BAKU: Azerbaijan condemns trip of Armenian Foreign Minister to Kalbajar

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition
July 24, 2017 Monday


Azerbaijan condemns trip of Armenian Foreign Minister to Kalbajar



Baku/24.07.17/Turan: The trip of the Armenian Foreign Minister to the
occupied region of Azerbaijan Kelbajar and participation in the
religious event "Gandzasar777" is another confirmation of historical
and religious falsification at the state level by Armenia. "We would
like to remind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia that this
Albanian-Christian church located on the territory of the Kelbajar
region of Azerbaijan occupied by the Armed Forces of Armenia is called
not Gandzasar, but Gyankyasar, it has nothing to do with the Armenian
Gregorian church. This is proved by serious facts by Azerbaijani and
international historians by specialists, "the head of the press
service of the Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev said.

According to him, the architectural planning and compositional
solution of the temple complex, sculptural samples confirmed that this
monument belongs to the Caucasian Albania, which has centuries-old
traditions.

The head of the press service said that after the occupation of
Azerbaijan by Azerbaijan, in 1836, according to a special decision of
the "Russian Holy Synod", the Albanian church and all its property was
transferred to the disposal of the Armenian Gregorian church.

"Since then, the Armenian Gregorian church has pursued a policy of
armenization of the Albanian Christian heritage, including the
Gyankasar Monument and Albanian written sources."

According to Hikmet Hajiyev, all this is the policy of armenization in
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan of the historical heritage of
the Azerbaijani people, Islamic and Christian churches and others is a
gross violation of international humanitarian law, in particular, the
Geneva Convention.

The participation of the Armenian Foreign Minister in this event once
again shows that Armenia is not interested in settling the conflict
through peaceful negotiations. Armenia implements a policy of
annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, the head of the
press service said. -03D04-