Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijan’s victory has opened a historic page in Karabakh’s cultural revival, president's special representative in the liberated territories (except Shusha region) Emin Huseynov has said.

Huseynov made the remarks in a post on his official Twitter account dedicated to World Theater Day on March 27.

"March 27 is World Theater Day. The victory achieved under the leadership of Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief [President Ilham Aliyev] opened a historic page for the revival of our culture in Karabakh. Our theaters, which were subjected to Armenian vandalism in Karabakh, will soon reopen," Huseynov stressed.

Furthermore, Azerbaijani Consul General to the Western United States Nasimi Aghayev made a similar statement on his Twitter page.

“On this World Theatre Day, I am sharing a before and after video of Aghdam Theater in Azerbaijan that was systematically looted and destroyed by Armenia after the city’s invasion in 1993. A symbol of Armenia’s 'care' for culture,” Aghayev underlined.

Earlier, Azerbaijani Culture Minister Anar Karimov stated that Armenia had destroyed 95 percent of 706 state-registered historical and cultural monuments on the liberated territories.

"Armenia completely destroyed or Armenianized the monuments of Islamic culture in the ancestral Azerbaijani lands. During the monitoring in the liberated territories, a record of libraries, houses of culture, clubs, museums, children's music schools, and other cultural objects was carried out. It was established that all of them are in a destroyed state. Armenians kept cattle in mosques. Museums, mosques, monuments destroyed and plundered by Armenians in Karabakh are an act of vandalism not only against the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people but also against the entire Islamic world, human culture in general," Karimov stressed.

In general, Armenia has deliberately destroyed thousands of Azerbaijani cultural heritage sites, which testifies to Armenia’s intolerance towards the Azerbaijani people, as well as an insult to all humanity.

Armenia's aggression and illegal occupation caused irreparable damages to Azerbaijan's cultural heritage, which includes thousands of cultural values, including monuments of the world and national importance, mosques, temples, mausoleums, museums, art galleries, sites of archaeological excavations, libraries and rare manuscripts.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions and withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city.

Currently, the work is underway to restore Azerbaijan's liberated lands. Azerbaijan will rebuild its recently liberated areas in four stages. The initial stage includes the solution of the issues of governance and security, infrastructure, while the subsequent stages include the solution of the issues of social services activities, reconstruction, and development of the economy.

--