Ilham Aliyev: Armenia periodically destroyed our rich heritage in Western Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani people, possessing an ancient history of statehood and culture, have repeatedly faced deprivations, deportations, and genocides over the past two centuries. After the resettlement of Armenians to the ancestral lands of Azerbaijan - as a result of massacres and illegal resettlement of Azerbaijanis in 1905-1907, 1918-1921, 1948-1953, and 1987-1991, hundreds of thousands of our compatriots left their native land and found refuge in Azerbaijan.

The forced resettlement of Azerbaijanis living in Armenia from mountainous regions to places with hotter climates, the appropriation of property they had accumulated over years, the seizure, destruction, and appropriation of material culture specimens - these are historical facts that today are proven by reliable documents.

As reported by BAKU.WS, this is stated in the address of President Ilham Aliyev to the participants of the international conference "Cultural Heritage and the Right to Return" being held in Baku.

"Armenia has periodically destroyed the rich material and non-material cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis living in Western Azerbaijan (WA), their shrines, cemeteries with the aim of erasing traces of the Azerbaijani people from its territory. It is extremely important to take the necessary steps to assess crimes against humanity committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis in the international legal framework, and to receive support from the international community on this issue," the address states.