“During the trip to these lands, we once again understood and felt what a great victory was won in Karabakh. We felt it from the bottom of our hearts. May Allah rest the souls of all our brothers who became martyrs during the war, and we wish the wounded a long life. We are grateful to them for this victory,” Turkey’s Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said during his visit to Azerbaijan’s Aghdam, liberated last fall from Armenian occupation, Report informs.
"This victory is a great triumph for Azerbaijan, the region, and Turkey. The 30-year occupation was decisively ended. Indeed, the occupation is over and the region is liberated thanks to the resolute position of Mr. President Ilham Aliyev. Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey supported this just struggle," Fahrettin Altun said.
"On the other hand, we have seen oppression, suffering, and barbarism here. This is an exceptional barbarism. We have also seen how hypocritical the world and international organizations are when these barbaric acts were committed here. Look, there is no voice from the organizations responsible for the protection of cultural monuments around the world. They played Three Monkeys. Therefore, the cultural monuments here were ruined. In fact, these monuments were destroyed to completely erase traces of Turkism and Islam. But they did not succeed, and they will not succeed. Because these lands are the lands of Turks and Islam," he added.
"I am calling on UNESCO to see that our cultural monuments and history in other liberated territories of Azerbaijan, including Aghdam, have been destroyed. This should not be ignored. UNESCO must already set aside double standards and see the true face of the Armenians who are vandalizing this cultural treasure," he concluded.
A delegation of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States (Turkic Council) visited Aghdam on April 11.
The delegation of ministers and high-ranking officials paid a visit to the Imarat cemetery in Aghdam, where the graves of the Karabakh Khanate's Azerbaijani Turkic nobility, including its khans, are located.
Then the officials visited the Juma Mosque in the city, built in 1868-1870 by the Azerbaijani architect Karbalai Safikhan Garabaghi. The trip participants learned the history of the mosque, which is a part of the Azerbaijani cultural heritage in Karabakh.