We write to you in the strongest possible terms to express profound outrage over the international conference titled “Christianity in Azerbaijan: History and Modernity,” orchestrated by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and held on Thursday, April 10, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. This appalling event constitutes not only a brazen falsification of historical truth but also an outright assault on the Armenian people and their millennia-old religious and cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh. It represents a deeply cynical effort to whitewash crimes, legitimize ethnic cleansing, and perpetuate a policy of cultural genocide.
The central premise of this conference—built upon the thoroughly debunked theory of Caucasian Albanian continuity with modern Azerbaijanis and the corresponding appropriation of irrefutably Armenian sacred sites—is nothing short of academic fraud. The claim that monuments such as the medieval Armenian monastery of Dadivank are of “Caucasian Albanian” origin is not merely a distortion; it is a calculated act of historical theft designed to sever Armenians from their ancestral homeland and to fabricate a false Azerbaijani narrative rooted in denial, erasure, and domination.
This conference is not an isolated event. It is part of a long-standing, state-sponsored campaign by Azerbaijan to eliminate every trace of Armenian presence from Nagorno-Karabakh. This includes the physical destruction of Armenian churches and cemeteries, the removal of Armenian inscriptions, and the systematic rewriting of history—all to legitimize Azerbaijan’s violent ethnic cleansing of the region. These acts are direct continuations of the same genocidal intent that led to the obliteration of Armenian heritage sites in Nakhichevan, where thousands of cross-stones (khachkars) were bulldozed into oblivion under the watch of the Azerbaijani state.
The deliberate exclusion of internationally recognized scholars in Armenian Studies from this conference only confirms what was already clear: this was not an academic gathering, but a weaponized propaganda campaign masquerading as scholarship. It is a tool of dehumanization—an extension of Azerbaijan’s ongoing psychological and cultural warfare against Armenians, meant to foster hatred, justify violence, and entrench impunity.
That this event was allowed to take place at the Pontifical Gregorian University—a leading institution of moral and intellectual authority—and received a congratulatory message from Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, is nothing short of scandalous. It risks conferring legitimacy upon a regime actively engaged in cultural eradication, historical falsification, and the perpetuation of atrocity.
In light of the gravity of this matter, we demand that the Pontifical Gregorian University:
• Immediately and publicly condemn the Azerbaijani government’s persistent and egregious efforts to rewrite history, erase Armenian cultural and religious heritage, and use historical distortion as a tool of ethnic and cultural annihilation.
• Sever all ties and collaborations with Azerbaijani institutions such as the “Baku International Multiculturalism Center,” which serve as instruments of state-sponsored propaganda, denialism, and cultural genocide.
This is a moment that calls for moral clarity and decisive action. Silence or inaction in the face of such blatant injustice and manipulation is not neutrality—it is complicity.
We expect an immediate and unequivocal response to address this grave violation of historical truth and human dignity