24 November 2020, 18:28
Azerbaijan and Russia call on UNESCO to protect monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh
In the territories transferred to Azerbaijan, more than half of the historical monuments are destroyed, the acting Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan reports. He has urged UNESCO to protect Islamic and Christian cultural monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh. UNESCO should enhance its activities in the region, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) declares.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 10, the agreement signed by Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the end of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh came into force.
The "Caucasian Knot" has drafted a map to show the territories that will pass over to Azerbaijan after the autumn war. Also, the "Caucasian Knot" has published a deployment map of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In all regions of Nagorno-Karabakh, which came under the control of Azerbaijan,employees of the Ministry of Culture are engaged in examining "the state of cultural institutions and historical monuments in the liberated lands," announced Anar Kerimov, First Deputy Minister of Culture, acting as the Minister of Culture.
"During the monitoring, 67 historical monuments were discovered, 34 of which were completely destroyed," said Anar Kerimov as quoted on November 23 in a post on the Russian-language version on the website of the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan.
Anar Kerimov has emphasized that international organizations, including UNESCO, "were regularly informed about vandalism."
After the city of Shusha came under the control of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Culture "expressed the desire to include the city in the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity," Anar Kerimov added.
On November 21, after his visit to Yerevan, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated the Russian side expects that UNESCO will be more active in preserving monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the Russian Foreign Minister, he talked to the leaders of UNESCO about "the need for the organization to offer its services more proactively in terms of preserving the cultural, civilizational, and religious heritage in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. That would be a very important contribution to ensuring interfaith, interethnic reconciliation and harmony in this ancient region of the world."
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 24, 2020 at 12:13 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
