Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Armenians have destroyed 927 libraries in the occupied Azerbaijani territories as part of the purposeful policy to annihilate neighboring the history and culture of the Land of Fire.

Azerbaijan’s cultural and spiritual heritage is constantly exposed to aggression by the Armenians.

After occupying 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territories, Armenia pursues a policy of vandalism against Azerbaijan’s historical, material and cultural heritage on its own territory and on occupied Azerbaijani lands.

"Armenians destroyed 4.6 million copies of books and valuable manuscripts in 927 libraries," Chairman of Copyright Agency Kamran Imanov said on November 30 at the international seminar on “Limitations and exceptions for libraries, archives and educational institutions” in Baku.

Imanov went on to add that Azerbaijan’s Intellectual Property Rights were violated by Armenians.

He noted that the occupiers are unaware of the notion of culture, and destructed Azerbaijan’s tangible and intangible heritage. "Armenian invaders continue to plunder Azerbaijan's cultural heritage."

Moreover, nine mosques, 44 shrines, 464 historical monuments and museums, over 40,000 museum pieces were looted, destroyed and crushed on the occupied territories.

The aggressor continues to actively falsify and annihilate Azerbaijan’s historical and cultural heritage in the occupied territories.

The damages caused by Armenia during the years of occupation of Azerbaijani lands hit about $818 billion, according to the latest calculations showed in the report.

The destruction and damaging of historical and cultural monuments by the Armenian invaders in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan contradict the 1954 Hague convention on preservation of cultural values during armed conflicts, the 1992 European convention on preservation of archeological heritage, and the 1972 UNESCO convention on preservation of world cultural and natural heritage.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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