YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijan is an enemy of the civilization, scourge of civilization: Azerbaijanis destroy our monuments and attack first, says Samvel Karapetyan, monument specialist, director of the Research on Armenian Architecture NGO. He said today at a meeting with journalists that the destructive approach towards Armenian monuments as a state one has been vivid since the Soviet period, when the “labels of Armenian monuments were veiled and the monuments were destroyed”.

Presenting the third issue of “Vardzk” journal, which provides information on the state of the Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan, Samvel Karapetyan said “the very Armenian” monuments – chapels, churches, cemeteries with cross-stones – are endangered. The other monuments are mainly preserved, but the Armenian records on them are being removed. He informed that the Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan were destroyed both during the war and after it and they were destroyed as well in areas, which were far from military zones, so the military actions cannot be a justification.

In the near future Samvel Karapetyan intends to organize an exhibition, titled “Azerbaijan – Civilization’s Enemy” and invite ambassadors of various states. He also underscored the importance of legal actions for destroying the monuments.