Azernews.Az

US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse faced protests from students of the Nakhchivan State University during her visit to the region on Wednesday.
The students came out with protests against an exhibition entitled “Armenian monuments in the Nakhchivan region” organized at the Harvard University as well as Armenian claims on ancient Azerbaijani monuments during a conference held in this respect.
Derse said that the statements made during the conference that the monuments in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic belong to Armenians are not the official position of Washington. “Harvard University is a private institution and the government has no right to interfere with its activity,” she said.
A forum dedicated to the so-called "Armenian monuments" in Nakhchivan and the alleged affiliation of the Azerbaijani autonomous republic with Armenia was held at the Harvard University with the support of the Armenian lobby in the United States last week.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim said that holding such events adversely affected the ongoing talks on peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
Harvard University's Armenian professors also held an exhibition entitled "Armenian monuments in the Nakhchivan region". Advertisement materials claimed once again that Nakhchivan had allegedly been a land of Armenians till the 20th century.
Nakhchivan’s National Academy of Sciences said in a statement that there were no Armenian monuments among the historical and cultural monuments registered in the autonomous republic.
On Wednesday, the US ambassador visited Momina Khatun’s tomb and a museum in the open air. She also met with the chairman of the Supreme Assembly of Nakhchivan Vasif Talibov and delivered a report on democracy and human rights in a private university.
Derse will hold a news briefing on the outcomes of her visit to Nakhchivan after meeting with representatives of NGOs and political parties.