(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 3. Hundreds of mosques,
shrines, and cemeteries on Azerbaijani then-occupied territories
were looted, vandalized, desecrated, and destroyed while under
Armenian occupation, the US State Department's report said,
Trend reports.
The report noted that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe stated that“the long-running conflict has had a
catastrophic impact on the cultural heritage and property of the
region.”
“The assembly condemned the damage and destruction for which it
said Armenia was responsible in the areas previously controlled by
Armenia-supported separatists, which became again under Azerbaijani
control, and in particular the almost total destruction and looting
of Aghdam, Fuzuli, and other areas over the last 30 years, as well
as the transfer of cultural heritage,” the report said.
The report noted that the systematic destruction of dozens of
Azerbaijani cemeteries in Fuzuli, Aghdam, Zangilan, Kalbajar, and
Jabrayil was documented.
“Graves were desecrated; in some instances, holes were dug out
to rob graves, while other sites showed evidence of the destruction
and exhumation by heavy construction equipment. The methodical
vandalism of headstones left few individual graves untouched. Many
graves had the carefully hewn faces of the deceased (carved into
gravestones) destroyed by hammers or similar objects,” the report
said.
Additionally, the report said, the remains from Azerbaijani
graves were exhumed and gold teeth removed, leaving skulls and
bones strewn across Azerbaijani cemeteries or in some cases
completely removed.
“Armenian graves remained virtually undisturbed. According to
civil society representatives, the United Nations Development
Program, and the Azerbaijani government, extensive mining of the
territories returned to Azerbaijan made it impossible to access a
vast majority of hundreds of religious sites in towns and villages,
and the extent of any damage to these sites might remain unknown,”
the report said.
Examples of known damage to significant religious sites include
the 19th-century Haji Alakbar Mosque in Fuzuli District, which was
destroyed, and the Juma Mosque in Aghdam, which was vandalized with
Armenian-language graffiti and whose mehrab (the niche in the wall
that indicates the direction of Mecca) was riddled with bullet
holes. Cemeteries throughout Aghdam were desecrated, looted, and/or
destroyed, including the sacred and historic 18th-century tombs of
Imarat Garvand Cemetery, the city's“Martyrs' Alley.”
“Western diplomats visiting Martyrs' Alley reported seeing holes
where bodies were once interred and that only one broken headstone
remained in the cemetery. Because religion and ethnicity are
closely linked, it is difficult to categorize many incidents as
being solely based on religious identity,” the report said.
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