Azernews.Az

By Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva called on international and national communities to take legal responsibility against Armenia in regard to the destruction of Azerbaijani graves in the liberated Zangilan District, Azernews reports per Ombudswoman’s Office.

A video of deliberately destroyed by Armenians of Azerbaijani graves and tombstones in a cemetery was posted on social networks, the statement elaborated.

“We strongly condemn the destruction and desecration of religious monuments and cemeteries in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the mining of these territories, and once again call on regional and international organizations, and national human rights institutions to take the necessary measures to establish international legal responsibility against the military and political leadership of Armenia guilty of committing such numerous acts of vandalism,” the ombudswoman said.

Further, she stated that all these facts convincingly prove that Armenia's military-political leadership carries out a policy of hatred, enmity, intolerance, and vandalism against Azerbaijan on ethnic and religious grounds for many years.

She pointed out that the brutal destruction of the graves of Azerbaijanis is a gross violation of the requirements of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in Time of Armed Conflict, the 1972 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, and the 1954 European Cultural Convention.

During Armenia's three-decade-long occupation, some 900 cemeteries with over a million graves were decimated. Azerbaijani gravestones were even used to build stairs to Armenian homes. Car plates of killed and displaced Azerbaijanis were used to decorate public restrooms. Overall, during the 30-year-long occupation 927 libraries with 4.6 million books, 700 historical monuments, and 22 museums with 100,000 exhibits were looted and destroyed by Armenia. The latter looted and erased more heritage than ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria. It is the worst cultural genocide of the XXI century, the ombudswoman said.

To erase all traces of Azerbaijani culture and history, Armenia systematically destroyed cultural and historical monuments. Out of 67 mosques, 65 were desecrated and destroyed. Many mosques were turned into pigsties and cowsheds like the Juma Mosque of Agdam (1870), Zangilan Mosque (17th century), and Marmar Mosque (18th century) in Gubadli.

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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SabinaMmdl

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