(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Vugar Khalilov
At every opportunity, Yerevan accuses Baku of destroying the
'Armenian cultural heritage' in Azerbaijan's liberated lands, while
disregarding its own decades-long cultural terror against its
neighbor, Azernews reports.
On June 7, during a meeting with UNESCO Deputy Director-General
for Culture Ernesto Ottone in Paris, Armenian Education and Culture
Minister Vahram Dumanyan slandered Azerbaijan, blaming it for
cultural vandalism against Armenian cultural and historical
monuments, Azernews reports.
In turn, Ottone stated that work is underway to send an expert
mission to Karabakh and the surrounding territories to investigate
the situation at the venue.
Azerbaijan has always welcomed the UNESCO technical delegation,
which is planning to visit the region. Azerbaijan and UNESCO agreed
on all preparations for it bilaterally.
Despite Azerbaijan's repeated pleas and letters to UNESCO, the
organization's mission was unable to visit the region due to
Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani lands as UNESCO said in its
2005 report.
Concerning UNESCO's mission to Armenia, the Foreign Ministry
earlier stated that Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned UNESCO and the
international community of the destruction of Azerbaijani cultural
heritage in Armenia.
During a virtual conference on February 4, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev, French President Emanuel Macron, European Council
President Charles Michel, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan achieved an agreement on UNESCO missions to be sent to
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Azerbaijani NGOs, on the other hand, have provided UNESCO with
substantial information on the damage, as well as pictures and
other documentation about the purposeful policy implemented by
Armenia to destroy the centuries-old cultural legacy of
Azerbaijanis in Armenia.
Azerbaijani NGO leaders have asked UNESCO Director-General
Audrey Azoulay to send an expert group to Armenia to assess the
current state of Azerbaijan's centuries-old cultural and historical
heritage but to no avail.
Armenia committed ethnic-cultural genocide as well as ethnic
cleansing against Azerbaijanis. There were no Azerbaijanis left in
Armenia as a result of the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from
their ancestral regions in the early 20th century. Over 250,000
Azerbaijanis were expelled from their own homes and became refugees
as a result of the final deportation in 1988 alone.
By pursuing a policy of both ethnic and cultural genocide,
Armenia has purposefully erased all traces of Azerbaijanis, the
historical and ancient residents of these territories, plundered,
destroyed, embezzled, and distorted the Azerbaijani people's
cultural legacy. At the same time, ancient place names in these
areas were changed to Armenian ones.
“We provided a number of proofs in our earlier appeals to
UNESCO. For example, along with other proofs, we have emphasized
that the Blue Mosque, the Gala Mosque, the Shah Abbas Mosque, the
Tapabashi Mosque, the Zal Khan Mosque, the Sartib Khan Mosque, the
Haji Novruzali Bay Mosque, the Damirbulagh Mosque, the Haji Jafar
Bay Mosque, the Rajab Pasha Mosque, the Mohammad Sartib Khan
Mosque, the Haji Inam Mosque and more than 300 other mosques
located in Armenia were deliberately destroyed, misappropriated or
used for other purposes in the early 20th century. Only the
Damirbulagh Mosque functioned as intended until 1988, but it has
now been completely demolished and replaced by a high-rise
building,” the statement by Azerbaijani NGOs reads.
Over 500 Azerbaijani cemeteries in Armenia, such as Aghadada,
Ashaghi Shorja, Gullubulagh, and Saral have been destroyed. The
tomb of great Azerbaijani poet Ashig Alasgar, whose tombstone was
erected in his native village in the ancient Goycha district, was
also destroyed.
Armenians have destroyed virtually all religious and historical
monuments in the previously occupied territories of Azerbaijan
during the 30-year occupation. Some 65 out of 67 mosques were
destroyed, Aghdam's Juma mosque was partially preserved due to its
use by the Armenian armed forces for military purposes, and the
Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha was presented as a 'Persian'
mosque after the so-called reconstruction.
UNESCO should include evidence of Armenian vandalism against
Azerbaijani culture in its reports. Today, Azerbaijan is
experiencing double standards and the silence of international
organizations about the realities of Armenian damage to Azerbaijani
territories during the 30-year occupation.
Armenia perpetrated ethnic cleansing and genocide against the
Azerbaijani people. In addition, during the Armenian occupation,
the Azerbaijani cultural legacy, which is part of the global
cultural heritage, was exposed to genocide and damage. In occupied
territories, historical sites were destroyed and mosques were
desecrated.
Despite numerous applications to UNESCO, which supports the
preservation of world heritage and culture, Azerbaijan has gotten
no answers. Azerbaijan has applied to UNESCO on the fact that a
mission was dispatched to its former occupied lands to investigate
the facts of Armenian vandalism against its cultural heritage;
nevertheless, this agency has not taken any action.
According to Azerbaijani MP Afat Hasanova, UNESCO continues to
use double standards, failing to highlight Armenian vandalism in
its reports. This injustice must be corrected, and UNESCO must
include data about Armenian damage to Azerbaijani culture in its
reports.
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