YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) has been the focus of UNESCO for many years and the organization is concerned about the reports on alleged destruction of various types of cultural heritage there, Krista Pikkat, director of the UNESCO Culture and Emergencies Entity and Secretary of the 1954 Hague Convention and its two protocols (1954 and 1999) said while in Yerevan on October 30.
Asked on the UNESCO position regarding the fact that Azerbaijan has been destroying the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh since it took control of the region in 2023, Pikkat said, “The region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been at the center of UNESCO’s attention for many years already. We have received reports from all different concerned parties about the alleged destruction of different kinds and different cultural properties of different origin. So that’s why UNESCO has been monitoring the situation with concern.”
Pikkat said that during the previous conflict the UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay wanted to immediately dispatch a technical mission to the region to take stock of the situation and to understand the needs how UNESCO can help to preserve and protect the diverse heritage.
“The discussions on the dispatch of the mission, the composition and also what will be the focus of the mission was laid at the highest level with the concerned parties. Now that the situation has changed, this mission can no longer be dispatched under the 1954 Hague Convention. We are discussing now with the Azerbaijani authorities also how we can support them,” Pikkat said.
Pikkat added that taking into consideration that the Nagorno-Karabakh population fled to Armenia, UNESCO sent a mission to Armenia last year to offer support and help, and to make sure that the community’s needs are met in terms of education, as well as from the psychosocial perspective.
The mission also tried to understand how they can support the intangible cultural heritage. “We would like to propose to the Armenian authorities that we start with what we call a community-based inventorying of this intangible cultural heritage, practices of these communities. It is very important for us to have the community discuss whichever practices and traditions and customs they need to preserve and be more aware of that, and if necessary, if there are traditions that are on the verge of disappearing, also to seek measures how to keep these traditions alive. So UNESCO is very much eager to work with these communities and authorities to provide any possible support we can in the framework of our normative instruments in the field of culture.
