The area around Shusha was once called the "Switzerland of Azerbaijan" for its wooded hills and mild climate - a nickname that belies a history of periodic violence between ethnic Azerbaijanis and Armenians stretching back more than a century. A year and a half ago, Azerbaijani forces retook the town from the ethnic Armenians who had seized it in 1992 for the Armenian-backed breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, driving out the 15,000 Azerbaijanis who lived there. FILE PHOTO: A view shows a crater following recent shelling in the town of Shushi (Shusha), in the course of a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, October 29, 2020. Vahram Baghdasaryan/Photolure via REUTERS But the Shusha they recaptured, in Soviet times a tourist resort, was a shadow of it...
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The International Court of Justice ordered Azerbaijan last week to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage sites during ongoing conflict in the region. This ruling has potential to go beyond the South Caucasus region and create a benchmark for all such conflict zones around the world. The significance of the ruling extends beyond this one region. As UNESCO has proven relatively powerless to protect cultural heritage at risk in conflict zones, the World Court now emerges as a body that may be better able to safeguard irreplaceable cultural treasures and protect minority rights from the abuses of racial discrimination. The 7th-century Armenian church of Vankasar in Azerbaijan. Photo: Caucasus Heritage Watch Cornell University resear...
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