2020 Ghazanchetsots Cathedral shelling

The 2020 shelling of Ghazanchetsots Cathedral took place prior to the Battle of Shusha on 8 October, when the Holy Savior Cathedral () of the city of Shusha, known as Ghazanchetsots Cathedral (, ), was struck twice by the missiles, resulting in the collapse of a part of the roof. Armenia accused the Azerbaijani Armed Forces over the shelling.
Human Rights Watch confirmed that ”Azerbaijani forces attacked a church in the city of Shushi on October 8, 2020”, calling it a “possible war crime”, specifying that it was hit twice ”in what appears to be a deliberate targeting in violation of the laws of war”.
History.
The shelling took place on the 11th day of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a continuation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region dating from before the fall of communism. Shusha was held by the Republic of Artsakh, an ethnic Armenian polity since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. In Azerbaijan, the loss of Shusha in 1992 was especially mourned as the city was the cultural centre of Azerbaijani poets, musicians, and composers. Prior to the war, the cathedral had been damaged in ethnic violence surrounding the 1920 Shusha massacre of Armenians and then used as storehouse in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, until Shusha fell to the Armed Forces of Armenia in 1992. The building was then restored in the 1990s by the Armenian Apostolic Church, which had built the church in the 1880s.
Shelling.
The first shell fell on the dome of the church in the evening of the 8 October, severely damaging the interior. Local media reported that adults and children were sheltering inside the church when the first explosion occurred, but no-one was injured. Hours later, as journalists inspected the damage, a second shell struck the building. Two Russian journalists were wounded by the second strike, one, the editor-in-chief of "Segodnya", was critically injured and underwent surgery in Stepanakert. An Armenian who accompanied the reporters was lightly injured.
Response.
Armenia.
Armenia's Foreign Ministry issued an official statement describing it as "another crime of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan... this action fully fits into its policy of Armenophobia developed for decades. Azerbaijan, which has completely annihilated the Armenian cultural heritage in Nakhichevan and in other parts of the historical homeland of the Armenian people, now throughout the ongoing military aggression against Artsakh is trying to deprive Armenians of Artsakh of their homeland and historical memory". They also stated that "With these actions Azerbaijan replicates the behavior of its newly acquired allies, infamous international terrorist organizations that are responsible for the destruction of numerous historical-cultural monuments in the Middle East". Artsrun Hovhannisyan, spokesman of the defence ministry of Armenia, blamed the shelling on "enemy Azerbaijan".
According to "Armenpress", Pargev Martirosyan, the bishop of the Diocese of Artsakh of which the cathedral is the episcopal see, compared the shelling with the actions of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, saying "They are bombarding our spiritual values, when we are restoring and preserving mosques". Another priest at the cathedral said "I feel the pain that the walls of our beautiful cathedral are destroyed. I feel the pain that today the world does not react to what's happening here and that our boys are dying defending our Motherland".
After the shelling, the Armenian cellist Sevak Avanesyan playing the damaged building. He played the piece "Stork" () by the Armenian composer Komitas, who was a victim of the Armenian Genocide. The music video was posted on October 12 on Armenia's official Twitter account, which according to Al-Jazeera, was a message that the cathedral's shelling by Azerbaijan was part and parcel of a centuries-old enmity of Turks towards Armenians.
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry officially denied involvement, while the Azerbaijan state news agency claimed Armenia was behind the attack.
In an interview with "BBC News" journalist Orla Guerin, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, denied the church was a military target for his forces and claimed that the shelling was "either it was a mistake of our artillery or it was a deliberate provocation by Armenians themselves". Asked if the same mistake could have been made twice in one day, Aliyev said: "Why not? Have you seen the images of Azerbaijani mosques in the occupied territories? They're all destroyed. They keep pigs in our mosques. We do not attack civilians, unlike them." He also mentioned the 2020 Ganja ballistic missile attacks, blaming Armenia and denying attacking civilians in Stepanakert.
International.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) wrote that they are "dismayed to learn that the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral was seriously damaged by fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, and calls for the safeguarding of places of worship and religious sites, particularly amid the current violence".
In response to the urgent written question sent to the European Commission by Member of the European Parliament Loucas Fourlas, the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell stated on behalf of the European Commission that the EU "deplores the destruction of religious and historic monuments in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, including damages to the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, and underlines the importance of preserving and restoring the cultural and religious heritage".
American composer Daniel Decker, who had given a concert in the building in 2017, lamented the destruction on Facebook, saying "This breaks my heart!"
The Special Rapporteur of OHCHR in the field of cultural rights addressed Azerbaijan in a letter issued on February 2, 2021, mentioning the attack on the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, “believed to have been intentionally targeted”, and expressing concern “regarding reports of indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, resulting in damage or destruction of schools, churches and other cultural heritage sites”, requesting to provide information on any investigations and “indicate if those responsible will be held accountable in accordance with international law… indicate which measures will be taken to asses and afford emergency stabilization for this site, as well as to fully consult with relevant parties, including the Armenian Apostolic Church, about such efforts and about how to undertake reconstruction of this site so as to protect cultural rights”. 
Aftermath.
Azerbaijanis forces seized control of Shusha on 7 November, after a three-day long battle over the city. On 10 November, a peace agreement was reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan with Russia's mediation.