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ARMENIAN HERITAGE, CULTURE AND HISTORY BEING DISTORTED IN AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIAN FM TELLS UNESCO
20:08 11.11.2013
Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, UNESCO
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia participated in 37th session
of UNESCO General Conference which is dedicated to summarizing the
work of the Organization during the last two years and discussing
the main directions of the upcoming activities.
In his statement Minister Nalbandian particularly mentioned that
Armenia attaches great importance to the goal of UNESCO in encouraging
intercultural dialogue, understanding and tolerance. Minister
Nalbandian stated: "Since last May Armenia has assumed the Chairmanship
of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe making fight
against xenophobia, hate-speech and intolerance its key priorities.
In an era when the protection and promotion of human rights are
considered to be the underpinning concept for the civilized world,
intolerance towards the values of civilization belonging to others,
damaging or destroying cultural or religious heritage intentionally,
consistently, repeatedly, must be condemned with the same resolve
and determination as violence against people."
As the Minister noted the destruction by Azerbaijanis in Nakhijevan of
thousands of delicately carved cross stones by the Armenian masters,
dating from the 9th to the 16th centuries, is a vivid manifestation of
such crime. "Several thousands of these giant medieval sculptures were
bulldozed under the Azerbaijani government's watchful eyes and this
area was turned into a military ground in a government sanctioned
operation. The 16th International Council on Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS) General Assembly resolution regretfully stated with regard to
this vandalism: "this heritage that once enjoyed its worthy place among
the treasures of the world's heritage can no longer be transmitted
today to future generations.
Our numerous calls for sending international fact-finding missions
to Nakhijevan, as well as attempts by a number of international
organizations and countries have been either ignored or rejected
by the Azerbaijani side."- Minister Nalbandian stressed. "The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNESCO Convention
against Discrimination in Education state that "Education shall
promote understanding,
tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious
groups". Taking into consideration UNESCO's unique role in the sphere
of education, we call upon the Organization to create within its
educational programs some sort of an overview mechanism that will
examine and evaluate the textbooks of the member-states, especially
history and social sciences textbooks, with a special emphasis on
exclusion of racism or xenophobia.
The Armenian heritage, culture and history, after lasting continuously
for more than thirty centuries are nowadays being distorted and
altered in Azerbaijan. In this country the rewriting of its history is
continued by means of misappropriation or annihilation of the traces
of other cultures on their territory, or even more, by privatizing the
cultural heritage of the neighboring nations. A country that appeared
on the political map of the world less than a hundred years ago has
territorial and cultural claims towards a country and a people the
several millenniums' history of which is recorded from the ancient
times,"- the Foreign Minister stated.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/11/11/armenian-heritage-culture-and-history-being-distorted-in-azerbaijan-armenian-fm-tells-unesco/
From: Baghdasarian
20:08 11.11.2013
Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, UNESCO
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia participated in 37th session
of UNESCO General Conference which is dedicated to summarizing the
work of the Organization during the last two years and discussing
the main directions of the upcoming activities.
In his statement Minister Nalbandian particularly mentioned that
Armenia attaches great importance to the goal of UNESCO in encouraging
intercultural dialogue, understanding and tolerance. Minister
Nalbandian stated: "Since last May Armenia has assumed the Chairmanship
of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe making fight
against xenophobia, hate-speech and intolerance its key priorities.
In an era when the protection and promotion of human rights are
considered to be the underpinning concept for the civilized world,
intolerance towards the values of civilization belonging to others,
damaging or destroying cultural or religious heritage intentionally,
consistently, repeatedly, must be condemned with the same resolve
and determination as violence against people."
As the Minister noted the destruction by Azerbaijanis in Nakhijevan of
thousands of delicately carved cross stones by the Armenian masters,
dating from the 9th to the 16th centuries, is a vivid manifestation of
such crime. "Several thousands of these giant medieval sculptures were
bulldozed under the Azerbaijani government's watchful eyes and this
area was turned into a military ground in a government sanctioned
operation. The 16th International Council on Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS) General Assembly resolution regretfully stated with regard to
this vandalism: "this heritage that once enjoyed its worthy place among
the treasures of the world's heritage can no longer be transmitted
today to future generations.
Our numerous calls for sending international fact-finding missions
to Nakhijevan, as well as attempts by a number of international
organizations and countries have been either ignored or rejected
by the Azerbaijani side."- Minister Nalbandian stressed. "The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNESCO Convention
against Discrimination in Education state that "Education shall
promote understanding,
tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious
groups". Taking into consideration UNESCO's unique role in the sphere
of education, we call upon the Organization to create within its
educational programs some sort of an overview mechanism that will
examine and evaluate the textbooks of the member-states, especially
history and social sciences textbooks, with a special emphasis on
exclusion of racism or xenophobia.
The Armenian heritage, culture and history, after lasting continuously
for more than thirty centuries are nowadays being distorted and
altered in Azerbaijan. In this country the rewriting of its history is
continued by means of misappropriation or annihilation of the traces
of other cultures on their territory, or even more, by privatizing the
cultural heritage of the neighboring nations. A country that appeared
on the political map of the world less than a hundred years ago has
territorial and cultural claims towards a country and a people the
several millenniums' history of which is recorded from the ancient
times,"- the Foreign Minister stated.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/11/11/armenian-heritage-culture-and-history-being-distorted-in-azerbaijan-armenian-fm-tells-unesco/
From: Baghdasarian