Minister: Every day we feel consequences of Armenian occupation
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan feels the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh not only by loss of lands, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev said while addressing a scientific conference “Karabakh: history and heritage” in Baku on November 10.
“Every day we are witnessing the Armenian aggressive policy at international events, in the Internet space and press, as well as in cuisine,” the minister noted. “Armenians continue to infringe on the culture, historical monuments, music and cuisine of Azerbaijan”.
The minister emphasized that not a day passes without Armenia’s such infringes. “We feel it in relation to our historic monuments, music and cuisine,” he noted.
Garayev further said that the Azerbaijani side tries to prevent such claims of the Armenians, and Azerbaijan managed to achieve many samples of its cultural property to be included in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list.
“Today, our folk musical instrument tar, ashig art and carpet are in the list of intangible cultural heritage. These values do not belong only to the Azerbaijani people, but to all mankind,” Garayev stressed.
The destruction of Azerbaijani cultural monuments in the occupied territories continues to this day. The invaders are carrying out large-scale archeological excavations, destroying burial mounds.
In total, Armenians have destroyed 927 libraries in the occupied Azerbaijani territories as part of the purposeful policy to annihilate the history and culture of the Land of Fire. Moreover, nine mosques, 44 shrines, 464 historical monuments and museums, over 40,000 museum pieces were looted, destroyed and crushed on the occupied territories.
The damages caused by Armenia during the years of occupation of Azerbaijani lands hit about $818 billion.
The destruction and damage of historical and cultural monuments by the Armenian invaders in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan contradict the 1954 Hague convention on the preservation of cultural values during armed conflicts, the 1992 European convention on preservation of archeological heritages, and the 1972 UNESCO convention on preservation of world cultural and natural heritages.
The preservation of historical and cultural monuments in the Armenian-occupied territory of Azerbaijan, as memories of the nation's centuries-old history, is a matter of international importance, since the Azerbaijani people's cultural heritage is an integral part of the world culture.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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