Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK

Karabakh Mosques Restored

Officials want to refute Baku’s claims that Muslim monuments are being
systematically destroyed.

By Karine Ohanian in Nagorny Karabakh (CRS No. 411, 20-Sept-07)

Armenian experts are finishing the restoration of the two mosques in
the town of Shushi (known to Azerbaijanis as Shusha) that were damaged
during the war over Nagorny Karabakh.

Efforts are focused on the large Sunni Upper Mosque in the centre of
the town, next to the main market – a striking building of
multi-coloured stone that dates back to 1884. This follows the
restoration of the older and smaller Shia Lower Mosque and the
medressa in the town last year.

Both projects were organised by the French branch of Shen, an Armenian
charitable organisation.

Architect Oshin Yeghiazariants, who is overseeing the restoration
work, says he wants to see the mosque become a cultural centre
containing an art gallery, where representatives of different
religions can meet.

The town, once one of the great cultural and trading centres of the
Caucasus, had an Azerbaijani majority population in Soviet times. It
fell into Armenian hands in 1992 at the height of the war over Nagorny
Karabakh, and most of its buildings are still semi-ruined and
abandoned.

The towering 19th century Ghazanchetsots church in the town has
already been restored.

Following the end of the Karabakh conflict in 1994, another fight
began between Armenian and Azerbaijani ethnographers and historians
each claiming that the other side was systematically destroying
monuments that had belonged to the other community.

It remains a highly controversial subject, but attitudes are changing
slowly. In June, a joint delegation of Armenian and Azerbaijani
intellectuals visited Nagorny Karabakh, Baku and Yerevan, inspecting
all the cultural monuments.

The Karabakh Armenians’ restoration of the two mosques – the two main
Muslim monuments in Nagorny Karabakh – was designed to refute
Azerbaijani allegations and generate good publicity for the Armenian
side.

Sarasar Sarian, who fled from Baku but now lives in Shushi, said,
`When it comes to the monuments of Muslim architecture being restored
in Shushi, I think that by respecting the culture of our neighbouring
people we are showing a positive example which others ought to
follow.’

Slava Sarkisian, who heads the department for the protection and study
of monuments in Nagorny Karabakh’s culture ministry, told IWPR that
there are around 10,000 monuments in Karabakh and an inventory of them
is underway that will last many years.

Sarkisian said that around ten of the monuments were Muslim. `It makes
no difference for us whether it’s a Christian or Muslim monument,’ he
said. `We take the same approach to them – they are all under the
protection of our state and have a historical and cultural value.

`I couldn’t say today that Christian monuments are in a better
condition than Muslim ones. There are villages where ancient Christian
buildings are being used as cow-sheds. I think it’s mainly a matter of
people not caring or being badly brought up.’

The de facto Karabakh Armenian authorities say that the Muslim
cultural monuments are under their protection.

`In conditions of conflict in our region, adopting a respectful
attitude to monuments of `not our own’ culture can serve as a means of
establishing trust between the conflicting parties,’ Masis Mailian,
deputy foreign minister, and losing candidate in the recent
presidential elections, told IWPR.

Manushak Titanian, an architect and head of the non-governmental
organisation Art for Peace and Development, has been studying the
Muslim monuments and intends to publish a booklet with photographs of
them. He says their deterioration is largely the result of neglect.

`I have an extremely positive attitude to the idea of restoring the
Shushi mosque, because as an architect I think that a variety of
cultures in one town makes it very attractive, both for its residents
and for many tourists,’ she said.

Karine Ohanian is a correspondent for Demo newspaper in Nagorny
Karabakh. She is a member of IWPR’s Cross Caucasus Journalism
Network. The terminology used in this article was chosen by IWPR, not
by the author.