Report informs that UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay paid a two-day visit to Ukraine a couple of days ago. She visited Ukrainian cultural sites, including those that were destroyed and damaged during the war.
Considering the critical situation in Ukraine, this visit is certainly extremely important, its necessity does not raise the slightest doubt. But why did the head of UNESCO, or even ordinary employees of the organization never visit the occupied, and now already liberated, territories of Azerbaijan, despite Baku’s repeated appeals?
The need for such a mission and recording the facts of the almost complete destruction of all cultural, historical and religious monuments during the 30 years of occupation can be confirmed by any representative of a foreign diplomatic mission or a Western journalist who has been there.
According to Pakistani international relations analyst Khalid Taimur Akram, such an attitude on the part of UNESCO is direct evidence of double standards.
“Azerbaijan has repeatedly provided all the evidence of the atrocities committed by Armenia during the 30-year occupation. In particular, all the destruction of the cultural, religious and historical monuments of Karabakh were recorded, documented and presented to the public. Representatives of the organization [UNESCO], the very purpose of existence of which is the preservation of historical and cultural heritage, should have been the first on the list of those who visited the liberated lands of Azerbaijan. What is this if not a direct demonstration of double standards?” he said.
In response to Report’s request on this issue, UNESCO noted that they hope to send a similar mission to the region soon.
“UNESCO continues to work with all relevant parties on the issue of sending an independent technical mission of the organization under the 1954 Convention. We hope that this will become possible in the near future, but at the moment there are no necessary conditions for this,” the UNESCO response says.
Although such a statement gives little hope that such a mission will take place in the future and justice will be partially restored, the question remains: How comes that there are conditions for a visit and acquaintance, even purely visual, with the state of destroyed monuments, in a country where active hostilities are now taking place, but there are no necessary conditions in the liberated Azerbaijani territories, where the war ended more than two years ago? Or probably UNESCO knows something that Azerbaijan is not aware of?
