Azerbaijani activists and scholars joined the dispute over the diplomats' visit to Karabakh.

More than 50 Azerbaijani NGOs stated in a joint statement that claims against Baku due to the visit of foreign diplomatic missions to Karabakh hinder the establishment of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan supported the authorities' version that the Gandzasar Monastery is a monument of Caucasian Albania.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on September 16, about 50 organizations and public figures from Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Armenian diaspora called on diplomatic missions in Yerevan to give a political and legal assessment of their colleagues' trips to Karabakh and not to participate in actions that, according to the authors of the appeal, could contribute to the international legitimization of Azerbaijan's policies regarding the region and its Armenian heritage. Foreign diplomats have the right to visit Karabakh as an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, and the demands to condemn such trips are unfounded, Azerbaijani analysts stated.

A group of 52 Azerbaijani NGOs stated that the criticism of the visit of foreign diplomats to Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur by Armenia threatens the peace process between the two countries, JAMnews reported on the evening of September 18.

"Their statement says that such a reaction is an interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and may hinder the normalization process. In their opinion, the priority should remain the implementation of the peace agenda, while issues of cultural heritage, as the authors of the statement claim, are used by Armenian groups to renew territorial claims," the publication states. The publication did not specify which organizations signed the statement and where it was posted.

Azerbaijani scholars consider the Gandzasar Monastery a monument of Caucasian Albania

The National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, in turn, stated that "the hype artificially created in Armenia around the monuments of Caucasian Albania located in the territory of Karabakh in Azerbaijan, especially around the Gandzasar Monastery, represents an attempt to create a cheap and meaningless sensation that has nothing to do with historical and scientific realities," the state news agency APA reported on the evening of September 18.

"In fact, the Gandzasar monastery complex and the monastery itself, which is an important part of it, is a historical monument belonging to Caucasian Albania and has nothing to do with Armenian history. The belonging of this monument to Albania and its indigenous population—the Albanians—has long been proven," the publication quotes a fragment of the academy's statement.

Azerbaijani scholars explained that the Gandzasar Monastery was built when the Albanian-Khachen principality was located in this territory, which was then ruled by "the Azerbaijani statesman Hasan Jalal (1215–1261)," who belonged to "the well-known Albanian dynasty of Mehrianids."

"During Hasan Jalal's time, economic, political, and cultural progress occurred in these historical lands of Azerbaijan, and his era was characterized as the Albanian Renaissance. The Gandzasar Monastery was also built as a majestic example of this renaissance. The Gandzasar Monastery used a symbol of an equilateral cross belonging to the Albanians. The equilateral cross served as a seal of the Albanians. The monastery was built from local building materials of the region," the academy stated.

According to the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, during the Soviet era and after the collapse of the USSR, "targeted measures were taken to Armenianize the Gandzasar Monastery." "Thus, the Albanian epigraphic monuments of the monastery were destroyed or dismantled and taken to Armenia, and then replaced with distorted Armenian texts. At the same time, the equilateral Albanian cross that was on the Gandzasar Monastery was transformed into a Gregorian cross of a different shape," the Azerbaijani side claims.

According to the statement, "Azerbaijani scholars resolutely condemn the deliberately incited campaign in Armenia around the Gandzasar Monastery and call on the Armenian side to approach not artificial and false propaganda, but scientific truths," the publication states.

The Armenian Church insists on the Armenian affiliation of Gandzasar

Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, who accompanied the representatives of the diplomatic missions on September 11-12 in Karabakh, also claimed that the Gandzasar monastery complex is part of "the ancient Albanian Christian heritage." The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin called the statements denying the Armenian affiliation of Gandzasar and presenting it as Albanian a "blatant falsification," reported "News-Armenia" on September 14.

"These attempts to distort historical realities for the sake of political expediency are a blatant falsification and encroachment on the historical memory and spiritual heritage of the Armenian people," the agency quoted the statement from Etchmiadzin.

Simonyan spoke about a conversation with Hajiyev

Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Alen Simonyan stated that he spoke with Hikmet Hajiyev after the situation around the Armenian Gandzasar Monastery, the publication reported on September 16.

"We talk to each other about once every two days, we are constantly in touch. I have his phone number, he has mine. After everything that happened, I spoke with him, I will not go into details. I expressed concern that such cases do not hinder the peace process," Simonyan said.

They have their point of view, we have ours

According to him, on this topic, "everything has already been said" and "not every statement should be reacted to." "I can say something sharp, react in a way that makes us all feel better for 15 minutes, but I can harm the negotiations. We have repeatedly said that we need to treat peace carefully, and it is necessary to demonstrate this in such cases. We are not talking about who is right and who is wrong. They have their point of view, we have ours," the publication quoted Simonyan.

Let us recall that on August 8, 2025, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan signed a declaration on the cessation of hostilities at a meeting in Washington. In October 2025, Ilham Aliyev announced the lifting of all restrictions on the transit of goods to Armenia. The Armenian authorities called this an important step towards opening regional communications. In early November 2025, a shipment of Russian grain arrived in Armenia through Azerbaijan for the first time since the 1990s. The Armenian government noted that this fulfilled one of the agreements reached in the USA, contributing to strengthening peace between Yerevan and Baku.

On September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan conducted large-scale military operations in Karabakh, after which an agreement was reached to cease hostilities and disarm the Karabakh Defense Army. As of January 1, 2024, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ceased to exist in accordance with the decree of its last president Samvel Shahramanyan. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a reference "The Beginning and End of the Unrecognized Republic of Artsakh".