ancient Azerbaijani carpets and antique items from Shusha to Armenia.
This event shows that Karabakh was not only subjected to physical occupation, destruction, and looting, but also to moral and cultural aggression through the looting of manuscripts, frescoes, khachkars, church artifacts, and other material and cultural samples. Garegin II and the Armenian church, in his person, did not play the last role in these processes; they were active participants. For this reason, as investigations into the fate of religious objects in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan are carried out, the past activities of church structures are also in the spotlight.
Garegin II's statements against Azerbaijan and directed at our territorial integrity in the Karabakh issue, calling for armed confrontation, have been documented in open sources. Therefore, it would not be unexpected for the issue of Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies giving a legal assessment of his activities to come to the agenda.
