Satellite images show Azerbaijan annihilates Djulfa cemetery
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), applying Geospatial Technologies, studied the satellite images of Armenian medieval Djulfa cemetery, Nakhijevan.
A high-resolution satellite image of a medieval Armenian cemetery in Azerbaijan taken in September 2003 shows hundreds of khachkars (cross stone), intricate 15th and 16th century burial monuments. In a satellite image from May 2009, however, the khachkars are missing, suggesting that they were either destroyed or removed.
“As can be seen in the 2009 image, the appearance of additional dirt roads that traverse the cemetery and visibly smoother terrain suggest that the khachkars may have been destroyed or removed by earthmoving equipment,” said Susan Wolfinbarger, senior program associate for the AAAS Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project. “Our analysis of the satellite evidence is consistent with that of observers on the ground who have attested to the destruction of the khachkars and the leveling of the terrain in the Djulfa cemetery.”