NGOs urge European Parliament to repeal anti-Azerbaijan resolution
By Vugar Khalilov
Members of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations have sent a statement of protest to the European Parliament demanding its anti-Azerbaijan resolution be repealed, Azertag has reported.
“We, the NGOs operating in Azerbaijan, unequivocally reject the biased views on our country and demand that the European Parliament repeal its unfair resolution against Azerbaijan,” the statement underlined.
The NGO representatives recalled that they had constantly complained to international bodies and UNESCO about Armenia's cultural genocide against Azerbaijani heritage. The historic cultural legacy of Azerbaijanis is in risk of extinction as a result of Armenia's aggressive policy, they stressed.
It was emphasized that double standards, racist attitudes and Islamophobia against Azerbaijan have always been the major line of actions for some international organizations.
Another act of hypocrisy against Azerbaijan is the European Parliament's approval of a resolution based on Armenian lies that contains incorrect facts regarding the destruction of historical and cultural artifacts belonging to Armenians in Azerbaijan's liberated territory.
“We would like to draw the attention of the European Parliament and its member states to the fact that, unlike Azerbaijan, during the 30 years of occupation, Armenia has systematically pursued a policy of destruction - the destruction of historical, cultural and religious monuments belonging to our people and literally committed a cultural genocide against our people,” the statement stressed.
It adds that as a result of the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from the territory of present-day Armenia (which has been their homeland for centuries) since the beginning of the 20th century, there are no Azerbaijanis left in Armenia. As a result of the last deportation in 1988 alone, more than 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from their native lands and became refugees.
By pursuing an intentional ethnic and cultural genocide policy, Armenia is erasing the traces of Azerbaijanis, the historical and ancient inhabitants of these territories, plundering, destroying, appropriating and changing the cultural heritage of these people. At the same time, the ancient toponyms in these areas were replaced with Armenian names.
It was emphasized that Armenian vandals have destroyed mosques, religious, historical and cultural monuments in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories for many years and this indicates their hatred against religious, cultural and historical values.
“As a matter of fact, we can say that Armenians use the mosques in our occupied lands as barns. If Armenia had respected religious monuments and mosques, it would not have destroyed the monuments on Azerbaijan's occupied territories,” the statement added.
It was highlighted that some 403 historical and cultural monuments, including 67 mosques, 144 temples and 192 shrines have been identified in Azerbaijan’s former occupied lands. Some 63 out of 67 Muslim mosques officially operating in Karabakh and surrounding areas (13 in Shusha, five in Aghdam, 16 in Fuzuli, 12 in Zangilan, five in Jabrayil, eight in Gubadli, eight in Lachin), were completely and four were partially destroyed. However, despite these facts, certain international organizations, members of the European Parliament remain silent on these issues and, conversely, adopt resolutions against Azerbaijan.
“In our previous appeals to international organizations, we also provided many accurate facts,” the representatives said.
Along with other facts, it was noted that some 300 mosques such as the Goy Mosque, Gala Mosque, Shah Abbas, Tapabashi, Zal Khan, Sartib Khan, Haji Novruzali Bay, Damirbulag, Haji Jafar Bay, Rajab Pasha, Mohammad Sartib Khan, Haji Inam mosques located in Armenia were deliberately demolished, appropriated or used for other purposes in the early 20th century.
Only the Damirbulag mosque functioned as intended until 1988, but now it has been completely demolished and replaced by a multi-storey building. More than 500 graves belonging to Azerbaijanis in Aghadada, Ashaghi Shorja, Gullubulagh, Saral cemeteries were destroyed in Armenia. The tomb of the great Azerbaijani poet Ashig Alasgar, whose tombstone was erected in his native village in ancient Goycha district, was also destroyed.
In general, Armenia has deliberately destroyed thousands of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage monuments on its territory. This is a clear example of the intolerance of the Azerbaijani people in Armenia, as well as an insult to all mankind. All this shows that Armenia does not recognize any universal values. The impunity of all these illegal acts and acts of vandalism that have been going on for decades is sending a wrong message to the world community.
It was stressed that the world community must understand that such steps are a state policy in Armenia and should take steps against it. For this purpose, the existing tools of international law should be used.
As a result, the deliberate destruction, modification, and appropriation of cultural artifacts is a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law, namely the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1954 and 1970 UNESCO Conventions.
Furthermore, these activities are deemed war crimes, and purposeful destruction of cultural heritage is an issue of peace and security, as stated by UN Security Council Resolution 2347, which was enacted in 2017.
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