Artur Baghdasaryan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, sent a letter to Rene van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, where he expresses fear on the fact of the barbarious destruction of the Armenian medieval cemetery. “In 2002 and 2005 the intolerable actions taken place in Old Jugha violate the human dignity, as well as contradict one of the major goals of the Council of Europe, the preservation of the cultural heritage of CE member states. Still the cross stones of Jugha cemetery dated of the 7th century are part of not only Armenian, but European heritage.
Though the destruction of the Armenian medieval cross stones goes on, concrete measures haven’t yet been taken by international organizations and missions of collecting facts haven’t been carried out for recording the facts of destructions and preventing the further destruction of historical and cultural property.
Expressing concern on the occasion of the world community’s indifference towards these actions, I implore the institutions of the Council of Europe to re-establish their stance and call on the Azerbaijani authorities to end those barbarious actions and make steps in the direction of correcting the situation.”
