YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Artsakh issued a statement on the occasion of the visit of the Azerbaijani president to the occupied territories of Artsakh, focusing on the fact that Aliyev personally tasked the officials accompanying him to have medieval Armenian inscriptions removed from the walls of churches and monuments.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Artsakh, the statement runs as follows,

''In a blatant disrespect for the continuous efforts to find a lasting solution to the Azerbaijan -Karabakh conflict, President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, accompanied by his wife and First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva and other high-ranking state officials, has visited the occupied Hadrut region of the Republic of Artsakh. During the visit, President Aliyev personally instructed accompanying officials to have medieval Armenian inscriptions removed from the walls of  churches and monuments in the occupied territories.

Such official visits are nothing but a manifestation of anti-Armenian and militaristic policy of Azerbaijan and an insight into its future aggressive plans.

The Republic of Artsakh has alerted the international community on numerous occasions about Azerbaijan’s state-orchestrated cultural terrorism, its efforts to erase Armenian cultural heritage in territories that are under its military occupation further advancing its genocidal expansionist policy.

This genocidal policy is a crime against humanity, a gross violation of international norms, conventions, resolutions and agreements, and a threat to the entire civilized world.

We call on the relevant international organizations to take all the necessary measures to prevent the eradication of Armenian cultural heritage as well as to resolutely condemn the genocidal policy of Azerbaijan. Inaction and indifference are fraught with unpredictable consequences''.