Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan also violates UNESCO's values and principles grossly, said Elnur Sultanov, Ambassador-at-Large, Secretary General of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO.

He was speaking at the session of the Forum "Through the eyes of UNESCO member states" in Seoul on November 13.

Speaking about Armenian aggression against Azerbaijani people, Sultanov said that all historical and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan was destroyed as a result of the policy of cultural cleansing in the occupied territories and urged the international community to increase its efforts in this issue.

He also spoke of Azerbaijan-UNESCO relations and said that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the organization.

He also informed about the "Baku Process", underlining that the "Baku Process", which was founded in 2008 by the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev, has become a global platform for the promotion of intercultural dialogue. This year Azerbaijan celebrated the 10th anniversary of the "Baku Process".

The UNESCO Strategic Forum of 2018 was held in Seoul on November 13, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the National Commission for UNESCO. Elnur Sultanov represented Azerbaijan at the forum.

UNESCO's future action strategies and cooperation with member states were discussed at the forum.

Azerbaijan is sensitive to the issue of preserving the country’s cultural heritage. Armenia deliberately destroys cultural monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the Armenian aggressors destroyed 1,200 historical and architectural monuments, looted 27 museums, while over 100,000 items were exported to Armenia. Moreover, the Armenian occupiers destroyed 152 religious monuments and 62 mosques, 4.6 million books in 927 libraries, including the Holy Quran and rare Islamic manuscripts.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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