France, Strasburg, 14 April / Trend corr A. Maharramli, I. Alizade/ The PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Education is investigating the destruction of the cultural heritage in the occupied Azerbaijani territory. On 14 April, the PACE Bureau discussed the draft recommendation Resolution on Destruction of the Cultural Heritage in the Occupied Territory of Azerbaijan which was presented by the Azerbaijani PACE member Ganira Pashayeva and the document was submitted to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education, the PACE Bureau's Development Report said.
Pashayeva presented the draft resolution at the PACE January session.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-Karabakh's seven surrounding regions. 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, but fruitless negotiations.
The Bureau also considered the issue raised by the Armenian delegation at the January session - regarding the state of the Armenian cultural monuments in Turkey and the sending of a mission to investigate the facts. The issue was also submitted to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education for their consideration
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