Baku: Armenia destroying monuments in occupied territories

By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

Dozens of religious monuments belonging to Islam and other religions have been destroyed by Armenia in Azerbaijan's occupied territories, deputy head of Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Siyavush Heydarov has said.

Heydarov noted that earlier, information surfaced that the Armenians kept cattle inise an Azerbaijani mosque.

“Armenian side is trying to hide it, sometimes imitating the repair of a number of temples. However, the international community is well informed about this. There is a sufficient amount of materials with facts that prove Armenian vandalism. They are presented to international organizations," Heydarov said.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region began in February 1988 upon Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The authorities of Azerbaijan lost control over the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding seven regions during the subsequent military conflict.

More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

At present, the negotiation process is proceeding through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1992 to find

Since 1992, negotiations have been underway for a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. In 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) on unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijan's territories.

To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.