DM Monitoring
BAKU: UNESCO’s reaction gives the impression that Christian monuments are more important than Muslim and Jewish ones, Arye Gut, who is a political analyst that focuses on Israeli-Azerbaijan relations that heads the Azerbaijan House in Israel said.
Gut argued that UNESCO does not care about all of the Azerbaijani mosques that were transformed by the Armenian authorities into stables for pigs and cows in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
At the same time, Gut noted that when there are no grounds, “some, including the leadership of UNESCO, are ‘very worried’ about the fate of Christian monuments in the territories liberated by Azerbaijan: “Azerbaijan, as a multicultural and tolerant country, ensures the protection of all cultural and religious monuments on its territory – whether Muslim, Jewish, or Christian.”
Several publications about Armenia’s occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region have been prepared. “For example, in 2007, the book “War against Azerbaijan – an attack on cultural heritage” was prepared and presented to UNESCO. It contains a list of the cultural and religious monuments destroyed by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, detailing information about their deliberate Armenization, presenting Albanian churches as Armenian. However, there was no adequate response from UNESCO.”
The mission established by UNESCO and some states after Azerbaijan’s victory raises a number of questions for Azerbaijan: “Why hasn’t UNESCO sent a mission before? Why did UNESCO not react when mosques were destroyed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan when pigs and cows were kept in them?”
“UNESCO’s reaction gives the impression that Christian monuments are more important than Muslim and Jewish ones,” Gut added.
“This indicates that while all religious and cultural monuments, regardless of their affiliation, should be protected, UNESCO and some political circles openly show discrimination on religious grounds. All of this is a clear example of political hypocrisy and double standards. It is obvious that the new reality that has emerged in the South Caucasus region because of the Azerbaijani victory worries many that cannot come to terms with this.”
