YEREVAN (Yerkir)--Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis told a news conference Monday that EU experts will be traveling to Azerbaijan to study the crimes perpetrated against Armenian cultural and religious monuments.
Speaking at the news conference held jointly with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, Davis said that because Azerbaijan has also voiced similar allegations of vandalism against Armenia and Karabakh, observers will also travel to Armenia.
"Both the Council of Europe and personally I will do everything to address these allegations of destruction of religious and cultural monuments," Davis said, adding that the issue was also discussed at his meeting with the Armenian prime minister. He said he was happy that the Armenian authorities are ready to accept the EU experts and that they do not condition it with the decision of the Azerbaijani authorities.
Khachkar destruction in Nakhchivan refers to documented evidence against Azerbaijan of embarking on a campaign beginning in 1998 and ending in December 2005 to completely demolish the cemetery of medieval Armenian khachkars near the town of Julfa, Nakhchivan, an exclave of Azerbaijan. Armenians have proved that Azerbaijan was undertaking a systematic campaign to destroy and remove the monuments first arose in late 1998 and those charges were renewed in 2002 and 2005.
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