“There’s definitely a religious component here,” but it is “not the only thing, obviously,” said Mark Movesian, co-director of the Centre for Law and Religion, at a briefing of the Philos Project on Friday on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. The project is a Christian initiative that promotes positive Christian engagement in the Middle East.

The largely-Muslim makeup of Azerbaijan and the history of Armenian Christianity cannot be ignored, he said, particularly amid reports that neighbouring Turkey is actively exporting Syrian Islamist extremists to Azerbaijan to fight Armenia.  

The territory has had an Armenian identity for millennia, and with that a rich Christian history, Movesian emphasised.

The region has a history of clashes. In 2016 there was a four-day conflict in the area with heavy casualties, recalled Van Der Mergerdichian, an Armenian Philos research fellow, on Friday. Skirmishes in July lasted a few weeks, and the current conflict had lasted for two weeks with lots of sniper fire and gunfire exchanges.

On the 8th of October, militants shelled a cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, destroying a part of the roof and damaging the walls of Holy Saviour Cathedral in Shusha. Armenians said that Turkish-backed forces from Azerbaijan were behind the attack. The attack on the cathedral drew condemnation from Christian leaders and religious freedom advocates.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last Thursday that it was “dismayed to learn” of damage to the cathedral, and called for “the safeguarding of places of worship and religious sites.”

The president of the group In Defense of Christians (IDC), Toufic Baaklini, compared the “Turkish-backed” attack to ISIS’ assaults on Christian communities. IDC cited the French government and other official and media sources to say that Turkey is actively recruiting mercenaries to Azerbaijan to fight.

Source: catholicnewsagency.com

Image: abc.net