Azerbaijan suffers another defeat in its “struggle” with Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - On November 15-19, Nairobi (Kenya) is hosting the 5th sitting of the intergovernmental committee of states parties to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. 47 nominations have been put on its agenda, including a nomination of the Republic of Armenia: “Symbolism and Craftsmanship of Khachkar – Armenian Cross-stone.”

However, this time Azerbaijan again could not stand aside, making another attempt of politicizing the matter.

The press service of the RA Ministry of Culture reported that on November 16 an Azerbaijani representative demanded to amend the Armenian nomination as follows: “Symbolism and Craftsmanship of Armenian Khachkar – Armenian Cross-stone. Thus, he attempted to prove that khachkar craft belongs not only to Armenians, i.e. it is typical also for the Caucasian Albanians, whose successors are allegedly Azerbaijanis.

To appeal against Armenia’s nomination, an action was organized at the initiative of the Azerbaijani government, during which representatives of Azerbaijani communities of various countries sent 143 letters to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, urging her to prevent acceptance of the nomination.

Armenia’s representative, Deputy Minister of Culture Arev Samuelyan noted for her part that the stance of the Armenian side is clear. She urged not to politicize the matter and refrain from considering topics, which have no relation to discussion of values expressing national identity.

The intergovernmental committee accepted all the other nominations and offered to postpone consideration of the Armenian nomination until November 17. At the same time, UNESCO offered to organize negotiations between the Armenian and Azerbaijani parties to find an acceptable decision.

As a result of long discussions, the intergovernmental committee has not considered statements of the Azerbaijani side and accepted the Armenian variant of the nomination: “Symbolism and Craftsmanship of Khachkar – Armenian Cross-stone.”