Azerbaijan continues realization of its long-established policy of ethnic cleansing, keeping the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor closed for a long time and violating a number of rights of Armenians of Artsakh (including the fundamental right to education and cultural life). And instead of restoring the rights of Armenians of Artsakh, the state officials of Azerbaijan continue to violate them and bring charges against Armenians on international platforms.

In particular, the delegation led by the head of the State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, Azad Jafarli, participated in the 17th session of the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, held in Paris on December 15-16. Azerbaijan, as a member of the Committee (2021-2025), having the opportunity to speak, did not miss the opportunity to discredit Armenians and make repeated accusations related to the cultural property allegedly destroyed by Armenians.

He also emphasized that the mines planted by Armenia are the main obstacle to the preliminary inventory and monitoring of these monuments, as well as the preservation and restoration of the existing monuments. Among the issues related to the implementation of the provisions of the Second Protocol of the Hague Convention of 1954, the adoption of changes in the mechanisms of monitoring and control, the protection of cultural resources and the protection of cultural heritage in Ukraine, the issue of territories mined by Armenia was also discussed, as was mentioned in media.

Our response

Azerbaijani state officials, the representatives of the sphere of culture, continue to slander Armenia and talk about the need to protect cultural values in the highest international instances. Pointing to international conventions, Azerbaijan itself has repeatedly violated the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the provisions of the protocols attached to it, to which it is a party. It is worth highlighting the fact that, according to the report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan dated June 3, 2021, at the initiative of the Russian Federation, Armenia handed the map of the location of 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in the Fizuli and Zangilan regions to the Azerbaijani side. And the representative of Azerbaijan in The Hague court stated that Armenia provided them with information about the points where about 189 thousand mines were planted. All this allows us to conclude that the accusations against Armenia and the Armenian people made during the UNESCO session are part of the policy of ethnic cleansing, the purpose of which is to slander and discredit Armenians.