A number of public organizations and figures from Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora protested the visit of foreign diplomats to the occupied NKR.

ArmInfo.  A number of public organizations and public figures from Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora have sent a letter of protest to foreign diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Armenia over the visit of foreign diplomats to occupied Artsakh, including sites of Armenian cultural and spiritual heritage, as well as the public actions accompanying these visits.

The open letter received by ArmInfo states that diplomatic visits should not become a tool for legitimizing the consequences of the ethnic cleansing, forcible expulsion of the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh, and the ongoing destruction and appropriation of its cultural heritage.

"We consider it unacceptable for photographs and public statements by foreign representatives to create the impression of international recognition or acceptability of the situation that has developed, while more than 100,000 forcibly displaced Armenians from Artsakh are deprived of the opportunity to return to their homes, and the fate of their cultural heritage remains under threat.

Through this appeal, we demand that diplomatic missions provide an appropriate political and legal assessment of such visits, refrain from participating in actions that contribute to legitimizing this situation, and consistently raise at international forums the issues of protecting Armenian heritage and the right of the displaced Armenian population of Artsakh to return," the appeal says.

The appeal bears the signatures of 43 public organizations and 45 public figures.

It should be noted that at the end of last week it became known that representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps accredited in Baku had visited occupied Artsakh. They visited Shushi and Stepanakert, where the Azerbaijani occupying regime is erasing all Armenian presence with the silent encouragement of the so-called civilized international community. They then visited the Armenian monasteries of Dadivank and Gandzasar and listened with admiration to the tales told by Azerbaijani presidential aide Himke Dajiyev that these were allegedly Albanian sanctuaries.  The participants also included the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Magdalena Grono, who also witnessed the show staged by Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev. In particular, the latter attempted to accuse Armenia of falsifying history, choosing as his tool replicas of ancient manuscripts displayed in the museum of occupied Gandzasar.