(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Sabina Mammadli read more A research initiative Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) published
its“2nd special report: Between the Wars” covering the
crimes committed against the material and cultural heritage of
Azerbaijan starting from the First and lasting till after the
Second Karabakh Wars.
Although the report was prepared with the support of Cornell and
Purdue Universities, as well as the Ford Foundation, what should
have been an impartial view from a third party ended up being
distorted by the fact that three people of the five-person team are
Armenian of origin.
First of all, attention should be drawn to the fact that in
carrying out its research, the CHW used high-resolution American
satellite imagery from the 1980s, namely the KH-9 Hexagon platform,
which in the report's own words“provides a 'baseline' for the
condition of sites in the late Soviet period”. Taking this in mind,
the CHW, which dismisses the level of destruction to Azerbaijani
mosques and other cultural heritage, could not even determine the
true level of harm to the buildings through the use of satellite
pictures alone. Here a natural question arises: How can the
Caucasus Heritage Watch evaluate the true level of destruction to
Azerbaijani heritage in Karabakh if it dismisses the vandalism, the
desecration, and the complete raising to the ground of all the
constructions in the years of occupation?
The report also states that“of the 109 cultural heritage sites
we were able to assess for this investigation, 42 (38%) remained
structurally unchanged since the late Soviet period” and dismisses
the facts brought up by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stating
that“65 out of 67 mosques were destroyed”. Besides, the
publication goes as far as to state that“the forensic evidence
shows no attempt to systematically erase the material traces of
Azerbaijani history and cultural life”.
Perhaps, if the publication paid more attention to the reality
that is out there for anyone to see: the devastating conditions of
Aghdam, called“Hiroshima of the Caucasus” for its mass
destructions and Juma Mosque being the only building that remains
standing among the vast area of ruins. Referring to the words of
the Azerbaijani President as false, the CHW fails to notice the
real facts that over 60 mosques and about 200 shrines were
destroyed by Armenians on the territory of Azerbaijan during the
occupation. The reexamining two mosques were used as pig and cow
cowsheds throughout the occupation.
Talking about the reconstruction works carried out in
Azerbaijan's liberated territories during his visit to the city of
Salyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that“only
two mosques are being refurbished because all the remaining mosques
were razed to the ground by the Armenians”.
“Over 30 years, Armenia devastated these lands, did not leave a
single stone unturned, was engaged in looting and robbery, and was
engaged in barbarism. We, the owners of these lands, have come to
build and create. Therefore, as soon as the war ended, work was
started immediately,” the president added.
What Caucasus Heritage Watch calls“exaggerated reports and
unsupported claims of heritage destruction, " is in fact
three-decade long Armenian genocidal policy which resulted in the
decimation of some 900 cemeteries with over a million graves, the
looting and destruction of 927 libraries with 4.6 million books,
700 historical monuments, and 22 museums with 100,000 exhibits by
Armenia. Azerbaijani gravestones were even used to build stairs to
Armenian homes. Car plates of killed and displaced Azerbaijanis
were used to decorate public restrooms.
If Caucasus Heritage Watch considers this inhumanity to be
exaggerated, then the root of their“unbiased research” is clear to
all.
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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @sabinammdl