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Abulfas Garayev: â€œ25 schools of music, four art galleries, about 40 000 museum exhibits of Azerbaijan were destroyed during the Nagorno Karabakh conflictâ€ - PHOTO

27 January 2010 10:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ulkar Gasimova â€“ APA. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have organized a conference on â€œProtection of cultural values during the armed conflictsâ€ at the Museum Center in Baku on January 27. According to APA, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev addressed the conference. He noted that experts from six countries are attending the conference. The minister said 25 schools of music, four art galleries, about 40 000 museum exhibits of Azerbaijan were destroyed during the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The minister said a round table was creating opportunity for the participants to share their ideas and experiences gained during the implementation of 1954 Hague Convention on Protection of Cultural Values during Armed Conflicts and two Additional Protocols. Azerbaijan joined Hague Convention and Protocol I in 1993 and Protocol II in 2000.

â€œWe have always to review state of Azerbaijani cultural heritage in the occupied territories and outside of the countryâ€, said the minister and appreciated the conferenceâ€™s role in this field.

Head of ICRC mission in Azerbaijan Tun Vandenhove also welcomed the conference. Head of ICRC operations for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Pascale Meige Wagner said regulations of protection of cultural heritage during the armed conflicts were part of international law and the conference would create opportunity to search ways for evaluation of observing these regulations.

The conference is continuing its work.