Karabakh welcomes EU parliament resolution as "moral"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Foreign Minister Davit Babayan has hailed a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on Azerbaijan's destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, describing it as an "important moral and political move."

Babayan made the remarks in parliament of Karabakh on Thursday, March 10, maintaining that they had been working for that for quite some time.

The Parliament strongly condemned Azerbaijan’s continued policy of erasing and denying the Armenian cultural heritage in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, in violation of international law and the recent Order of the International Court of Justice stating that Azerbaijan must prevent and punish any acts of vandalism and desecration.

"Other structures from Artsakh and Armenia have done a lot of work too. This is significant moral and political, albeit small, progress for us," he said.

The text of the resolution, adopted by 635 votes in favour, 2 against and 42 abstentions, acknowledged that the erasure of Armenian cultural heritage in the region is part of a wider pattern of a systematic, state-level policy of “Armenophobia”, historical revisionism and hatred towards Armenians promoted by the Azerbaijani authorities.

It also underlined that cultural heritage has a universal dimension as a testimony of history inseparable from peoples’ identity, which the international community has to protect and preserve for future generations.

The latest armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended with an agreement on a complete ceasefire that entered into force on 10 November 2020.