“Dear Representatives of Diplomatic Missions, I am addressing you as someone who was born and raised in Artsakh, and whose home was in Stepanakert. A few days ago, members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Azerbaijan visited occupied Artsakh. In Stepanakert, they visited the so-called “Victory Park” and took a commemorative photograph. While diplomats are taking photographs at the sites of the homes of displaced Armenians, Armenian hostages remain in Azerbaijani prisons. This is not simply a “Victory Park.” This is a place where victory is being celebrated over people who were deprived of their homes, their homeland, and their freedom. For me, this is not an abstract story. My home once stood on this very site -one of hundreds of homes of Stepanakert residents that were razed to the ground following the forced displacement of their inhabitants in September 2023 - in defiance of decisions by international judicial bodies and resolutions of the European Parliament. That is why I am addressing their colleagues in diplomatic missions in Armenia: You must understand what exactly you are legitimizing by participating in such visits organized by the authorities of Azerbaijan. By visiting Stepanakert and posing in the so-called “Victory Park,” you should not become part of a political and propaganda narrative in which the consequences of the expulsion of the Armenian population are presented as “victory” and “liberation.” By visiting Gandzasar and Dadivank, you must see not only ancient monasteries, but also what is happening to their Armenian identity and heritage. By visiting Shushi, you must remember the destruction, alteration, and erasure of the city’s Armenian cultural heritage, including its churches. You must ask questions. If you visit Stepanakert -you must ask where its former residents are. If you visit an Armenian monastery- you must ask why its Armenian identity is being altered. If you visit Shushi- you must ask what happened to the Armenian churches, museums, and cultural heritage of the city. And I especially want to address the diplomatic missions of France, Russia, and the United States — the states that for decades served as Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and were directly involved in the search for a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict. Your colleagues in Baku are not simply travelling around the region. They are participating in a carefully organized political and information campaign. You must understand: every diplomatic visit, every photograph, every official gesture carries political significance. Behind the beautiful photographs of “rebuilt Karabakh” stand real people who were driven from their homes. Including me. And while we speak of peace, a just peace cannot be built on the oblivion of the displaced, the erasure of their heritage, and silence about those who remain in Azerbaijani detention. You must remember this the next time you take photographs in Artsakh. You must not allow ethnic cleansing to be turned into a tourist itinerary. Sergey Shahverdyan Descendant of a Stepanakert family / Lifelong Stepanakert resident”
