For a long time, Armenians constituted the significant part of the population of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, the landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan.
But at the beginning of the third millennium, only the remnants of Armenian architecture and numerous cemeteries reminded of this former presence, the largest of which was a graveyard near the city of Julfa.
By the end of the 20th century, more than two thousand khachkars (Armenian tombstones decorated with carvings and ornaments) have been preserved in this cemetery. The first attempt to destroy them happened in 1998 but was suppressed by the harsh reaction of the world community.
Another mass vandalism occurred in 2002, and finally, the “Armenian question” in Julfa was resolved in 2005 when Azerbaijani soldiers completely cleared the cemetery and set up a shooting range on its territory.
As expected, the government of Azerbaijan denies the acts of vandalism and Armenian origin of Nakhichevan even though plenty of evidence has been preserved up to this day.
Julfa – History of Armenian khachkars destruction by Azerbaijan
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