Culture minister calls for UNESCO technical mission to Azerbaijan's Karabakh

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani Culture Minister Anar Karimov has addressed the UNESCO-MONDIACULT 2022 World Conference in Mexico, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

The main goal of the conference is to shape a more robust and resilient cultural sector, fully anchored in the perspectives of sustainable development as well as promotion of solidarity, peace, and security, in line with the vision enshrined in the UN Secretary-General's report "Our Common Agenda" (September 2021), which refers to culture as a global public good, for the good of us all.

In his speech, the minister drew the participants' attention to the ethnocultural genocide (ethnocide) committed by Armenia in Azerbaijan's formerly occupied territories for nearly 30 years.

Many mosques, historical monuments, and various cultural institutions were completely destroyed as a result of unprecedented systematic and purposeful actions against the Azerbaijan's cultural heritage during the Armenian occupation.

He emphasized that those acts of genocide against Azerbaijani historical and cultural heritage were met with silence by international organizations.

Karimov noted that after liberating its lands from occupation, Azerbaijan started large-scale restoration, including the restoration of cultural heritage.

In this regard, the minister said that the cultural heritage located in the territory of Azerbaijan reflects the cultural diversity of the country and expressed the importance of protecting and restoring all cultural and religious monuments, regardless of their origin.

Anar Karimov appealed to UNESCO for a technical mission to be dispatched to Karabakh.

He mentioned that the global campaign can be applied as a model of promoting peace in the existing post-conflict situations in different regions of the world.

During the session, Minister Karimov as the representative of Azerbaijan, chairing the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), made a statement on behalf of the NAM member states. In the statement, the UN countries condemn all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance, and noted the importance of national, regional, and international initiatives for the protection of cultural properties.