RA MFA: DESECRATION OF BAKU CEMETERY IS CONTINUATION OF ARMENIAN KHACHKARS DESTRUCTION POLICY
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.09.2007 14:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Foreign Ministry condemns the
destruction of a Christian (Narimanov) cemetery in Baku, said RA MFA
Spokesman Vladimir Karapetian.
"This decision fits entirely into the rationale of the policy of
official Baku designed to completely eradicate Armenian cultural
monuments in the territory of the Azerbaijani republic, to eliminate
any trace of the rich Armenian legacy in Azerbaijan. Baku is
encroaching on the rights of other national minorities, residing in
Baku. Representatives of the communities and NGOs sent letters to
President Ilham Aliyev demanding that he orders an immediate end to
this barbarism," he said.
"We regard the destruction of the Narimanov cemetery in Baku as
continuation of the policy for destruction of the old Armenian
cemetery in Julfa in the autonomous Nakhichevan, which is to be
blamed also on international organizations, which have given in to
Azerbaijani pressure and failed to display resolution and send a
monitoring mission to Nakhichevan to assess the scale of destruction
of Armenian monuments there," Mr Karapetian said.
As reported earlier, under the pretext of building a highway Baku
demolishes a Christian cemetery (the Narimanov cemetery), where
Armenians, Jews and Russians were buried.
Although local authorities assure of reinterment, photos in Internet
show a complete dump. The photographers say the bulldozers just razed
the graves to the ground depriving the relatives of the possibility
to rebury the remains. Moreover, the cemetery managers demand $300
for reburial.
The city administration says exhumation and reinterment is performed
in accord with ethnic and religious traditions in the presence of
relatives of the deceased. Meanwhile, the Jewish News Agency reported
that "observance of Jewish traditions is restricted to the fact that
grave-diggers throw the ashes into mat-bags and then give them to
the relatives."