After the liberation of Artsakh on November 23, 2023, President Ilham Aliyev ordered the establishment of the “University of Karabakh.” This university is expected to begin operating in the city of Stepanakert from September 2024, using the building of the State University of Artsakh. Currently, construction work is underway at the State University of Artsakh, with the entire area of the building being cleared and the damaged roof removed. Monument Watch has reported this development.

The Armenian “State University of Artsakh” has already been removed from the main entrance, and it is expected that the inscription “Recognize the Genocide and Apologize, Know Thyself” will also be removed. The Artsakh State University was established in 1969 as a branch of the V. Lenin Children’s Technological Institute of Baku. In 1973, it gained independent status and was renamed the Stepanakert State Pedagogical Institute. In recent years, a new building was constructed for the university, equipped with new classrooms.

Prior to the occupation and destruction of Artsakh, the Artsakh State University had 5 faculties, 15 departments, approximately 3000 students, and 200 lecturers. The university’s library housed more than 100,000 literary works, and it had its own printing house where various publications were printed, including the “Scientific Herald,” “Artsakh Scientific Journal,” and “Artsakh University” magazines. In 1999, a monument was erected at the university in memory of the 75 students who lost their lives in the first war of Artsakh.

Following the occupation and destruction of Artsakh, the Artsakh State University ceased its activities, leaving the entire academic community in uncertainty. The Azerbaijani government is now establishing a “new university” on the territory populated by Armenians. As a result, the students of the university have to relocate from Stepanakert to other regions of Azerbaijan, with one of the buildings in Stepanakert being allocated as a dormitory for them. Recent photos indicate that the university grounds, residential buildings, and separate houses are being fenced off.

It is regrettable that the program of transferring the Stepanakert State University, removing inscriptions, demolishing the library, and constructing residential and additional buildings aligns with the Azerbaijani government’s state policy to erase evidence of the “systematic destruction of cultural values during times of armed conflict,” as defined in the 4th article of the 1954 Hague Convention and article 15 of the Second Additional Protocol adopted in 1999.