Page 55 - karabag raporu eng

On-Site Investigation Report on Human Rights in Karabakh

from respect for human dignity and that cultural rights are an integral part of
human rights, which are universal, indivisible, and interdependent.

As a result of the observations we obtained in our on-site examination with-
in the framework of all the mentioned international legal regulations, it is
quite obviously revealed that Armenia violated the principles of internation-
al humanitarian law and committed war crimes.
First of all, in the determinations made in Aghdam, it was observed that the
city was completely destroyed as a result of the attacks it was exposed to
st
during the 1 Karabakh War, and that cultural properties were included in
this. To make determinations regarding cultural properties, our delegation
visited respectively the complex where Panah Ali Khan’s house and tomb are
located, Bread Museum, Juma and Giyasly Mosques.

As detailed information is provided in the chapter on field visits, it was per-
sonally observed that the complex, where the house and tomb of Panah Ali
Khan are located, was severely damaged, and that the graves of his son, Ibra-
him Khalil Khan, and Khurshidbanu Natavan, as well as the grave of Panah
Ali Khan, were greatly damaged. It was also seen that the grave of Khurshid-
banu Natavan was excavated to remove her bones, that the whereabouts of
the bones are still unknown, and that a door was later built in the palace of
Panah Ali Khan. The damage to the grave of Khurshidbanu Natavan and the
theft of her bones are also noteworthy due to the fact that she has an im-
portant place in the social-political, cultural life and literature of Azerbaijan,
especially Karabakh.

The damage to the Juma and Giyasly Mosques and the damage to the Bread
Museum, the world’s second bread museum, which was targeted by a missile
launched by Armenia in 1992, were sadly observed.

As a result of the OSCE Minsk Group’s on-site examination of the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan in 2010, it was recommended that necessary meas-
ures should be taken to protect cemeteries and places of worship .On the
16
other hand, both the principle of protection of cultural property and the
principle of respect for the cultural property were violated due to the fact that
both the palace of Panah Ali Khan and the Juma and Giyasly Mosques were
used as barns, and therefore, animals including pigs, which are forbidden in
Islam, are fed, and that a door is built inside in order to use the historical
building as a barn. (Photographs of animals fed in the Mosque, which is a

16 Executive Summary of the “Report of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ Field Assessment Mission to the
Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan Surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh” https://www.osce.org/files/f/document-
s/7/d/76209.pdf

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