FM: Armenia politicizes falsification of history, religion at state level

Armenian foreign minister’s visit to the occupied Azerbaijani Kalbajar region under the pretext of participating at a religious ceremony Gandzasar 777 is another example of how Armenia politicizes the falsification of history and religion at the state level, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend on July 24.

On July 23, the Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian visited an event in the Ganjasar temple in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. Armenians have long tried to misappropriate the temple, claiming it’s allegedly Armenian, while the temple dates back to the ancient state of Caucasian Albania, which was located in the territories of present-day Azerbaijan.

“I would like to remind Armenia’s FM that the Albanian-Christian temple, located in the Kalbajar region occupied by Armenian armed forces, is called Ganjasar, but not Gandzasar, and it has nothing to do with the Armenian Orthodox Church,” said Hajiyev, adding that this has been proved by Azerbaijan and foreign historians.

The architecture and composition of the temple complex and sculpture elements confirm the temple’s belonging to the architecture of Caucasian Albania, said Hajiyev, adding that the pseudo-Armenian historiography is unable to explain the difference between the Ganjasar temple and an Armenian church.

Spokesman noted that in general, Armenia’s appropriation of Islamic and Christian temples belonging to the Azerbaijani people is a grave violation of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions.

“Participation of the Armenian FM at the event once again demonstrates that Armenia is not interested in a peaceful settlement of the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict and tries to strengthen the status quo, continuing the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent regions,” Hajiyev said.

Today, Armenia wants to justify its claims to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and therefore is engaged in misappropriation of tangible and intangible heritage of Azerbaijan. Moreover, Armenians destroyed almost all cultural heritage of Azerbaijan in the occupied lands. Since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian aggressors destroyed 1,200 historical and architectural monuments of Azerbaijan, looted 27 museums, over 100,000 items were exported to Armenia. In addition, the Armenian occupiers destroyed 152 religious monuments and 62 mosques, 4.6 million books in 927 libraries, including the Holy Quran and rare Islamic manuscripts.

It is obvious that all these actions of Armenian aggressors are aimed at misleading the international community about the real history of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.