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 The Presidium of the Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe (FAAE) and the President personally, Dr Ashot Grigorian, wish to express their extreme disappointment to the UNESCO Secretariat and its Director General Ms Irina Bokova, requesting an explanation for the scandal surrounding the UNESCO organized exhibition of Armenian cross-stones (khachkars) in Paris on June 15, 2011. It is understood that UNESCO requested the organizers to remove from the placards the exact location of the cross-stones’ origin. This absurd request becomes even more preposterous when the explanation provided reveals that it is a request from Azerbaijani and Turkish authorities, i.e. the two countries that methodically carried out cultural genocide destroying millennia old valuable Armenian memorials in Armenian regions furthermore demand removing the same from people’s memories. It is known that in 2005 Azerbaijani authorities organized and executed the complete destruction of thousands of ancient Armenian cross-stones in the region of Julfa, Nakhichevan. To date UNESCO has not investigated this transgression and has failed to send an investigation mission to Nakhichevan due to the counter efforts of the very organizers of this vandalism – the Azerbaijani authorities headed by President Ilham Aliyev.

FAAE requests that UNESCO set up a commission to investigate the above mentioned statement and hold to account the perpetrators of the deliberate and intentional destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.

In addition, we request an explanation regarding the Paris exhibition and an apology from those responsible for this scandalous act. Alternatively, FAAE will put this case forward to the jurisdiction of international courts.