Azerbaijan Continues to Block UNESCO Mission to Artsakh: Foreign Ministry Statement

Azerbaijan continues to obstruct the initiative to send a UNESCO mission to Artsakh. This information was provided by the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to a query from Sputnik Armenia.

The Foreign Ministry stated that since Azerbaijan's large-scale attack on Artsakh in 2020, Armenia has consistently raised the issue of protecting Armenian cultural and religious heritage in international specialized organizations, including UNESCO.

In November 2020, Armenia supported the initiative of the UNESCO Director-General to send an expert group to Artsakh and was actively involved in the process of organizing the mission as quickly as possible.

“However, Azerbaijan continues to block the initiative to send the UNESCO mission to Artsakh,” the ministry noted.

“Azerbaijan's destructive stance on the UNESCO expert mission contradicts all international conventions in the field of cultural heritage protection, including the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict,” emphasized the Foreign Ministry.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that Baku's stance violates the ruling of the International Court of Justice on December 7, 2021, which obliges Azerbaijan to “take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and destruction directed against Armenian cultural heritage, including churches and other places of worship, monuments, sites, cemeteries, and artifacts.”