The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the UN Anthony Guteros and the Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azulai in connection with the systematic and deliberate destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage of the Republic of Armenian cultural heritage at the territory of the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is a gross violation of international law.
According to the press service of the Artsakh Foreign Ministry, in the letters detail the facts of consistent committed by the authorities of Azerbaijan of such crimes aimed at partial or complete destruction of any evidence of the presence of Armenians on the territories controlled by Azerbaijan both during the existence of the USSR and in subsequent years are presented.
In particular, intentional destruction in 1997-2006 is mentioned as the most tragic fact in the practice of destroying Armenian cultural heritage. Several thousand medieval Khachkarov of the Armenian cemetery in Old Juga (Julf) in Nakhijevan.
In the letters it is also reported that in the Soviet period and during military aggression against the Republic of Artsakh in 1992-1994. The Azerbaijani authorities were completely destroyed by 167 Armenian churches, 8 monastic complexes and 123 cemeteries. Over the same period, about 2,500 Armenian khachkarov and more than 10,000 Armenian tombstones were destroyed and used as a building material.
The minister emphasizes that such a policy of Azerbaijan has gained a more intensive nature during the unleashed September 272020. Military aggression against the Republic of Artsakh continues to this day, which represents a real threat to complete destruction in the near future of Armenian cultural heritage in the territories under the Azerbaijani military occupation.
In particular, attention is paid to the fact of applying two deliberate blows by unmanned lethalms of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan at the Shushinsk Church of St. Jasanchezzoke. It is also indicated by the deliberate destruction of Azerbaijani Armenian monuments and artifacts with servicemen, as evidenced by numerous video and photographic materials.
Foreign Minister urged managers of international organizations to take effective measures to protect monuments of Armenian historical, spiritual and cultural heritage and demand from the Azerbaijani authorities to respect and fulfill their obligations to preserve the currently under their control of the Armenian cultural heritage and abandon their notorious policies Destruction.
Letters were also applied by the Office of the Office of Human Rights of the Republic of Artsakh, a report on acts of vandalism against Armenian cultural heritage in the territories occupied by the Republic of Azerbaijan and the threat of the destruction of Armenian monuments.