UNESCO’s unimpeded access to Artsakh urgent, Armenian FM tells Director-General Audrey Azoulay

On a working visit to Paris, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

Minister Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia is expanding cooperation with UNESCO in the fields of education, science and communication. He noted that Armenia, as a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, continues to be committed to the promotion of world peace, development and effective multilateralism, which are the pillars of the Organization.

During the meeting, they referred to the deliberate destruction of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the distortion of identity.

In this context, Minister Mirzoyan drew the attention of the Director-General of UNESCO to the establishment of a state working group for this purpose in Azerbaijan. It was emphasized that these actions openly contradict the decision of the UN International Court of Justice of December 7, 2021 on the protection of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage.

The Armenian Foreign Minister stressed the urgent intervention of UNESCO in the current situation, the unimpeded involvement in the conflict zone to preserve and prevention the vandalism of the historical and cultural monuments of Artsakh, which are part of the universal cultural heritage. The implementation of a fact-finding mission in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone proposed by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay in line with the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two adjunct protocols of 1954 was emphasized.