Azerbaijan launches website on Armenian vandalism

By Laman Ismayilova

A heritage.gov.az website has been created on historical and cultural monuments in Azerbaijan's liberated territories, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

The website was developed by the State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage to inform the general public about Armenian vandalism.

Azerbaijan Culture Minister Anar Karimov addressed the website presentation held at the International Mugham Center.

"Armenians can destroy monuments, but they cannot erase our historical memory. The 44-day Patriotic War proved once again that we have not forgotten our past. President Ilham Aliyev ordered an inventory in the territories freed from occupation," said the culture minister.

The State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage discovered around 403 historical and cultural monuments in the liberated territories.

Another 162 historical monuments were not registered before. Based on the obtained information, a catalog about Shusha was published.

"Preparations are being made for the publication of the second catalog on Shusha. We will use it as visual evidence during the information struggle. The most important element of the information war is to convey the truth to the public in the right form," said Anar Karimov.

The culture minister emphasized that the newly-created website will play the role of a portal related to immovable historical and cultural monuments located in the territories freed from occupation.

The head of the State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Azad Jafarli, noted that for the implementation of the relevant presidential decree on the establishment of temporary special administrations in Azerbaijan's territories liberated from the occupation, the Culture Ministry's representatives visited the liberated regions to conduct inventory and protection work.

He emphasized that the data related to the conducted monitoring covered Shusha, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Khojavand, Gubadli, Aghdam, Tartar, Lachin, and Kalbajar regions.

Results of the monitoring of historical and cultural monuments in the liberated territories are widely covered on the website heritage.gov.az.

"The website contains images of historical and cultural monuments before and after the Armenian occupation. It also provides detailed information about the monuments. At the same time, the places where the monuments are located are marked on the corresponding map," said Azad Jafarli.

The website was developed at the level of modern requirements in order to ensure the comfort of users.

Modern software was used in the development of the site. The site meets Google's seo standards (search engine optimization) which allow the information on the site to be shown in the first place for users when searching for related keywords.

The newly-created internet resource is enriched with more accurate, scientific, and justified information in terms of content about historical and cultural sites in Azerbaijan's liberated territories.