Azerbaijan Bans International Mission from Monitoring Monuments in its Controlled Territories

Due to the military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, many Armenian spiritual and cultural monuments, which hold significant importance for Armenians, have come under the control of the adversary. In order to ensure their preservation, the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports is collaborating with both local and international organizations; however, tangible successes have yet to be achieved. UNESCO attempted to send an international observer mission to these territories, but Azerbaijan rejected the proposal.

In an interview with Armenpress, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Narine Khachatryan reported that they are working with the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purpose of monument preservation. “We have established a group with Armenian specialists living in Armenia and abroad. It includes Armenians who carry out lobbying work on international platforms, but the main organization we are addressing is UNESCO. In December, it was planned that UNESCO would send an international observer mission to the territories that are no longer under the control of Artsakh. The mission was supposed to monitor several Armenian monuments. The delegates were from Russia, the USA, France, and Italy, but Azerbaijan has forbidden them to enter the territories that have come under its control,” emphasized Khachatryan.

According to her, Azerbaijan does not provide any explanation as to why this has been done. As Khachatryan stated, there is absolutely no manifestation of goodwill from Azerbaijan. “The members of the mission are specialists. They come, see the monument, then leave, and after some time, they return to check whether this or that monument has deteriorated or not. They are not a political mission; they are professional groups, and they can also come to Artsakh to see what Azerbaijani or other religious monuments require constant monitoring,” highlighted Narine Khachatryan.