Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

After the occupation of Azerbaijan’s historic lands in a bloody war in early 1990s, the Armenian authorities try with every effort to prove that these territories belong to them.

Witnessing that their political methods have been exhausted, they are now attempting to justify their unfounded claims using art and culture as a tool.

They frequently organize concerts for foreign artists as well as various events with participation of foreign nationals in an attempt to show that the occupied lands ‘belong’ to them.

This time, a concert program featuring Russian artists is scheduled to take part in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, drawing criticism from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev said on August 31 that the concert program was of an offensive character and that the concert program promotes the separatist regime, established as a result of Armenia’s aggression, occupation and ethnic cleansing policy against Azerbaijan.

The concert is scheduled for September 2 in Azerbaijan’s occupied territory – the city of Khankendi – with the participation of Russian operatic soprano Lubov Kazarnovskaya and others.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

As a result of Armenia’s military aggression, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 were reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

Hajiyev reminded Kazarnovskaya, who often speaks of justice and peace, that Armenia and the separatist regime committed genocide in 1992 against the Azerbaijani population in Khojaly, a town located a few kilometers away from Khankendi, where the said concert is to be held.

613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.

The legislative bodies of many countries have adopted resolutions recognizing the crime committed by Armenians against the peaceful people in Khojali as genocide.

“Those calling themselves culture figures should be ashamed, at least by the young children and women who became victims of this tragedy. The result of Armenia’s vandalism policy is the destruction and elimination of rich material and cultural values of the Azerbaijani people in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, including Karabakh’s musical heritage, known throughout the world,” Hajiyev said.

He warned that the names of foreign nationals who are to take part in the concert program will be included in the foreign ministry’s list of undesirable persons after an appropriate investigation.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's black list.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats against unauthorized visits to territories under Armenian occupation, stating that such visits violate international law.

Furthermore, Hajiyev lambasted a fashion show that took place in Azerbaijan’s occupied Shusha city, by Alyona Sterligova, the spouse of Russian entrepreneur German Sterligov.

Sterligov and his family were earlier blacklisted by the Azerbaijani foreign ministry. In accordance with the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, a criminal case was initiated against Sterligov and a preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen.

Hajiyev said this is yet another step that serves to incite hatred on ethnic and religious grounds.

He went on to add that if someone tries to encourage the regime established by Armenia on the occupied Azerbaijani territories by such provocative steps, it is a wrong move.

“Despite the fact that religion should be out of politics, Armenia and the criminal regime created by the invader country on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as Sterligov and his family, which are a tool in their hands, continue to politicize religion and advocate extremist statements full of religiously motivated hatred,” Hajiyev said.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly one million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks mediated by Russia, France, and the U.S. have produced no results so far.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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