BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 11
Trend:
Vandalism act against the monument to prominent Azerbaijani poetess Khurshidbanu Natavan in Waterloo, Belgium has caused anger among our compatriots living in Europe, Trend reports referring to the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of Azerbaijan.
The Coordination Council of the Azerbaijanis in Belgium and the Netherlands and the Congress of Benelux Azerbaijanis sent a letter to the Waterloo Mayor Florian Rother related with the incident.
In a letter of the Coordination Council of the Azerbaijanis in Belgium and the Netherlands, the incident, which occurred shortly after March 8 - International Women's Day, is regarded as an act of violence and vandalism for Azerbaijani women: "This is unacceptable and we ask for urgent action to find and punish the perpetrators." In a letter to the chairman of the Congress of Benelux Azerbaijanis, Elsevar Mammadov stated this incident as a terrible news: "Unfortunately, we have no idea who can do this, and we want to learn who and why.We ask for you and your inspectors to investigate who is doing this. We highly appreciate this monument erected by one of our most famous poetess, and this incident is very hard for us. We hope you understand what that means and how this monument is important to us."
It should be noted that the opening of the monument to the outstanding Azerbaijani poetess Khurshidbanu Natavan in the central park of Waterloo, Belgium was realized on February 18, 2016 with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. In the pedestal of the statue, the words "Khurshidbanu Natavan, the modern educator and poetess of the East, Princess of Karabakh, Azerbaijan" are written. The erection of this monument, which reflects the note on Karabakh in Belgium, is a contribution to the work done to promote Azerbaijan's realities around the world.
The statue is in the list of protected historical monuments of Waterloo.
