Azerbaijan, Baku / Т corr S. Ilhamgizi / Armenia says the Albanian cemetery located in Julfa region of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) actually is an Armenian cemetery and it has been destroyed, but in reality the country tries to hide its own crimes, a member of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and a member of the PACE Committee on Culture, Education and Science Rafael Huseynov said to Trend on 26 October.
Earlier Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said to journalists that in case Azerbaijan did not obstacle, UNESCO representatives would pay a visit to Nakhchivan in order to study the situation with the culture monuments.
According to Huseynov, Armenians destroyed over 100,000 cultural monuments, hundreds of cemeteries and 1,000-2,000-years-old archaeological monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani territory. They were a composite of the world's cultural heritage.
Hundreds of Azerbaijanis used to reside in the territory of today's Armenia and in different periods were deported from there. Plenty of Azerbaijani cemeteries, mosques, pilgrimage places, and cultural monuments were located in the territory of Armenia and they were destroyed, Huseynov said.
Azerbaijani PACE delegation developed two documents and submitted them to CE. One of them reflects the facts of destruction of Azerbaijani cultural monuments, cemeteries located in Armenia, another document presents the facts on the destructions in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia.
The parliamentarian added that for long years, the Armenians have raised the question that as though the ancient Alban cemetery in Gulustan village (former Jug) of Azerbaijan's Nakchivan Autonomous Republic belongs to them.
"The matter is that there have never been Armenian villages there. It is an ancient Alban cemetery. At the end of 80s of the last century, the Armenians stole one of the stones from the Alban cemetery in Jug village and brought it to Echmiadzin church in Armenia. Taking the photo of Alban stone under names of the Armenian grave, the Armenians published it in their encyclopedia several years ago," Huseynov said.
He added that in order to visit Nakchivan, the representatives of the UNESCO should firstly make an appeal to the Government of Azerbaijan for receiving permission. In this case, Azerbaijan will absolutely put forward its requirements.
"The care about the graves is a great initiative and Azerbaijan welcomes it. However, it needs to carry out it at a parliamentary level and begin the work from the Country whose monuments have mostly incurred destroys. So, firstly it needs to study the condition of the Azerbaijani monuments in Armenia and in Azerbaijan's occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh," the MP said.
According to him, UNESCO can not hold one-sided searches in the regions incurring conflicts.