“The Christian factor was openly declared when the European parliament was discussing the destruction of the Armenian gravestones in Julfa,” Azerbaijani Ambassador to the European Parliament Arif Mamedov stated. In his words, Christian Democrats especially from Greece and Cyprus openly made statements like “We should not forget that Armenians are Christians like us”, “Armenians are the most ancient people in the Caucasus.” “At last the chairman of the EU-Azerbaijan interparliamentary cooperation committee requested the deputies not to attach religious slant to the problem,” Mamedov noted. He also said he has for the first time come across such a pro-Christian position and added, “We are concerned over the discussion of Djulfa issue against the background of Islamophobia that emerged in Europe.” According to the Azerbaijani Ambassador the Azeri delegation members succeeded in changing the title of the resolution only. The draft resolution was titled “On destruction of Armenian cultural monuments by Azerbaijanis,” reported APA.
To remind, the European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the Azerbaijani government’s destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, a unique archaeological treasure located in the Nakhichevan autonomous republic administered by Azerbaijan. The resolution, which was approved by a vote of 85 to 5, noted that, “serious allegations have been raised about the involvement of the Azerbaijani authorities in the destruction of these monuments” and stressed that ” Azerbaijan has not provided answers [on this matter to] the former special rapporteur of the United Nations.” Based on these and other findings, the European Parliament “strongly condemns the destruction of the Djulfa cemetery [ ]” and “demands that Azerbaijan allow missions dedicated to surveying and protecting the archaeological heritage on its territory, especially Armenian heritage [ ].” The measure also asks Azerbaijan to “allow a European Parliament delegation to visit the archaeological site at Djulfa.”
