POLITICS
SAIFF backs Azerbaijan`s stance on Karabakh dispute
Baku, January 28, AZERTAC
Norway-based Sagene International and Multicultural Volunteer Center SAIFF, which unites 25 non-governmental organizations, has issued a statement supporting Azerbaijan`s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to Ramil Aliyev, chairman of the Norwegian Azerbaijani Youth Organization, the statement says Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. “Prior to the Armenian invasion there were more than 600,000 historical and 1,050 ancient monuments in Karabakh. As a result of occupation 36 educational institutions in Shusha, 435 cultural and religious centers, ten museums and fortresses were purposefully destroyed,” says the statement.
“The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.”
SAIFF says: “Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. Until it Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and its seven surrounding regions. Invaders have destroyed historical and cultural monuments in these territories on purpose thus making an ethnic cleansing. These facts contradict Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with Regulations for the Execution of the Convention 1954 and UNESCO convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972.”