European Parliament Condemned Destruction of Armenian Khachkars in NakhichevanFebruary 17, 2006 - 13:20 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Parliament yesterday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the Azerbaijani government's destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, a unique archaeological treasure located in the Nakhichevan autonomous republic administered by Azerbaijan. The resolution, which was approved by a vote of 85 to 5, noted that, "serious allegations have been raised about the involvement of the Azerbaijani authorities in the destruction of these monuments" and stressed that " Azerbaijan has not provided answers [on this matter to] the former special rapporteur of the United Nations." Based on these and other findings, the European Parliament "strongly condemns the destruction of the Djulfa cemetery [
]" and "demands that Azerbaijan allow missions dedicated to surveying and protecting the archaeological heritage on its territory, especially Armenian heritage [
]." The measure also asks Azerbaijan to "allow a European Parliament delegation to visit the archaeological site at Djulfa." "We extend our warmest congratulations to the Members of the European Parliament for the principled and comprehensive nature of this condemnation. We regret, however, attempts, especially from the European Greens, to obscure Azerbaijan's crime by drawing fake parallels with alleged destruction of cultural sites by Armenia," stated Hilda Tchoboian, the Chairperson of the European Armenian Federation. The European Armenian Federation calls upon the presidency of the European Parliament to promptly send the parliamentary delegation called for in this resolution to survey the destruction of Djulfa. The Federation also expressed its hope that this European initiative will encourage other national, multilateral and international bodies to condemn the Djulfa destruction with the same energy that they devoted to their protests in 2001 of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |