YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe urged the Committee of Ministers of Europe’s largest human rights body to intervene and stop the ongoing destruction of Armenian monuments in neighboring Azerbaijan.
Armenian foreign ministry said ambassador Kristian Ter-Stepanian drew the Committee’s attention to the destruction of an old Armenian cemetery in Azerbaijan’s enclave of Nakhichevan when it met on February 1 to discuss, among other issues, also a written inquiry by an Armenian lawmaker Shavarsh Kocharian, a former member of the Armenian delegation to PACE. The Armenian ambassador said that these actions on part of Azerbaijan violate human dignity and collective memory, running also counter to one of the basic tenets of the Council of Europe-preservation of its member countries’ cultural legacy.
The ambassador said that an extensive range of photo- and-video materials show clearly that the barbaric acts are ordered by the authorities of Azerbaijan. He said the sole international organization that reacted to the reports that the Armenian cemetery is being destroyed was the European parliament that passed a resolution on January 19 asking Azeri authorities to put an end to destruction of cross-stones in the cemetery.
Kristian Ter-Stepanian expressed regret that at a time when the international community was celebrating the 50-th anniversary of the European Cultural Convention, one of its member nations was destroying the monuments of the other one. He also urged the European organization to dispatch a team of experts to evaluate the degree of destruction on the ground.
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