The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia welcomes and deeply appreciates the almost unanimous adoption of the resolution on the “Destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh”, which expresses the resolute position of our partners in the European Parliament; Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.

-Mr. Hovhannisyan, the resolution "On the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh" was debated in the European Parliament on March 10. It was adopted by an overwhelming majority of 635 votes in favor, 2 against and 42 abstentions. Please, present the highlights of this resolution of the European Parliament

-First of all, I would like to note that during the debate-discussion preceding the vote on the resolution, the MPs expressed deep concern over the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage by Azerbaijan and stressed the inadmissibility of the so-called "Albanization" policy pursued by Azerbaijan. The resolution not only refers to the specific facts of the shelling of the Armenian churches during the hostilities in 2020 and the policy of annihilation of the Armenian trace in the territories fallen under the control of Azerbaijan after the establishment of the ceasefire regime, the changing of historical and cultural monuments, but also the irretrievable destruction of religious and cultural heritage in Nakhijevan. The resolution calls on Azerbaijan to undertake the necessary steps towards preventing the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage and cases of vandalism, towards punishment of perpetrators of such acts. Reference is also made to the decision of the Azerbaijani side to establish a working group for the "Albanization" of Armenian cultural monuments and the statement of the Ministry of Culture of that country on this regard. The importance of ensuring unimpeded access of the UNESCO fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and territories fallen under the Azerbaijani control is emphasized, urging Azerbaijan to adhere to its international obligations. Almost all the fractions of the European Parliament were actively engaged in the drafting process, the elaboration of a broad consensus on the issue among them ensured the adoption of such a resolution with a large majority of votes, which was an exceptional phenomenon for the voting in European Parliament in recent years.

-How would you assess this resolution, what significance does it have?

- We welcome and deeply appreciate the almost unanimous adoption of this resolution, which expresses the resolute position of our partners in the European Parliament and can be an important step for deep the attention of the international community to the issue of preserving the Armenian cultural heritage, and for our efforts aimed at the raising the issue of the destruction, desecration and changing of historical monuments through the latter’s active support.