Tuesday, April 20 2021 11:18

ArmInfo.The representatives of the Armenian delegation to PACE drew the attention of the MEPs to the blatant actions of Azerbaijan against the Armenian prisoners and  prisoners of war, as well as the Armenian cultural and religious heritage.

Thus, the deputy of the parliamentary faction "Prosperous Armenia"  Naira Zohrabyan, during his speech at the PACE spring session, during  the discussions on the preservation of cultural and religious values,  spoke about the Azerbaijani vandalism in the Armenian settlements  that came under the control of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces after the  capitulation on November 10, noting that in the 21st century, fascist  Azerbaijan desecrates and destroys Armenian cultural monuments,  rAliyev and his wife personally instruct to destroy all traces of  Armenian origin from churches.

In this regard, Zohrabyan called on the Assembly to send an  observation mission to the Armenian settlements controlled by  Azerbaijan and to stop the cultural vandalism of the 21st century.   At the same time, she presented Aliyev's anti-Armenian statements at  the Assembly, noting that PACE should silence Aliyev.

She also pointed to the imperative of preserving the identity of  national minorities and protecting human rights in unrecognized  States, as well as protecting cultural and religious values.

"Today I will talk about Artsakh, a significant part of which, under  the agreement of November 10, came under the control of Azerbaijan.   Today I will sound another signal in connection with the destruction  of centuries-old Armenian cultural monuments in Artsakh-churches,  khachkars, monasteries, vandalism, and I will address our assembly to  form an observation mission, visit the Armenian settlements under the  control of Azerbaijan and see what state the Armenian cultural  heritage is in.

Immediately after the signing of the agreement of November 10,  Azerbaijani militants desecrated the monument to the victims of the  Armenian Genocide in Shushi, desecrated the Green Church in Shushi,  twice targeted the Kazanchetsots Church during the war, a few days  ago, the BBC published a report in which a journalist investigated  the disappearance of the Surb Zoravor Church in the village of  Mehakavan (Jabrayil). We all saw Aliev and his wife in front of the  cameras ordering the Armenian-language inscriptions to be erased from  the Armenian churches. And all this is happening in the 21st century,  " Naira Zohrabyan said.

Zohrabyan stressed that in the Armenian settlements under the control  of Azerbaijan, the Armenian cultural heritage, which is part of the  world culture, is under threat - hundreds of churches, monasteries,  shrines, and khachkars. She drew attention to the fact that the  Azerbaijani generation, which grew up with hatred for Armenians,  desecrates these monuments with shouts of delight and distributes  video materials on the world Wide Web.

"This vandalism must be stopped. Otherwise, it will be too late, as  it was too late in the case of the destruction of medieval Armenian  khachkars in the village of Julfa in Nakhichevan, when while we were  thinking about what to do, the Azerbaijanis leveled these exceptional  monuments of world culture, " Zohrabyan concluded.

In his turn, the leader of the "Enlightened Armenia" Edmon Marukyan  touched upon the trophy park opened in Baku.

He noted that on April 12, an hour-long report on the museum  dedicated to the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh was shown on  Azerbaijani state television. The Armenian debutant drew attention to  the fact that in this terrorist demonstration, Azerbaijani President  Ilham Aliyev, in military uniform, proudly walked around the park  between the presented Armenian military equipment and wax figures  representing Armenian soldiers in a degrading form.

He also noted that the central part of the so-called trophy park was  a long corridor lined with the helmets of the killed and captured  Armenian soldiers.

"All this happened not somewhere, but in one of the member states of  the Council of Europe-Azerbaijan. Let me remind you that Azerbaijan  is a country that continues to illegally hold more than 200 Armenian  prisoners of war and civilians, " Marukyan said, while showing  footage from the trophy park, where the Armenian military is  represented in humiliating forms.

"In one of the photos, an Azerbaijani child plays with a racist dummy  of an Armenian soldier who was probably tortured in an Azerbaijani  prison.

These photos show that there is a systemic racial hatred against  Armenians and Armenia in Azerbaijan. There are queues to visit this  park, which is disgusting and simply unacceptable.

With these actions, Aliyev joined the list of dictators such as  Hitler and Saddam Hussein. At the same time, what is happening in  Azerbaijan now reminds me of Iraq in the late 1980s, when another  dictator used the helmets of 5,000 slain Iranian soldiers on the  battlefield to complete what he called the "Victory Arch." That man  was Saddam Hussein. Like Hussein, Aliyev believes that this will help  him to glorify the army, which operates with the methods of the  terrorist organization "Islamic State".

I will note another similarity between these two dictators. Like  Hussein, Aliyev does not return prisoners of war," Marukyan stated,  adding that this so - called park clearly demonstrates the propaganda  of racial hatred at the state level in Azerbaijan and the belief that  cruelty and torture are commonplace for future generations.

"History has shown that if timely measures are not taken against  dictators to stop their aggression, it usually ceases to be a local  problem and spreads around the world.

I urge you to pay attention to these events, and I hope that urgent  measures will be taken to condemn Azerbaijan's actions. The so-called  trophy park should be closed, " Marukyan concluded.