(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Sabina Mammadli
Azerbaijani Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva called on
international and national communities to take legal responsibility
against Armenia in regard to the destruction of Azerbaijani graves
in the liberated Zangilan District, Azernews reports per
Ombudswoman's Office.
A video of deliberately destroyed by Armenians of Azerbaijani
graves and tombstones in a cemetery was posted on social networks,
the statement elaborated.
“We strongly condemn the destruction and desecration of
religious monuments and cemeteries in the liberated territories of
Azerbaijan, as well as the mining of these territories, and once
again call on regional and international organizations, and
national human rights institutions to take the necessary measures
to establish international legal responsibility against the
military and political leadership of Armenia guilty of committing
such numerous acts of vandalism,” the ombudswoman said.
Further, she stated that all these facts convincingly prove that
Armenia's military-political leadership carries out a policy of
hatred, enmity, intolerance, and vandalism against Azerbaijan on
ethnic and religious grounds for many years.
She pointed out that the brutal destruction of the graves of
Azerbaijanis is a gross violation of the requirements of the 1954
Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in Time of
Armed Conflict, the 1972 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage, and the 1954 European Cultural
Convention.
During Armenia's three-decade-long occupation, some 900
cemeteries with over a million graves were decimated. Azerbaijani
gravestones were even used to build stairs to Armenian homes. Car
plates of killed and displaced Azerbaijanis were used to decorate
public restrooms. Overall, during the 30-year-long occupation 927
libraries with 4.6 million books, 700 historical monuments, and 22
museums with 100,000 exhibits were looted and destroyed by Armenia.
The latter looted and erased more heritage than ISIS terrorists in
Iraq and Syria. It is the worst cultural genocide of the XXI
century, the ombudswoman said.
To erase all traces of Azerbaijani culture and history, Armenia
systematically destroyed cultural and historical monuments. Out of
67 mosques, 65 were desecrated and destroyed. Many mosques were
turned into pigsties and cowsheds like the Juma Mosque of Agdam
(1870), Zangilan Mosque (17th century), and Marmar Mosque (18th
century) in Gubadli.
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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @sabinammdl
Follow us on Twitter @azernewsaz
Tags: destruction of historical monuments ombudsman armenian vandalism
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