BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11
By Humay Aghajanova - Trend:
An agreement was reached to send UNESCO missions to Azerbaijan and Armenia at a videoconference meeting with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President Emmanuel Macron as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, President of the European Council Charles Michel and Prime Minister of the Republic Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on Feb. 4, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
“The Armenian Foreign Ministry is trying to distort the agreements on the visits of UNESCO missions to Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the message said.
Azerbaijan's ministry said that as for the technical mission of UNESCO, which is planned to be sent to the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani side welcomed this intention from the first day, and the entire preparation for it was agreed between Azerbaijan and UNESCO.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan has repeatedly called on UNESCO for more than 20 years to send this mission and sent numerous letters in this regard,” the message said. “Unfortunately, this mission was never sent due to Armenia.”
According to the message, UNESCO indicated this fact in its 2005 report.
“Thus, UNESCO emphasized that the Azerbaijani lands were under Armenia’s occupation and admitted that Armenia prevented the visit,” the message said. “As for the UNESCO mission to Armenia, the Azerbaijani side has repeatedly informed UNESCO and the international community about the facts of the destruction of the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people in Armenia.”
According to the message, the Azerbaijani NGOs have recently sent to UNESCO detailed information about the destruction, photographs and other evidence.
“We consider it necessary to send a mission to Armenia to investigate the facts presented to UNESCO by the Azerbaijani side,” the message said. “We hope that Armenia, as opposed to its previous policy, will create conditions for the UNESCO mission this time.”