Destruction of Azerbaijani monuments in occupied territories by Armenia debated at UNESCO

Azerbaijan's Permanent Representative to UNESCO Eleonora Huseynova drew attention to the ongoing Armenian occupation of the originally Azerbaijani lands at the 36th session of UNESCO General Conference held on Oct. 29 in Paris.

She stressed that this occupation led to the destruction of historical and cultural monuments of Azerbaijan, transformation of the occupied lands in the uncontrolled territory to engage in the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and human organs, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said.

In response to the speech of Armenia Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who accused the neighboring countries in the destruction of Armenian heritage, Huseynova recalled the Armenian leader's racist statements on the ethnic incompatibility of the two peoples and stressed that Armenia pursues hostile and aggressive policy towards Azerbaijan.

Nine centralized library systems, 927 libraries and 4.6 million books stored in them have been plundered and destroyed in Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. Some 22 museums, which contained over 100,000 exhibits, 808 clubs, four theaters and two concert halls, eight amusement parks, four art galleries and 85 music schools have left in the occupied territories.


/Trend/