Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Virtual Karabakh Information-Communication Technologies Centre opened in Baku on December 16.

Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Elmir Valizade, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport Intigam Babayev, and chairmen of youth organizations in Azerbaijan attended the opening ceremony.

The aim of the centre is to establish a centralized internet source on Karabakh. Another objective is to inform thoroughly the world community about Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Armenia's aggressive policy.

The virtualkarabakh.az portal aims to serve the promotion of Karabakh truths on the internet.

The centre has a conference hall, e-library, photo-video studio, and rooms named after the occupied regions.

Coordinator of the centre Nureddin Mehdiyev said at the ceremony that Virtual Karabakh project was planned as a centralized internet network source to give information in Azerbaijani and a number of leading languages about the history, tangible and intangible heritage, religious and cultural values, culture, historical monuments, literature, and folklore of Karabakh.

He went on to note that one of the objectives is to contribute to informing the world's fair and peace loving people about Azerbaijan's just position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

As a result of the Armenian occupation, the region's history and culture are destroyed or exposed to falsification by Armenian vandalism.

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.

Thirteen architectural and archeological monuments of global importance, 292 monuments of state importance, 330 monuments of local importance, 23 parks, and 15 decorative art samples remain in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia- Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Moreover, 22 museums with 40,000 exhibits, 927 libraries, 808 clubs, four theaters, two concert halls, eight culture and recreation parks, four photo galleries, 85 music schools, etc. remain under occupation.

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov earlier said that the damage inflicted on Azerbaijan by the Armenian aggression is estimated at $300 billion. The figure excludes items of inestimable heritage, and it is impossible to determine the immense moral value of the ancient and irreplaceable cultural monuments of Azerbaijani nation that have been destroyed.

The preservation of historical and cultural monuments in the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan as a reminder of the nation's centuries-old history is a matter of international importance, because Azerbaijani people's cultural heritage is an integral part of the world culture.

The occupation of Azerbaijani lands and making changes there is unacceptable according to contemporary international law. According to international law, all the resources in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions remain Azerbaijan's assets.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.