Azerbaijan to set up archaeological team for research in Karabakh

Karabakh archaeological mission will be established at the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS).

The decision was made at a meeting of the ANAS Presidium on June 20, according to Report.

ANAS President Habibbayli noted that one of the main directions of state policy in Azerbaijan is the restoration and development of the liberated territories.

"The study of the ancient and rich culture of Karabakh and East Zangazur is an important part of the work carried out in this direction. To this end, the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology operates a mission to Karabakh and East Zangazur. The mission is currently carrying out excavations and research in the territories liberated from occupation and is successfully working to identify material cultural monuments and traces of Armenian vandalism,” Habibbayli said.

He added that the necessity has aroused to take appropriate steps to organise ongoing archaeological excavations and research on a consistent and systematic basis.

During Armenia's three-decade-long occupation, along with humanitarian terror, Armenia committed systematic vandalism against Azerbaijani cultural heritage in Karabakh by erasing historical Azerbaijani toponyms, destroying hundreds of historical and cultural monuments, mosques, and other shrines, desecrating religious values, misappropriating ancient Albanian churches, presenting them as Armenian.

Nearly 900 cemeteries in the liberated lands were completely destroyed, tombstones were broken, and graves were excavated with the remains desecrated. For the past 30 years, Azerbaijani citizens have been denied the right to visit their loved ones' graves.

Armenia committed ethnic-cultural genocide as well as ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. There remained no Azerbaijanis in Armenia as a result of the mass deportation of the ethnic Azerbaijanis from their ancestral lands in the early 20th century. Over 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from their native lands and became refugees as a result of the final deportation in 1988 alone.