St Stepanos Nakhichevani (Julfa)
St Stepanos Nakhichevani in Julfa was one of the principal Armenian churches of a historically Armenian town on the Aras. It should not be confused with the standing St Stepanos Monastery across the river in Iran, whose survival makes the destruction on the Azerbaijani side more visible by contrast. The Julfa church's disappearance is part of the wider Nakhichevan record documented by Ayvazyan and monitored through satellite comparison. Its importance is evidentiary: churches, cemeteries and khachkars together made Armenian Julfa legible. Removing them alters what future observers can see. The destruction also complicates Azerbaijani claims that heritage disputes are merely wartime damage, because much of Nakhichevan's erasure occurred away from active battlefield conditions.
St Stepanos Nakhichevani in Julfa was one of the principal Armenian churches of a historically Armenian town on the Aras. It should not be confused with the standing St Stepanos Monastery across the river in Iran, whose survival makes the destruction on the Azerbaijani side more visible by contrast. The Julfa church's disappearance is part of the wider Nakhichevan record documented by Ayvazyan and monitored through satellite comparison. Its importance is evidentiary: churches, cemeteries and khachkars together made Armenian Julfa legible. Removing them alters what future observers can see. The destruction also complicates Azerbaijani claims that heritage disputes are merely wartime damage, because much of Nakhichevan's erasure occurred away from active battlefield conditions.