The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe discussed the letter of inquiry submitted by former member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Shavarsh Kocharian on the demolition of the Armenian cemetery in Old Julfa, reported RA MFA press office. Armenia's permanent representative in CE, Ambassador Christian Ter-Stepanian addressed the sitting. The Ambassador underscored that the fact of demolition is intolerable, it infringes human values and conflicts with one of the CE major goals. The Ambassador stressed that the letter of inquiry and the photos attached to it prove the fact of destruction of the Armenian khachkars by Azeri soldiers and said Azerbaijan is responsible for this deed. He also noted that these barbarian acts are numerous and have a long history. At the same time the Ambassador expressed regret that PACE, which had to assess the condition of the cultural heritage, did not receive permission to visit Nakhichevan. If the visit were held in time such events could have been avoided, he said. Christian Ter-Stepanian informed that international organizations provided feedback on the matter. Thus, January 19 the European Parliament passed a resolution calling upon the Azerbaijani authorities to stop demolition of khachkars.

The permanent representative in CE noted that while the international community marks the 50th anniversary of the European Convention on Culture, a state that has signed this Convention violates it. Despite the fact that destruction of the Armenian monuments is still continued in Nakhichevan no single international commission has visited the site yet. The Ambassador called upon the Committee of Ministers to urge the Azerbaijani authorities to put an end to these acts and allow an international commission to visit the places of common human values.