Azerbaijani MFA responded to Armenia

Baku. 27 March. REPORT.AZ / "As a component of the military aggression and aggressive policy of Armenia against Azerbaijan in the occupied territories, a systematic policy of vandalism is conducted, namely, destruction, appropriation of material and cultural and religious monuments, changing their origin and designation."

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev told Report.

He noted that the policy of Armenia on destruction in the occupied lands and on the territory of Armenia, which was historically Azerbaijani, belonging to the Azerbaijani people's material and cultural heritage - vandalism, directed not only against the Azerbaijani people, but against all mankind:

"The representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry in a statement to the press recognizes this by himself, tries to conceal international responsibility that Armenia bears as an aggressive state. Despite this, the facts of the destruction, of material and cultural monuments belonging to the Azerbaijani people were revealed.

So, in our territories occupied by Armenia, the material and cultural resource, including 738 historical monuments, 28 museums with more than 83500 exhibits, 4 art galleries, 14 memorial complexes, 1107 cultural institutions were destroyed and turned into a vandalism object.

According to H. Hajiyev, illegal actions against cultural property and cultural heritage during armed conflicts by international criminal law are considered a war crime:

"For acts of vandalism against material and cultural monuments in our occupied territories, the Republic of Armenia as a state is directly responsible before the international law.

Together, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Culture will continue to publicize at the international level the facts of vandalism against the historical material and cultural heritage belonging to the Azerbaijani people, in our territories occupied by Armenia, as well as on the territory of Armenia. "