Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 February / Trend corr. S.Agayeva / The rich culture and art of Azerbaijan will be represented during the Days of Azerbaijan held by the Islamic Education, Science and Culture Organization (ISESCO).
Days of Azerbaijan will be held in Morocco from 2 - 5 March. ISECSO headquarters is located in Morocco, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Rabat reported.
A delegation involving artists and headed by Abulfaz Garyev, the Azerbaijani Minister of Culture will attend the meeting. There are plans to hold an official meeting dedicated to the opening of Days of Azerbaijan in the organization.
The cooperation between ISESCO and Azerbaijan covers all spheres of culture, education and social life. ISESCO closely cooperates with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in order to back the development of education and culture in Azerbaijan. The first lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, the president of Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Ambassador to UNESCO, was awarded with the title of Goodwill Ambassador to ISESCO. Aliyeva was the first woman who was granted such a high position. To date the three prominent state and public activists in the Islamic world have become ambassadors to ISESCO.
One of the aims of the cooperation is to support Azerbaijan in its fight to protect its cultural heritage. "ISESCO condemns the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia as Armenians have violated the international rights standards," Abdulaziz al Tuveijri, the general secretary of the organization, stated during his visit to Baku. " Azerbaijan has legal rights for its cultural heritage and the monuments that have remained in the occupied territories also belong to the country's heritage," he said.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture reported that the Armenian Armed Forces destroyed 1,421 cultural houses; 15 city and 503 rural cultural houses and clubs, 8 regional, 32 urban, 10 children and 683 rural libraries, 6 cultural parks, 47 children musical centres, 3 theatres; 3 galleries, 464 historical monuments, about 40,000 historical handmade wares and 4.6mln books.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988, due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding the peaceful negotiations.