BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 2
Trend:
UNESCO should not follow the path of comparing the significance of different cultures and the importance of preserving monuments of one culture by completely ignoring the destruction of monuments of other culture, Russian expert, candidate of political sciences, senior lecturer of St. Petersburg State University Galina Niyazova told Trend.
The Russian expert stressed that on November 20, 2020, after the signing of a trilateral agreement on the complete cessation of hostilities, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay proposed to send an expert mission to the Nagorno-Karabakh region to protect cultural heritage sites.
"It is obvious that UNESCO representatives may visit the territories which are controlled by Azerbaijan only through Azerbaijan’s permission," Niyazova added. "In this case, Armenia can only hope and expect that while understanding the significance of history and culture, in the broadest sense, Azerbaijan will not follow the example of Armenia, which destroyed a myriad of monuments of cultural heritage in the previously occupied and now liberated territories of Azerbaijan."
“It is clear that insisting on Nagorno-Karabakh region and its cultural heritage, the UNESCO director-general means Armenian cultural monuments because only ruins are left among the Azerbaijani monuments in the region,” the expert said.
"That’s why Baku does not hurry to support the unilateral initiative, which underlines the reluctance of the international organization to accept the new reality and equally respect the assessment and salvation of not only the monuments of Armenia but also Azerbaijan," the expert said.
Niyazova stressed that UNESCO's initiative to send a mission "to the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its environs", as stated on the organization's website, was supported by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, "which is engaged in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict".
"Here, UNESCO once again demonstrates its unwillingness to comply with modern realities and accept new information,” Niyazova added. “Shortly before this publication on the UNESCO website, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said that the OSCE Minsk Group had not played any role in resolving the conflict for 28 years."
“Moreover, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have stated for many years that the conflict “has no military solution”,” the expert added. “This statement turned out to be incorrect, and as the conflict has been resolved, the OSCE Minsk Group itself has clearly lost its role and significance. UNESCO's inability and unwillingness to act in accordance with the new reality is fraught with bigger problems than simply preventing the organization from entering the de-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.”
“No country or international organization consciously strives for loss of authority,” the expert said.