AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT DENIES ALLEGATIONS THAT ARMENIAN GRAVESTONES WERE DESTROYED
AP Worldstream
Apr 13, 2006
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev on Thursday vehemently denied
allegations that gravestones in a centuries-old Armenian cemetery in
western Azerbaijan had been destroyed.
Armenians have accused Azerbaijani forces of systematically breaking
up and disposing of the intricately carved crosses, called khatchkars,
some of which date back to the sixth century, at the Djulfa cemetery
in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border.
“This is an absolute lie, slanderous information, a provocation,”
Aliev said in a speech in the western city of Sheki. “All historic
monuments are preserved in Azerbaijan.”
He accused ethnic Armenian forces in the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is on Azerbaijani territory, of destroying
mosques and Muslim cemeteries.
“The most valuable museum displays were stolen and taken to Armenia,
and all the rest destroyed,” Aliev said.
At least 30,000 people were killed and 1 million made refugees in
the six-year war over Nagorno-Karabakh, which was ended by a shaky
cease-fire in 1994.