Armenian Cultural Heritage Under Serious Threat in Areas Under Azerbaijani Control, Says Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson

The spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Anna Naghdalyan, addressed the statements made by the President of Azerbaijan during a meeting with the Director General of UNESCO, Lazhar Ben Mohamed Ben Ali.

“The statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on January 13 during a meeting with UNESCO Director General Salim bin Mohamed al-Malik once again demonstrate that Armenian cultural heritage in areas under Azerbaijani control is under serious threat, and that this state cannot be a guarantor for the proper preservation of cultural and religious monuments. The distortion of Armenian heritage is an attempt at 'cultural looting,' which also constitutes a gross violation of relevant international legal instruments. Thousands of Armenian religious and secular monuments were created centuries before Azerbaijan's establishment and have no connection to Azerbaijani identity. The attempts to alienate these monuments from the Armenian people have no historical, doctrinal, or moral justification.

Notably, the 'Aghvanization thesis' has been put forward by Azerbaijan to justify the destruction of Armenian khachkars in Nakhchivan, indicating the dangerous practice of eliminating and distorting the identity of Armenian monuments. The false academic thesis of portraying Armenian or other regional Christian heritage as Aghvan has no serious circulation outside Azerbaijan and is not comprehensible to the international academic community.

It is also significant that President Aliyev made his statement in the presence of the Director General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for Education, Science, and Culture, attempting to imbue the issue of cultural heritage preservation with a religious hue. By undermining the international community's efforts aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of Artsakh, Azerbaijan creates ongoing challenges for international professional institutions, primarily UNESCO, accusing them of bias. In reality, Azerbaijan irresponsibly exploits the religious factor, while Armenia has consistently promoted inter-religious dialogue and civilizational cooperation, considering cultural heritage as a universal and global value.

The preservation of numerous Armenian historical and cultural sites, now found under Azerbaijani control, must be an essential part of a peaceful process, given the numerous past facts of systematic destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage. In this context, Azerbaijani leadership and its state propaganda machine should urgently put an end to the condemnable approach of appropriating and distorting the identity of Armenian churches and at least demonstrate proper respect for cultural and religious monuments.

The appropriation or distortion of the cultural values of the Armenian people, as well as the violation of the rights of the Armenian people, do not contribute to regional peace. In this regard, the proper preservation of religious shrines from both physical and spiritual perspectives can create conditions for peace in the region.”