Aliyev says Armenia has destroyed Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage throughout history

President Ilham Aliyev, in a message to participants of the international conference “Cultural Heritage and the Right to Return” in Baku, said the Azerbaijani people have repeatedly faced expulsions, violence and deprivation over the past two centuries.

He said massacres and forced deportations in 1905–1907, 1918–1921, 1948–1953 and 1987–1991 forced hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to leave their homes.

Aliyev stated that Armenia has systematically destroyed, altered and appropriated the material and intangible cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis, including places of worship and cemeteries, with the aim of erasing traces of Azerbaijani presence.

He added that securing an international legal assessment of crimes committed against Azerbaijanis, and gaining international support for this process, remains critically important.