ANCA urges U.S. envoy to visit Djulfa cemetery without Baku’s permit

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has called on U.S. Ambassador to Baku, Richard Morningstar, to honor his commitment to the U.S. Senate to secure access to the site, in Djulfa, Nakhijevan, of the Azerbaijani government's 2005 video-taped destruction of a medieval Armenian cemetery housing thousands of intricately carved Armenian stone-crosses (khatchkars).

In a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Baku earlier, Ambassador Morningstar stated that, when he was recently in Nakhijevan, he "discussed at length with local authorities one such site in Julfa, where, according to evidence from credible sources, an ancient Armenian cemetery was desecrated or destroyed. I regret that the authorities, citing security reasons, made it impossible for me to visit the site and personally see what is there."

"Ambassador Morningstar cannot take no for an answer," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "He can either keep knocking on the Ilham Aliyev's door until this baseless ban is lifted, or simply travel to the site of the Djulfa cemetery on his own. Either way, it's clear that, as Americans, we should neither sell arms to an Azerbaijani military that destroys cemeteries, nor send any aid to a government in Baku that blocks U.S. ambassadors from visiting sites of peace-time cultural desecration."

In response to questions by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) during his confirmation hearing, in June of 2012, Ambassador Morningstar had committed to "make every effort to visit the cemetery and that any kind of desecration such as that is unacceptable, outrageous and I will do my best to get there, and soon." He also said he would: "amplify our concerns to the Government of Azerbaijan and stress the need to respect and safeguard Armenian religious and cultural sites in Azerbaijan."