An Armenian Heritage Conference opened in Bern, Switzerland, on 27 May to address the consequences of the conflict in Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh with regard to the protection of Armenian religious and cultural heritage, the human rights of its people, and the future security of the Armenian nation.
During an opening prayer and remarks, Rev. Rita Famos, president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland, offered a welcome to Bern, the headquarters of the church, and reflected on its longstanding work for peace, particularly in Armenia/Nagorno Karabakh.
Setting the tone for the opening session, she prayed: “Let us seek truth so that this conference bears good fruit and we can, according to our conscience, do what we must do.”
The conference aims to turn discussion into action. “All participants and speakers at this conference are called upon to consider what they can contribute,” she said.
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, reflected and lamented the destruction of Armenian churches and sacred sites, in Nagorno Karabakh and other locations.
“We are called to seek ways to prevent the further appropriation and destruction of sacred sites,” he said. “We are witnessing condemnable violation of religious freedom and fundamental human rights.”
Karekin II also condemned the continued disregard for international calls for preservation. “They have also rejected UNESCO’s initiative to conduct a fact-finding mission to assess the condition of cultural moments in Artsakh.”
He noted that the world has born witness to similar cultural genocides in Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan, where ancient cultural landmarks have been obliterated.
“The destruction of cultural heritage must rightly be seen not only a crime against a single nation but a crime against all of humanity,” he said.
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, via a video greeting, described the situation as a genocide, and urged people to challenge the notion that “might is right.”
He reflected on the heart of the conference: “You are convened not simply to examine the fate of religio-cultural monuments of Artsakh and seek the most effective ways and means to protecting them; you are gathered here because a whole people has been uprooted from its centuries of land.”
He urged the international community not to remain silent. “A vibrant faith community has been attacked and a sacred culture belonging not only to Armenians but to all humanity stands today on the brink of total annihilation,” he said. “All these factual realities can be rightly described with one word: genocide.”
The Armenians of Artsakh have a right to return to their centuries-old homeland, Aram I urged. “The faith communities and the actors of civil society should speak out boldly in defense of justice and fundamental human rights, and the people of good faith should strongly challenge the prevailing notion that ‘might is right.’ ”
Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), recalled when he led a delegation at the border near the entrance to the Lachin Corridor on 19 September 2023, as shelling by Azerbaijan’s armed forces of Stepanakert began in the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
After witnessing the hostilities, the WCC promised His Holiness Karekin II that the WCC would raise international attention to the issue—and the conference currently underway is one such way to honor that promise.
“Let this moment of moral clarity give birth to action with international organizations and communities,” said Pillay. “As Christians we are called to be witnesses of truth – and that is not passive, that is standing by the victims and naming the evil.”
Pillay underscored that, to answer this call is not the act of charity, but our duty as Christians.
“This conference is not a symbolic act, but a response to the calling of the church; we are here because we believe that peace cannot exist without justice,” he said. “We are not here by coincidence. We are not here to be bystanders.”
