Azerbaijan Digs Bunkers in Armenian Gyavurkala Early Christian Cemetery

The website monumentwatch.org, which conducts ongoing monitoring of the cultural heritage of Artsakh, reports: “As clearly seen from the satellite image published by the 'Caucasus Heritage Watch', Azerbaijan has dug bunkers in the burial site of the Gyavurkala (literally 'Fortress of the Unbelievers'), an early Christian Armenian settlement located in the Artsakh Martakert region’s Haikajur village (formerly Azerbaijani Sofullu).

Gyavurkala is the largest early Christian Armenian settlement in the Artsakh plain after Tigranakert. It occupies an area of about two hectares, features a circular earthen rampart, and contains a hall church dating back to the 5th-6th centuries, built with hewn stones and adorned with cross motifs.

The column of this early Christian monument is still standing. As can be seen from the satellite image and the city layout, the early Christian cemetery is located east of the church. In the city’s cemetery, right where bunkers have been dug today, one of the earliest Armenian inscriptions from the Artsakh plain was found in the 1950s. It is not excluded that other sarcophagi with Armenian inscriptions might also be located in this area.