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YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. MEPs call on the UNESCO to launch an urgent fact-finding mission, send it to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas to investigate calls about the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, and investigate the situation on the ground, ARMENPRESS reports a number of members of the European Parliament, including Željana Zovko, representing the EPP faction, said during the discussion of the draft resolution "Destruction of Nagorno Karabakh Cultural Heritage".

Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, in turn, stressed that civilization and culture should be an opportunity to bring peoples closer to each other, to create friendship, not to become an instrument of hatred and enmity.

"We are dealing with a country's cultural heritage; when it is destroyed, it is a violation of international law. The European Union must pay attention to this destruction, because it is happening on a systematic basis. This is a cultural genocide, its recognition is a vital necessity. We saw it in Palmyra, Syria, we saw it in Turkish-occupied Cyprus, we see it in Karabakh, carried out by Azerbaijan. Therefore, it is important for us to recognize this cultural genocide committed by Azerbaijan against Armenian culture in Nagorno-Karabakh," Mavrides said.