Yerevan /Mediamax/. NKR Foreign Ministry denies the accusations about the alleged military use of monuments of Islamic architecture located on the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, made by the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

“This information does not correspond to reality and is another allegation in a series of fraud and forgery, constantly used by the Azerbaijani side. Azerbaijan, with its rich experience of using religious monuments for military purposes, which is proved by the conversion of the Kazanchetsots church in Shushi into a military warehouse in 1992, once again is trying to ascribe its own behaviour to the Karabakh side,” states the press release of NKR Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry noticed that there are numerous compelling evidences of systematic and deliberate destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites by the Azerbaijani authorities on the whole territory of Azerbaijan, as well as in the occupied Shahumyan region of the NKR.

“The most blatant act of vandalism is the destruction of the medieval Armenian khachkar/cross-stone cemetery near the town of Jugha (Julfa) in Nakhichevan and turning the site into a military range in 2005. Despite numerous international appeals, the Azerbaijani side, trying to avoid responsibility, does not allow international experts to visit the area, where there was a cemetery of cross-stones.

If the Azerbaijani authorities are genuinely interested in the implementation of the fact-finding mission to assess the situation with the historical and cultural monuments, and do not pursue merely political or propaganda aims, then we can expect that the work of the mission will start from visiting the occupied Shahumyan region of the NKR and Nakhichevan,” states official Stepanakert.