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A group of famous Armenian and foreign figures of art and science have addressed an open letter to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, requesting dismissal of Azerbaijan’s First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva from her title of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Canadian-Armenian actress Arsinée Khanjian said on Facebook, adding a petition based on the open letter has been launched on Change.org.

The figures first recall Aliyeva’s statement directly contradicting the core values of her mission, showing her continuous support for military solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, calling the 30 years of negotiations aimed for peaceful resolution of the conflict “meaningless”.

“We believe that the First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva – representative of one of the most corrupt, violent, and oppressive regimes of our times, should not remain a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, as a politician who bears full responsibility for countless human rights violations, encouragement and implementation of the hate policy against Armenians on the state level, as well as for the numerous war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani leadership against Armenians,” the letter says.

It also addresses the Azerbaijani targeting of religious and cultural centers, civilian infrastructure in Shushi and Stepanakert which resulted in widespread destruction and casualties.

The authors of the letter also highlight Turkey's support to Azerbaijan and the transfer of mercenary terrorists to the region.

“We believe that the leadership of Azerbaijan must be held accountable for all the violence, human rights violations, cultural terrorism, and war crimes committed against the Armenian people of Artsakh and Armenia. And we expect UNESCO to stay committed to its mission and act upon the condemnation and punishment of the criminal actions of the leadership of Azerbaijan.

“Thus we, the undersigned, urge you to take meaningful action and dismiss Mrs․ Mehriban Aliyeva from her title of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador,” the letter reads.

More than 23,000 people have already signed the petition.