Azerbaijan, UN sign Peace4Culture action planMay 6, 2022 - 11:08 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan Anar Kerimov and the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations have signed an action plan ironically named Peace4Culture. Kerimov said in February that he had set up a working group tasked with removing “false” Armenian traces from Nagorno-Karabakh churches that came under Baku's control during the war in fall 2020. According to information published by the UN, the “Peace4Culture Global Call” Action Plan underpins the "interdependence of peaceful relations and the safeguarding of cultural and religious heritage". Over the past year and a half, however, Azerbaijani authorities have been systematically desecrating or destroying Armenian monuments in Karabakh. At least two churches have been torn down since a Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the war, and entire villages have been razed to the ground. Concerns about the preservation of cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh are made all the more urgent by the Azerbaijani government’s history of systemically destroying indigenous Armenian heritage—acts of both warfare and historical revisionism. The Azerbaijani government has secretly destroyed a striking number of cultural and religious artifacts in the late 20th century. Within Nakhichevan alone, a historically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani forces destroyed at least 89 medieval churches, 5,840 khachkars (Armenian cross stones) and 22,000 historical tombstones between 1997 and 2006. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |