Raffi Kortoshyan, deputy director of the Foundation for the Study of Armenian Architecture, said on TV 168’s “Review” program:

 Baku’s policy of destroying Armenian monuments is not new, this policy is present wherever the Baku army is located. He noted that since 1994 we have witnessed all this in northern Artsakh and Nakhchivan, and after the 44-day war in Hadrut, Karvachar and all regions that came under Baku’s control.

According to Raffi Kortoshyan, the Armenian side must use all opportunities and means to temporarily slow down the process of destruction of Armenian culture in Artsakh led by Baku. And there are several means to achieve this: if there is no military means, diplomatic and judicial means must be used.

He cited the example of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in which many monuments have been preserved diplomatically, that is, these monuments are preserved because Armenia maintains diplomatic relations with Iran. If there is no diplomatic channel, all that remains is to initiate an international legal procedure, for which the Armenian side has 45 years of research.

Raffi Kortoshyan stressed that they had enough facts to address the court. Materials have been collected for 45 years, not only in Artsakh, but also in the diaspora. Monumentologist Samvel Karapetyan began working in Artsakh in 1978.

Samvel Karapetyan, a luminary, once said: “If you do not fight for the occupied space under the sun, then you are simply dragging out your existence,” Raffi Kortoshyan responded to the journalist’s question: “The Armenian nation is dragging does it exist today?” “We do not have the right to drag out our existence, if we drag out our existence, then it means that we do not exist. Defeats must be temporary and we must work, because we can only change the situation with the work,” Kortoshyan said.