Western Azerbaijani Community opposes US statement

By Asim Aliyev

The Western Azerbaijan Community has made a statement that the US International Commission on Religious Freedom included prejudice and Azerbaijanophobia in part of the US report on Azerbaijan's religious freedom, Azernews reports.

The Western Azerbaijani Community demands that the US should abandon its biased policy towards Azerbaijan and not be an obstacle to peace in the region.

"In a report published by the UN mission after its visit to the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan in October 2023, despite confirming that there is no damage to cultural and religious monuments there, the Commission notes that unknown "human rights organizations" have some concerns.

It should be noted that this report is written in the same manner as the anti-Azerbaijani report published by the State Department in May this year. The only difference between the Commission's report and the State Department's report is that it does not refer more openly to radical nationalist Armenian authors L.Khachaturian, H.Ghulyan, S.Bokcheryan to substantiate their claims against Azerbaijan," the statement emphasized.

Community stated that the above-mentioned American institute gives wide scope to unfounded allegations about Armenian religious monuments in Azerbaijan.

American institute does not recognize the facts that about 300 mosques that were under state registration in Armenia and all other religious buildings belonging to Azerbaijanis were destroyed. However, for some reasons, the institute completely ignores the facts of the destruction of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia on the grounds of national and religious hatred.

"Western Azerbaijanis Community demands that the U.S. abandon its biased policy towards Azerbaijan and not be an impediment to peace in the region. If the U.S. truly cares about human rights and religious heritage, it should support the right of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia and help rebuild the destroyed Azerbaijani religious and cultural heritage in Armenia," the Community added.