AT THE 33rd UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE
Panorama
21:13 10/10/05
Statement By H.E. Mr. Vartan Oskanian
Minister Of Foreign Affairs Of The Republic Of Armenia
PARIS
OCTOBER 7, 2005
Mr. President,
Congratulations on your election, and we look forward to working
with you as we have with President Omolewa. Congratulations also to
the Director-General with whom we look forward to working for a long
time to come.
At a time when the world is faced with new types of violence and
must therefore seek new ways to find peace, UNESCO is faced with
the hardest challenge of all: to create the defenses of peace in the
minds of men. For 60 years, this organization has promoted education,
science and culture because we know that it has been through education,
science and culture that ALL our civilizations have been nurtured
and have flourished. Education, science and culture cultivate peace
and are its fruits.
Each of us recognizes this in our own lands, in our own countries.
In Armenia, Education gave us our first university eight centuries ago.
Today, our education enrollment and literacy rate is among the best
in the world.
Ten centuries ago, Science provided us the tools with which to study
medicinal herbs under our feet, and the stars over our head.
But it is our culture that has saved us, defined us, formed our
character.
My people have lived in Diaspora for far longer than we have had a
state, and we have contributed to and learned from cultures across
the globe.
In Singapore, we have a church which is 200 years old. The one in Dakka
is even older. In Macao, the cemetery markers are memorials to Armenian
merchants from the 1600s. In Bangkok, the cemeteries are newer, but
only slightly. The local governments all protect and maintain these
cultural monuments consciously and generously, because they understand
that these monuments of a culture long gone are theirs as much as ours.
There is a similar cultural heritage in Europe and the Middle
East. From the tombs of Armenian medieval kings here in Paris to
ancient communities in Poland and Ukraine, the traces of a continuous
Armenian presence in Europe are guarded.
No better example exists than the Armenian Island of St. Lazaro, in
Venice, claimed equally by Armenians and Italians as part of their
cultural patrimony.
In Jerusalem, the old Armenian Quarter is an integral part of the
Biblical city’s past and future.
Throughout the various Arab countries of the Middle East, it is only
the age and quantity of Armenian structures that differ. The care and
attention which Armenians and their possessions receive is pervasive.
In our immediate neighborhood, Iran is home to cultural and religious
monuments built by Armenians over a millennium. The government of
Iran itself takes responsibility for their upkeep, and facilitates
their preservation by others.
Against this background then, we can only wish that our other
neighbours were equally tolerant and enlightened.
In Turkey, there are thousands of cultural monuments built and utilized
by Armenians through the centuries. Those structures today are not
just symbols of a lost way of life, but of lost opportunities. Those
monuments which represent the overlapping histories and memories
of Armenians and Turks do provide us the opportunity around which a
cultural dialog can start and regional cooperation can flourish.
Instead, those monuments which serve as striking evidence of
centuries of Armenian presence on those lands are being transformed
or demolished. With them go the memory and identity of a people.
But we are hopeful that there are changes in these attitudes and
approaches, and that Turkey is on the road to acknowledging its
pluralistic past and embracing its diversity today.
A few months ago, Turkish authorities began to actively encourage and
facilitate the expert renovation of a medieval jewel – the Armenian
monastery of Akhtamar. What is happening on this small island,
not far from our border, can be repeated again and again. Together,
we can work to rebuild the sole remaining monument in the legendary
city of Ani, just on the other side of the border, within easy view
from Armenia. The medieval city of a thousand and one churches is a
cultural marvel that can pull together and bind our two peoples.
Unfortunately Mr. Chairman, with our other neighbor, Azerbaijan,
the effort to do away with Armenians, which began even before
Sovietization, continues unabated. Now that there are no Armenians
left in Azerbaijan, it is religious and cultural monuments which
remain under attack.
This assault on our memory, history, holy places and artistic creations
began long before the people of Nagorno Karabakh stood to demand
self-determination in order to assure their own security. It began
long before the government of Azerbaijan chose war as the response to
the rightful, peaceful aspirations of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
Mr. Chairman, Even in 1922, stone cross Armenian tombstone
carvings, older than Europe’s oldest churches, began to disappear
in Nakhichevan. There was no war in the years between 1998 and 2002
when 4000 of these giant sculptures were knocked over, piled onto
railroad cars and carted away under the Azerbaijani government’s
watchful eyes. There was no war in 1975 when a 7th century Armenian
church was completely demolished in the center of Nakhichevan, for
no reason other than to wipe out the memory of the Armenians who
constituted a majority there just decades earlier.
Mr. Chairman,
Cultural destruction can and is a potent weapon in campaigns of
political oppression and tyranny. In an era when new kinds of violence
with new names are exploited in political and ideological warfare,
damaging or destroying cultural or religious memory intentionally,
consistently, repeatedly must be labeled what it is – cultural
terrorism – and it must be condemned with the same resolve and
determination as violence aimed against people.
Mr. Chairman,
Armenia already profits hugely from UNESCO’s “Memory of the World”
program, thanks to which our depository of ancient, unique manuscripts
is being digitized. In the Remember the Future program, we are honoured
that some of our ancient monuments are included in the World Heritage
List. We are set to ratify the Convention on the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Heritage, and are pleased that the traditional melodies
of the Armenian reed duduk may be included in the Masterpieces of
Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
What we want to work on next, Mr. Chairman, is the elaboration of a
UNESCO legal instrument which will hold accountable those involved
in the Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage.
Armenia attaches great importance to all of UNESCO´s initiatives in
the region. We believe in UNESCO’s dream of creating and educating
societies to believe in peace and to benefit from its dividends. Thank
you.
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