(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 21. As humanity
celebrates today World Poetry Day, and on the auspicious occasion
of Novruz - a holiday imbued with the values of peace,
reconciliation, and humanism - Azerbaijanis displaced from Western
Azerbaijan hold a special appreciation in their hearts, trend reports via the
statement of the Community of Western Azerbaijan.
Today marks the birth anniversary of Ashiq Alasgar, a luminary
of Azerbaijani poetry and a shining embodiment of Goycha ashiq
school.
Born in 1821 in Aghkilsa village of the Goycha District of
Iravan Khanate, Ashiq Alasgar honed his craft under the tutelage of
Ashiq Ali, another great master of the Goycha ashiq school.
'With his unparalleled artistic and aesthetic mastery, Ashiq
Alasgar breathed new life into the millennia-old traditions of
ashiq art, creating works that harmoniously reflected the spirit of
his people. His deeply evocative and patriotic creativity, infused
with a love for his mother language and native nature, stands as a
shining testament to the limitless possibilities of expression. His
literary contributions, characterized by philosophical depth and
poetic lyricism, have become an integral part of the canon of
Azerbaijani literature,' said the statement.
According to the Community, Ashiq Alasgar formed a school of
devoted and talented students, and his legacy inspired future
generations of celebrated poets, writers and readers alike. His
poetry helped Azerbaijani Ashiq art earn a place on the list of
protected world intangible cultural heritage.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of National Leader Heydar Aliyev,
the rich poetic heritage of Ashiq Alasgar has been extensively
promoted. Celebrations of the artist's 150th jubilee were held at
the highest levels of state, and a monument was erected to honor
his memory in the village where he was born, located in the Goycha
district of Western Azerbaijan.
The celebration of the 200th anniversary of Ashiq Alasgar by the
Decree of Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, the inclusion of Ashiq art in the list of the
intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO at the initiative of First
Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva played a crucial role in
perpetuating Ashiq Alasgar's work as the universal value.
'However, with a heavy heart, it should be noted that the
Armenian government destroyed Ashiq Alasgar's monument, as well as
most of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage left there. While we, the
Azerbaijanis who were expelled from Armenia, celebrate Ashiq
Alasgar's birthday as a day of cherishing his legacy as the
universal treasure, we also mourn on this day our destroyed
cultural heritage in Western Azerbaijan,' the statement said.
'We are still unable to visit Ashiq Alasgar's tomb, nor any of
our other cultural heritage sites, holy places, and cemeteries that
we had to leave behind in Armenia. Our pleas to the international
community for access to these sites remained unanswered. We are
still waiting for an answer to our appeal to Charles Michel, the
President of the Council of the European Union, which sent a
mandated mission to Armenia to implement confidence-building
measures
Repeated appeals by the Azerbaijani public to UNESCO requesting
the latter to send a mission to Armenia to monitor the state of the
Azerbaijani cultural heritage there, remain unanswered.
Armenia's ethnic cleansing has not only caused damage to
Azerbaijan's cultural monuments but also its intangible heritage
such as the art of Ashiq, which is recognized by UNESCO as the
cultural heritage of humanity. Therefore, facilitating the safe and
dignified return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia is a task
for mankind in terms of restoration and safeguarding the cultural
heritage that has been destroyed and endangered by Armenia.
'Considering all these, we renew our appeal to the international
community to help the Azerbaijanis expelled from the territory of
Armenia to return to their homes in a safe and dignified manner
within the framework of the international process and to ensure
their individual and collective rights after returning, as well as
to assist in restoring the destroyed Azerbaijani cultural heritage
there,' the statement added.
In addition, the Community demands that the Armenian government
immediately stop the destruction of Azerbaijani cultural heritage
there.
The Community also calls on UNESCO to assess the state of
cultural heritage belonging to Azerbaijanis on the territory of
Armenia, including the preparation of a list of the pieces of
cultural heritage that have been damaged and obliterated, and to
ensure that the Armenian government fulfills its obligation to
restore and protect them.
