Shusha

The Organization to Protect Historical and Cultural Monuments in the Occupied Lands of Azerbaijan said in a statement that the financial assistance to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh allocated by the United States every year promotes the further strengthening of Armenian separatism and terrorism in the South Caucasus, the long-running occupation of Azerbaijani land and the mass destruction of Azerbaijan's cultural heritage in the occupied lands.

The statement notes that hundreds of administrative settlements, 600 mosques, mausoleums, monuments and other temples that are on the list of Muslim religious memorials have been destroyed in the occupied Azerbaijani lands with US financial assistance in 1992-2009 alone. Excavations in Azikh cave in Karabakh, Taghlar cave in Jebrail, all the barrows in Agdam, Khojali, Khankendi and along the Gargarchay river have been destroyed by Armenian expedition groups and the finds taken to Armenia. About 30 archaeological digs, including dozens of specialists from the United States, England, Holland, Norway and other countries, have been held in Shusha, Askeran, Shahbulag, Agderi, Kelbajar and Lachin regions.

Moreover, 15 new Armenian churches have been built with financial means from the United States in the occupied regions of Azerbaijan and the dates and inscriptions on 700 historical and cultural memorials of the Albanian period have been erased and replaced with Armenian texts. Some 2,000 stones in the form of the Armenian cross made in Armenia have been erected in the occupied Azerbaijani lands. Every year Armenia publishes and disseminates propaganda in different languages targeting the statehood of Azerbaijan.

AzerTaj