ArmInfo.Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of RA Artak Apitonyan held a video conference with the head of the Cabinet of the Director-General of UNESCO Nicolas Kassianide.
According to the press service of the Armenian foreign policy department, the interlocutors touched upon the issue of protecting the Armenian historical and religious heritage in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the importance of sending the UNESCO mission in this context to the facts.
Apitonyan stressed the urgency of the adoption of steps to protect the Armenian historical and religious heritage in the territories of Artsakh, who passed under Azerbaijani control, given the consecutive steps of Azerbaijan for deliberate destruction, desecration and distortion of the identity of Armenian monuments. The deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia touched upon the last manifestations of Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenian cultural and religious heritage. In particular, it was noted that on March 25, the BBC news service was spread throughout which clearly seen that the Armenian Church Zoravar Surb Actvatsatsin near the settlement of Mechakavan was completely destroyed.
Touching on the preparatory work of the Facts Saving Mission, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed serious concern about the policies conducted by Azerbaijan on preventing the effective involvement of UNESCO in this regard.
The unacceptable attempts of Azerbaijan speculation and excessive politicization of this issue were emphasized. The importance of sending a mission in the format was re-announced by the Director General of UNESCO and confirmed in the statement of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention. It should be noted that on the eve the BBC correspondent John Fisher, who decided to find out where the Armenian Church of Zoravar Surb Actvatsatsin disappeared in the Karabakh village of Mechakavan (Dzhabrail), which after the completion of the hostilities was safe.
So, in the report, it can be seen that the church did not suffer when the territory passed under the control of Azerbaijan. However, in fact, today, where the church was standing, only ruins remained. Adequate answer to the question where the church is being done, they did not give in Azerbaijan. The head of theStaff of the President of rAzerbaijan Hickmet Hajiyev justified the destruction of the church by the fact that it is a new one. You can see the videos from the following link: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fbriefing-room%2Fstatements-releases%2F2021%2F03%2F25%2Fpresident-biden-participates-in-european-council-summit%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2pu-6r2pJtc2w2RLS7gH8Bc6-aKjUIciVpxj8byBt1jZ7VdrZLbKW115Q&h=AT1T_LEpb7yu2M5a8HBH0DA2EwNY2zqOZipA1SyOKeFJ5G0_fJrCOv23M1UywaGPFFV1itUehGlbrz9DkTPbsKp2JUVhVGKs743GJnn9oXZjBDAkr_alqEA1tOBj_lKWRf1G
Note that on November 20, 2020, UNESCO CEO Azul reported on the readiness of the organization to send a mission to Karabakh to help in the restoration of the cultural and historical heritage of the region. Last December, Deputy General Director of UNESCO Ernesto Otton noted that the organization "is still awaiting the answer of Azerbaijan, so that UNESCO can continue working with the direction of the mission in the field. "In turn, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in the Communic Commanded on December 22, did not polish the issue of protecting the cultural heritage in Karabakh and stated that Baku" is ropen to a constructive dialogue for discussing the details of the Mission Organization ".
The Russian Foreign Ministry has also repeatedly stated that Moscow is counting on the visit of the UNESCO Mission to Nagorno-Karabakh in the near future. However, the question is deliberately delayed by the Azerbaijani side, and in this background, in the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, the acts of vandalism were performed in the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian cultural and historical monuments are destroyed