The Lord Bishop of Southwark, the Right Reverend Christopher Chessun, has written to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, along with the Bishops of Leeds, Coventry and Ebbsfleet, about the danger of Azerbaijan’s cultural genocide, reports the Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom.
The Bishops warn that “it is time to act now before centuries of history are lost forever.”
“We are concerned by the reports of damage to several historic religious sites in the region and that this has been motivated by a desire to diminish historical roots and cultural diversity. If true, and if left unchecked, such action risks fueling and exacerbating an already complex post-conflf environment so impeding attempts at post-conflf reconciliation,” the letter reads.
The Bishops, therefore urge UNESCO to take all possible and appropriate measures to protect the sites on the territories currently under Azerbaijani control.