Khachkar Destruction in Nakhchivan

Khachkar destruction in Nakhchivan refers to documented accusations against Azerbaijan of embarking on a campaign beginning in 1998 and ending in December 2005 to completely demolish the cemetery of medieval Armenian khachkars (cross stones) near the town of Julfa (known as Jugha in Armenian), Nakhchivan, an exclave of Azerbaijan. Claims by Armenians that Azerbaijan was undertaking a systematic campaign to destroy and remove the monuments first arose in late 1998 and those charges were renewed in 2002 and 2005. Numerous appeals were filed by both Armenian and international organizations, condemning the Azerbaijani government and calling on it to desist from such activity. In 2006, Azerbaijan barred European Parliament members from investigating the claims, charging them with a "biased and hysterical approach" to the issue and stating that it would only accept a delegation if it visited Armenian-controlled territory as well. In the spring of 2006, a journalist from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting who visited the cemetery wrote that it had "completely vanished."