Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Baku has lambasted Yerevan for annihilating Azerbaijan’s historical and cultural heritage, which is also an integral part of the world heritage.

Hikmat Hajiyev, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman has said Armenia bears international responsibility for the destruction of cultural and historical heritage of Azerbaijan in the occupied territories.

Hajiyev told Trend that attention and care were shown for all cultural and religious monuments in Azerbaijan at the state level, reminding that Azerbaijan’s contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage at national and international levels is highly valued by both UNESCO and international community.

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, addressing the Leaders' Forum of the 38th Session of UNESCO General Conference in Paris, drew attention to Azerbaijan’s cultural diplomacy and policy of multiculturalism, along other important issues. Further, on the basis of the facts, the president brought to the attention of the international community the acts of vandalism committed by Armenia against the cultural and religious heritage of the Azerbaijani people in country’s historical territories occupied by Armenia,” the diplomat said.

Touching upon the groundless statements made by the Armenian foreign ministry officials, Hajiyev said the statements of the Armenians, who are not indigenous ethnic community in the South Caucasus, on the material and cultural monuments belonging to the ancient history raise laughter and are yet another example of the falsification of history.

A while ago, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan made the statements claiming that allegedly "historic" Armenian monuments were destroyed in Azerbaijan.

“Armenians were deliberately settled in the Caucasus in the first half of the 19th century, and their material and cultural samples belong to that period. Such monuments in Azerbaijan’s territory, including the Armenian Church in Baku, belonging to the late 19th century, is protected at the state level and even has been repaired,” Hajiyev said.

He went on to say that as a result of the temporary occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, seven villages of the Gazakh region bordering with Armenia and Kerky village of Nakhchivan were destroyed and 738 historical monuments, 28 museums with 83,500 exhibits, four art galleries, 14 memorial complexes and 1,107 cultural institutions were looted.

The vandalism policy pursued by Armenia can be proved with the fact that a silver bag stolen from a museum in Lachin region was sold for $80,000 at Sotheby's auction, according to Hajiyev.

“Demirbulag Mosque located in the medieval Azerbaijani town of Erivan (current Yerevan) was razed to the ground and the Blue Mosque was “renovated” with a purpose of changing the original architecture. Among the destroyed monuments, there are also Haji Novruzali mosque, built in the second half of the 18th century, as well as the "Sardar Palace" and "Khan Palace". Also, ancient and modern Azerbaijani cemeteries located in Armenia were destroyed and the Azerbaijani toponyms were changed. And it's just a few examples. Nalbandian and Kocharyan should answer for the acts of vandalism,” Hajiyev said.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has prepared and already submitted to UNESCO, UN, the Council of Europe, the OIC, ISESCO and other international organizations reports "about destruction of historical and cultural heritage belonging to the Islamic religion in Azerbaijan's territories occupied by Armenia” and "the destruction of historical and cultural heritage in Azerbaijan's territories occupied by Armenia.”

As a result of these works, the OIC regularly adopts resolutions condemning the actions of Armenia. The recent resolution was adopted at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC held in Kuwait in May this year.

“Upon Azerbaijan’s request, UNESCO expressed its willingness to send a monitoring mission to the occupied Azerbaijani territories. However, Armenia impedes the monitoring, as in the case of the mission, the facts of vandalism against material and cultural monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani territories would be documented and presented to the international community,” Hajiyev underlined.

He emphasized that Armenia is internationally responsible for the destruction of cultural and historical heritage of Azerbaijan.

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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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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