Open letter to the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms. Audrey Azoulay
Dear Mrs. Azoulay!
Let me please once again express my deep respect to you and confirm that the Republic of Western Armenia (Armenia), having recognized and ratified the UNESCO Charter on March 20, 2018, fully accepts its provisions and goals declared by the organization: promoting peace and security by expanding cooperation between states and peoples in the field of education, science and culture; ensuring justice and respect for the rule of law, universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, proclaimed in the UN Charter, for all peoples, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion.
Thanks to the conventions adopted ин UNESCO, the international community is united to achieve common goals to preserve the cultural heritage of mankind. And thanks to your efforts very important work has been done to preserve the cultural heritage of mankind – both tangible and intangible.
That is why today, having lost hope for help from anyone, I appeal to you with a request to turn your eyes to the Armenian Highlands, where the heritage of the great ancient Armenian civilization, which is not only the heritage of the Armenian people but of the whole world, has been regularly destroyed for the many decades.
The Armenian Highlands (changed to the toponym of Anatolia by Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who organized the Armenian Genocide in 1894), according to many Armenian, European and American scientists, is the Cradle of civilization.
Until now, so called “black archaeologists” are illegally excavating in the Armenian Highlands and destroying unique ancient artefacts on the territory of Lake Van, in the past the Ararat, the Van Kingdom (Urartu), in Armenian Cilicia – the ancient Armenian city of Edessa (Ourfa) with a changed toponym Shanliurfa by Turkey, in the ancient Armenian capital Ani – the city of 1001 churches, and in many other historical Armenian settlements.
The digging works are carried out in a barbaric way, particularly by excavator machines, while destroying the majestic carvings on the walls with their decorations and the walls with frescoes. If they cannot be sold, found artefacts are destroyed ruthlessly by vandals.
I understand that many terrible things are happening in the world now. Nevertheless, it is precisely through the above-mentioned artefacts that unexplored layers of the history of the highest civilization can be revealed. These artefacts can reveal hitherto unknown, unexplored layers of the beginning of history and its development …
Dear Ms Azoulay!
The ancient cities and illegal excavation sites, according to the arbitration decision of Woodrow Wilson, are de jure located on the territory of the Republic of Western Armenia (State of Armenia), and I am its official representative legally elected by the citizens of Western Armenia.
Sincerely,
Yulia Gyuloyan,
Minister of Culture of the Republic of Western Armenia (State of Armenia)
August 29, 2022
