Armenian expert: Armenians are looking for any excuse to sow discord
“We have repeatedly faced the false accusations from the Armenian side claiming that Azerbaijan is destroying historical and religious sites. But Azerbaijan regularly proves the opposite. It has always acted within the legal framework, including in this situation,” expert on international conflicts Yevgeny Mikhailov told Report‘s Russian bureau.
He quoted famous Russian satirist Mikhail Zadornov who once asked, ‘why Armenians demand money for the restoration of their churches while they are restoring Albanian shrines?’
“He said he did not understand why Armenians are lying all the time. In this case, I am also drawing parallels. Armenians are engaged in falsifying both history and the events which followed the signing of the agreement,” Mikhailov said.
The expert supported the Azerbaijani side. “Instead of establishing good relations, Armenians are looking for any excuse to sow discord. Today it is happening too often. But the world community receives a decent and substantiated response from Azerbaijan.”
Commenting on his visit to Karabakh, Mikhailov drew attention to the fact that Christian churches are in an unshakable state: “Muslim shrines are completely destroyed. That part of Armenians, which was present there, does not accept any other religions, cultures, and ways of thinking except theirs. Because they are ‘great Armenia.’ Although, their greatness is not proven historically. I support the opinion that Armenia’s appropriation of the historical Christian heritage in the Azerbaijani lands is a deliberate imparting of a religious coloring to the conflict. The use of rhetoric by Armenians to incite inter-religious hatred is their common practice.”
Mikhailov noted that in this case, it is necessary to conduct inspections with participation of world experts and present a bill to Yerevan for the destruction of cultural values located in the previously occupied territories.