Great Britain, London, 14 February / corr. Trend G.Ahmadova/ Azerbaijan who has been faced with the occupation of its territories should attempt to hold an international campaign regarding the destruction of its cultural heritage, Nicolas Johns, the well-known British journalist said.
"The destruction of cultural and historical heritage of any country is undoubtedly an international and military crime. Azerbaijan is right in raising the topic on an international level," Johns said to Trend.
As a result of the Armenian military aggression, 20% of Azerbaijani land, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region, has been under the Armenian occupation since the early 90s. Azerbaijan has repeatedly appealed to international organizations that Armenia pursued the policy of genocide and deportation towards Azerbaijanis during the whole of 20th century. The Azerbaijani geographical names were changed, Azerbaijani cemeteries destroyed including its historical and cultural values.
The archeological excavations in the occupied Azerbaijani Shusha region are a gross violation of the international law, Rafael Huseynov, the Azerbaijani MP who raised the issue before the Council of Europe (CE) stated to Trend in early 2005. According to Huseynov, he appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers of CE to take serious measures to put an end to the archeological excavations in Shusha and the destruction by the Armenian authorities of the cultural values and gene pool of Azerbaijani people.
Azerbaijan has every right to put special emphasis on the problem of its cultural heritage, said Johns who has been the political correspondent of BBC and is well aware of the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "I understand what the Azerbaijanis feel as many countries in Europe and America overlook this issue or do not pay enough attention to the damage made to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan," he said.
"The destruction of mosques and old Christian monuments, the contamination of religious places of interest is a very serious problem which should be raised both in and outside Europe so that Azerbaijan can obtain the relevant attention of the world community," the journalist said.
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. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
The presentation of the book the War Against Azerbaijan and the film depicting the damage inflicted to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan as a result of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place on 11 February in London.
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