The U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mark Libby, made a visit to the Azerbaijani-occupied region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on Monday. This marked the first time a senior American diplomat has visited the area since the 44-Day Artsakh War in 2020, which led to the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of its ethnic Armenian population.
Accompanied by his wife, Danusia Libby, Ambassador Libby visited the towns of Shushi and Varanda in occupied Artsakh. During his visit to Shushi, he expressed his enthusiasm in a video message posted on the X social media platform. He said, “I am so happy to be in Shusha today,” adding, “We have been preparing for this visit for almost two months, and I am glad it has finally come together.”
The ambassador shared his impressions from the tour, noting, “I was extremely impressed by my tour and saw first-hand how the city is developing. I look forward to continuing my travels throughout Azerbaijan.”
Unlike his predecessors, Ambassador Libby chose to undertake this controversial visit. Azerbaijani government-controlled media had previously hinted at his reluctance to visit Artsakh, fully recaptured by Baku during last September’s military offensive”an action criticized by the United States, which resulted in the forcible displacement of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians from Artsakh to Armenia. More than 20,000 Artsakh Armenians had already fled their homeland during the 2020 war.
During his visit, the U.S. Embassy in Baku tweeted that Libby met with local Azerbaijani officials who briefed him on “development efforts” in the area and the “resettlement of former Azerbaijani residents.” He also visited Shushi’s so-called “Azerbaijani” monuments. However, the embassy conspicuously avoided mentioning the endangered local Armenian churches.
Recent satellite images from April 20, released by Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW), a US-based research and monitoring group led by archaeologists at Cornell and Purdue Universities, show the destruction of key Armenian heritage sites in Shushi. One of the town’s Armenian landmarks, the St. John the Baptist Church, was recently destroyed. “The church is now gone,” confirmed CHW. The group also noted the complete destruction of Shushi’s old Armenian cemetery on the same day.
Another significant Armenian religious site, the Holy Savior (Ghazanchetsots) Cathedral, was stripped of its conical dome and cross in 2021, actions which the Armenian government described as attempts to “deprive the Shushi Cathedral of its Armenian identity.” In contrast, Baku falsely claimed the alterations were merely renovations to repair damage from its own rockets during the 2020 war.
It’s crucial to underscore that Azerbaijan’s occupation of Artsakh represents a continuing challenge. Artsakh is Armenian”unequivocally. Shushi, along with other towns in Artsakh, remains under occupation. This recent visit by a US ambassador should not be seen as a normalization of the current status but rather a concerning development in the region.
