Azerbaijan, Baku, 26 August/ Trend , corr I/. Alizade/ Samad Seyidov, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to Parliament Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) and vice president of the Organization stated that it is important to study the condition of the Azerbaijani monuments destroyed by Armenians in the occupied land of Azerbaijan.
"The Azerbaijani delegation to PACE supports study of these monuments' conditions by the Council of Europe," Seyidov said to media on 6 August.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts.
The Armenia armed forces have destroyed 1,421 cultural houses, 15 clubs in towns and 503 in rural areas, 8 libraries in regions, 32 in towns, 683 in rural areas and 10 libraries for children, 6 resort parks, 4 music schools for children, 3 theatres, 3 galleries, 464 historical monuments, about 40,000 historical handcrafts and 4.6mln books in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
He said that experts send by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe held meetings in Foreign Ministry, Culture and Tourism Ministry and also with the MPs.
"The culture ministers of the Council of Europe are expected to meet at the end of the year. I think it is important to discuss the Azerbaijani monuments destroyed by Armenians and to shape unbiased opinion toward it in the meeting of ministers. This issue will be cleared up. The discussions over this issue suits Azerbaijan's interests," Seyidov added.
The head of delegation also said that efforts were made in the Council of Europe to study this issue in an unbiased way or to visit one of the regions, but not the other.
The official Baku has given a positive response to holding of meeting of cultural ministers in Azerbaijan, Seyidov said.
The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]