Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Head of Azerbaijan's state body in charge of religious organizations is on a visit to the United States, with the plight of religious monuments in the Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani territories being one of the issues on the agenda, Trend news agency reported on Tuesday.

The agenda of the visit by Elshad Iskandarov, chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, which is being paid within the frames of an experience exchange program supported by the US government, includes meetings at the State Department and Congress, meetings with the US special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as well as with representatives of local think-tanks and religious communities in Washington.

Other key issues under discussion include potential development of cooperation; joint efforts in the fight against extremism based on religious grounds as well as the Azerbaijani model of religious tolerance.

At Wednesday's seminar to be organized by the Jamestown Foundation, Iskandarov will be a keynote speaker on "Mutual respect and dialogue between different religions in Azerbaijan."

Commenting on the clauses regarding alleged violations of freedom of religion in Azerbaijan, which were included earlier in the annual report on religious freedom in the world released by the State Department, Iskandarov explained this by one-sidedness of US sources of information, noting that measures will be taken with American colleagues in this area.

In November, Iskandarov told Trend that a list of Azerbaijani religious monuments destroyed by the Armenians in the occupied territories has been prepared. The information on the list, which includes 67 monuments, is of great interest to the world community, according to the committee chairman.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region, defying international calls and UN resolutions.

After invading Azerbaijan's territories Armenia began pursuing the campaign of ruining cultural and historical monuments of the Azerbaijani people. The Armenians are also appropriating monuments of the ancient Caucasus Albania. A variety of ancient Albanian scripts, wall designs and crosses have been replaced by Armenian attributes. A number of mosques are used as store-houses. Buildings as well as unique exhibits of the museums located in the occupied Azerbaijani lands have been either destroyed or used as a basis for new museums, and the Armenians thus claim they belong to them.