EXPERT: ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES DO NOTHING TO PREVENT AZERIS' CAMPAIGN TO DESTROY ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS
arminfo
Wednesday, June 13, 20:17
After losing a war the Armenians have always paid in their culture.
More and more Armenian monuments are being destroyed outside
Armenia, particularly, in the territories occupied by the Azeris in
Nagorno-Karabakh, with nothing being done by the Armenian authorities
to prevent this, expert on monuments Samvel Karapetyan told journalists
on Wednesday.
"In the Soviet times Nagorno-Karabakh had at least 1,700 monuments,
mostly churches and monasteries, but the Azeri authorities did their
best to destroy 'the dangerous religious centers of the past.' Their
goal was to create an illusion that Nagorno-Karabakh was not part
of Armenia and was not populated by Armenians before XVIII. In the
attempt to Islamize the region, the Azeris proclaimed the remaining
monuments as belonging to the Albanians, an ancient culture whom they
allege to be their ancestors," Karapetyan said.
He said that there are just a few churches left in Nagorno-Karabakh's
part occupied by Azerbaijan, one of them dating back to XVII.
"Our authorities do not understand how important historical monuments
are. Just imagine what the Azeris would do if they had at least one
percent of the monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh," the expert said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
arminfo
Wednesday, June 13, 20:17
After losing a war the Armenians have always paid in their culture.
More and more Armenian monuments are being destroyed outside
Armenia, particularly, in the territories occupied by the Azeris in
Nagorno-Karabakh, with nothing being done by the Armenian authorities
to prevent this, expert on monuments Samvel Karapetyan told journalists
on Wednesday.
"In the Soviet times Nagorno-Karabakh had at least 1,700 monuments,
mostly churches and monasteries, but the Azeri authorities did their
best to destroy 'the dangerous religious centers of the past.' Their
goal was to create an illusion that Nagorno-Karabakh was not part
of Armenia and was not populated by Armenians before XVIII. In the
attempt to Islamize the region, the Azeris proclaimed the remaining
monuments as belonging to the Albanians, an ancient culture whom they
allege to be their ancestors," Karapetyan said.
He said that there are just a few churches left in Nagorno-Karabakh's
part occupied by Azerbaijan, one of them dating back to XVII.
"Our authorities do not understand how important historical monuments
are. Just imagine what the Azeris would do if they had at least one
percent of the monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh," the expert said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress