Armenian FM considers urgent UNESCO's unhindered involvement in Nagorno Karabakh situation

 20:11,

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who is on a working visit to Paris, met with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on March 16.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, Minister Mirzoyan emphasized that Armenia attaches importance to expanding cooperation with UNESCO in the fields of education, science and communication. He noted that Armenia, as a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, continues to be committed to the promotion of global peace, development and effective multilateralism, which are the pillars of the organization.

During the meeting, the sides referred to the deliberate destruction of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage and distortion of identity in the territories that have passed under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh. In this context, Minister Mirzoyan drew the attention of the Director-General of UNESCO to the establishment of a state working group for this purpose in Azerbaijan. It was also emphasized that these actions openly go against the December 7, 2021 decision of the UN International Court of Justice on the provisional measures for the protection of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage.

The Armenian FM stressed the urgent intervention of UNESCO in the current situation, the unimpeded involvement in the conflict zone aimed at the preservation and prevention of vandalism of the historical and cultural monuments of Artsakh, which are part of the universal cultural heritage. The implementation of a fact-finding mission in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone proposed by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay in line with the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two adjunct protocols of 1954 was emphasized.