ArmInfo.France is for the initiative to dispatch a fact- finding UNESCO mission to the region, French Ambassador to Armenia Anne Louyot told ArmInfo as she responded to a question as to whether such a mission could be expected in the near future given the fact that a relevant agreement was reached two years ago, with no progress made since, while Armenian monuments are being destroyed.
France is supportive of the initiative to dispatch a fact-finding UNESCO mission to the region, but, regrettably, decisions are not made by one country in international organizations, Ms Louyot said.
As to whether any other countries besides Azerbaijan are against dispatching a fact-finding UNESCO mission to the region, the French diplomat said that the countries in question are not so much against, but they are not neutral either.
Back on November 20, 2020, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay announced the readiness of the organization to send a mission to Karabakh to help restore the cultural and historical heritage of the region. And already in December of the same year, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO Ernesto Ottone noted that the organization "so far is only waiting for Azerbaijan's response so that UNESCO can continue to work with sending a mission." In turn, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, in a communique issued on December 22, 2020, called on UNESCO not to politicize the issue of protecting cultural heritage in Karabakh and stated that Baku "is open to a constructive dialogue to discuss the details of organizing the mission." The Russian Foreign Ministry has also repeatedly stated that Moscow is counting on the visit of a UNESCO mission to Nagorno-Karabakh in the near future. However, the issue is deliberately delayed by the Azerbaijani side and against this background, in the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, which have come under the control of Azerbaijan, acts of vandalism are being committed, Armenian cultural and historical monuments are being destroyed, and the identity of the monuments is being falsified.