BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.12
Trend:
The picture we saw in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan is a real tragedy, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Salim bin Mohammed al-Malik, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan, told Trend
Destruction of religious temples is unacceptable, he added.
“Having visited the liberated lands, we saw that all villages, settlements, historical and religious monuments were destroyed. Destruction, desecration of mosques and religious temples, vandalism against them is unacceptable. Religious sites must be treated with respect and protected. I am sure that all religious and cultural monuments destroyed in these territories will be restored. Of course, the religious beliefs of people should not be discriminated against, and the temples of each religion should be respected not only at the state and regional level but also at the global level,” said Salim bin Mohammed al-Malik.
“Unfortunately, any war leads to destruction, including the destruction of various objects. However, the destruction of religious and cultural sites, samples of cultural heritage is unacceptable,” noted the ISESCO Director-General.
“First of all, the government of Azerbaijan should send certain requests, which will then be evaluated by a committee of independent experts,” he said.
“The inclusion of monuments of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan in the List of World Islamic Heritage also means that these cultural sites and religious monuments will be protected by ISESCO. Our main goal is to protect cultural and religious monuments. At the same time, we want to emphasize that we protect the religious monuments of all religions,” said the director-general.
“We thank the government of Azerbaijan for giving us the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the situation on the spot. I hope we can come here again after the restoration of these territories," added al-Malik.