Azerbaijan calls on UNESCO to send fact-finding mission to Armenia

In the February 4 meeting attended by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, President of the Council of the European Union Charles Michel, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, an agreement was reached to send separate UNESCO missions to Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in connection with the visit of UNESCO missions to the region, Report informs, citing the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

"However, the Armenian Foreign Ministry is trying to distort the agreement reached on UNESCO missions to Azerbaijan and Armenia. We condemn the next attempt of the Armenian Foreign Ministry to evade the obligations assumed by this state.

"As for the UNESCO technical mission to be implemented in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani side welcomed this mission from the beginning, and all preparations were agreed upon between Azerbaijan and UNESCO in a bilateral format.

"For more than 20 years, the Republic of Azerbaijan repeatedly called on UNESCO to implement this mission and sent numerous letters in this regard. Unfortunately, such a mission was not carried out, and the only reason was Armenia. UNESCO, as an organization, stated this fact in its 2005 report. UNESCO stressed that the Azerbaijani lands are under Armenian occupation and acknowledged that Armenia prevented the visit.

"As for the UNESCO mission to Armenia, the Azerbaijani side has repeatedly brought to the attention of UNESCO and the international community the facts of the destruction of the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people in Armenia. Our country's NGOs have recently submitted detailed information on the devastation to UNESCO. Photographs and other evidence of the wreckage were included.

"We believe that it is necessary to send a mission to Armenia to investigate the facts submitted by Azerbaijan to UNESCO. We hope that, unlike the policy of preventing international missions from visiting the occupied territories in the past, this time Armenia will create conditions for the organization of the mission," Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry said.