YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The President of ICOMOS (International Council on Monumen’s and Sites) Michael Petzet has applied to the United Nations Educational–Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) requesting it dispatch a team of experts to evaluate the destruction of the Armenian cemetery in the Jugha region (presently Julfa) in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan that previously housed around 3000 Khachkars–and is considered to be a historical monument.
The ICOMOS Armenia office recently notified the press about illegal actions taken by Azerbaijan to destroy the Jugha monumen’s.
More recently–it called on Petzet to take appropriate measures in stopping continuous occurrences of vandalism–and asked that UNESCO mediate by sending experts (to include both Armenian and Azeris) to the area.
In making their case–ICOMOS-Armenia compiled documen’s–including photographs of the destruction taking place. Some of the photographs were taken in November 2002–when a large number of Khachkars (cross-stones) and tombstones had already either been vandalized or simply removed from the site–while the other half was taken much earlier–showing all the monumen’s intact.
The 2002/03 "Endangered Heritage" ICOMOS almanac–published to inform the world about historical monumen’s that have either been destroyed or are on the verge of destruction–will provide detailed information and photographs of Old Jugha.