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Issue of destruction of Azerbaijani heritage in Yerevan raised at UN-VIDEO

19 October 2022 17:51 (UTC +04:00)

Attention has been drawn to the vandalism acts against Azerbaijan's historical, religious, and cultural monuments in Yerevan at the 51st general discussions session of the Human Rights Council of the UN, APA reports.

Asmita Baidya, a representative of the International Institute for Rights and Development-Geneva, IRDG, noted in her speech that an unprecedented culturicide was committed against Azerbaijani heritage in Yerevan city, where the local Azerbaijani population was deported by force in the 19-20th centuries.

IRDG representative said that cultural vandalism organized by the state in Yerevan was part of a large-scale anti-Azerbaijani campaign aimed at destroying all physical evidence that the city belongs to Azerbaijanis: "Although 310 mosques were registered in the territory of the Yerevan province (modern Yerevan) at the beginning of the 20th century, there is only one mosque-the "Goy" Mosque (Blue mosque) in the city. Despite the distortion and destruction of the mosque, the name "Goy" Mosque (Blue mosque) is called that in the Azerbaijani language".

Asmita Baidya recalled that Armenians burned the building of the "Goy" Mosque three times in the 20th century and these acts of vandalism took place in 1918, 1955, and 1988 at the same time as local Azerbaijanis were expelled from the city with special violence. Attention was drawn to the fact that Armenia leased the "Goy" Mosque (Blue mosque) to Iran for a period of 99 years.

In the end, it was noted that distortion of Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage was observed not only among mosques, but also in other artifacts belonging to our people: “These vandalism acts are a gross violation of international humanitarian law, as well as UNESCO’s Hague Convention on the protection of cultural resources during armed conflict, dated 1956, also normative acts as its two protocols, and Convention dated 1970.

IRDG representative noted that cultural distortion and human trafficking can create injustice and hatred.