News - English-language list of 140 Artsakh monuments to be displayed at international venues

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (MօESCS) of Armenia, together with forcibly displaced colleagues from [Artsakh] Nagorno-Karabakh, has compiled a list of the most important historical and cultural monuments in English for presentation to international partners, the ministry reports, in response to a written request from Sputnik Armenia news agency. Earlier, Sputnik Armenia reported that UNESCO refused the conditions (travel to Stepanakert via Aghdam) that Azerbaijan put forward for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh. Since 2020, the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia has been carrying out relevant work to inform international partner organizations about the problem of protecting religious and cultural monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh. In particular, the ministry sent a number of letters to the leadership of UNESCO in order to take appropriate measures to protect the cultural monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh. The ministry also asked international partners to voice cases of destruction and distortion of cultural monuments of Karabakh at various platforms by making condemnatory statements. The issue was also raised during meetings with UNESCO management. “In the current situation, the Department for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of MօESCS, in collaboration with colleagues who were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, compiled a list of 140 of the most significant historical and cultural monuments in English. The list includes photographs, descriptions, coordinates, and other details, and was handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia for engagement with international partners,” the ministry said.It is noted that continuous work is being carried out at all international platforms (1972 World Heritage Convention, ICCROM summit, etc.), in which representatives of Armenia participate. The necessity of establishing an international framework for its preservation is consistently emphasized in these presentations.At the same time, the ministry recalls that even after the 44-day Artsakh war, the Republic of Armenia appealed to UNESCO with a request to send a fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh, but this work was constantly hampered by the Azerbaijani side.