Official outlines Armenian vandalism against Azerbaijani cemetries, mosques at int'l event

Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Structures Mubariz Gurbanli has said that Armenia destroyed Azerbaijani cemeteries and used mosques as stables during its 30-year occupation.

He made the remarks at the first session entitled "The role of religion in peace-building, peacemaking and stability", held within the framework of the international conference "Multicultural view on priority global problems", Report informs.

Gurbanli noted that 20 per cent of the Azerbaijani territory had been under Armenia's occupation for almost 30 years.

He recalled that in 2020, during the 44-day Patriotic War, Azerbaijan liberated its historical and internationally recognized territories from occupation.

"During the occupation, Armenia has repeatedly committed acts of vandalism in these territories, destroyed the religious and cultural-religious heritage belonging to the Azerbaijani people. Mosques, sanctuaries, cemeteries were destroyed. Mosques were even used as a stable for keeping animals. Of the 67 mosques located on the territories liberated from occupation, 63 were completely destroyed, four were partially destroyed," the official noted.

According to Gurbanli, the internal and external appearance of Christian monuments belonging to the period of Caucasian Albania were also changed.

"They were Gregorianized (Ganjasar, Khudavang, etc.) or destroyed. Some foreign journalists described as 'the city of nightmares', 'little Hiroshima' Aghdam, which became a victim of Armenian vandalism," he noted.