RA MFA: Azerbaijan cannot be a guarantor of proper protection of  Armenian cultural and religious monuments

ArmInfo. The statements of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, made by him on January 13 at a meeting with ISESCO Director General Salim bin Mohammed al- Malik, once again prove the existence of a serious threat to the Armenian  cultural heritage in the territories controlled by Azerbaijan. This  state cannot be the guarantor of the proper protection of Armenian  cultural and religious monuments. This is stated in the commentary of  the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan.

The representative of the RA MFA noted that the distortion of the  originality of the Armenian heritage is an attempt at "cultural  robbery", which is also a gross violation of the relevant  international legal documents.  Thousands of Armenian religious and  secular monuments, Anna Naghdalyan continued, were created centuries  before the creation of Azerbaijan, and have nothing to do with  Azerbaijani identity. "Attempts to alienate these monuments from the  Armenian people have no historical, theological or moral  justification.  It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan also put forward a"  segregation thesis "to justify the destruction of Armenian khachkars  in Nakhichevan, which indicates the danger of the practice of  destroying original Armenian monuments. the scientific thesis about  the presentation of the Christian heritage of Armenians or other  peoples of the region as Albanians has no serious spread outside  Azerbaijan and is not perceived by the international academic  community, "the commentary says.

It is noteworthy that President Aliyev made a statement in the  presence of the Director General of the Islamic Organization for  Education, Science and Culture and tried to give a religious tone to  the issues of protecting cultural heritage. Undermining the efforts  of the international community to preserve the cultural heritage of  Artsakh, Azerbaijan continues to create problems for international  professional organizations, primarily UNESCO, to penetrate the  region, accusing them of bias. "In fact, Azerbaijan irresponsibly  exploits the religious factor in the case when Armenia has always  advocated interreligious dialogue, civilizational cooperation,  considering cultural heritage as a universal, universal value. The  preservation of many Armenian historical, cultural and religious  monuments under the control of Azerbaijan should become important  part of the peace process, given the numerous facts of systematic  destruction of the Armenian cultural and religious heritage in the  past.In this context, the leadership of Azerbaijan should immediately  put an end to attempts to appropriate, distort the identity of the  Armenian churches, at least show due respect for cultural and  religious monuments. cultural values of the Armenian people,  violation of the rights of the Armenian people does not contribute to  regional peace. Adequate protection of religious shrines can create  preconditions for peace in the region, " - stated in the commentary  of the official representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.