Armenia’s provocative attempt suppressed in UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee

As is reported, the thirteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is taking place in Port Louis, Republic of Mauritius.

In the margins of the session, Armenia’s provocative attempt against Azerbaijan was suppressed in the session of UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture said in a message.

Azerbaijan’s five-year report “Chovqan, a traditional Karabakh horse-riding game in the Republic of Azerbaijan” was adopted during the 13th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The report includes the activity carried out in Azerbaijan in connection with the development of the traditional chovqan game, as well as the impossibility of holding this traditional game as a result of the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region by Armenia.

According to the report, the Azerbaijani population, forcibly expelled from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, despite the heavy consequences of the war and aggression, seeks to preserve the chovqan.

Remaining faithful to its unconstructive tradition, during the meeting, the Armenian delegation stood against Azerbaijan and demanded to return the submitted report to the Azerbaijani side.

Discussions were held in connection with this issue and Armenia’s another attempt as always failed again. No committee member supported Armenia’s proposals on this issue.

Standing against Armenia’s claim, Azerbaijan’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Anar Karimov stressed that this report was created by the Ministry of Culture in accordance with international law, the UN Charter and the corresponding UNESCO convention, and the document reflects the opinions and interviews of all the communities playing the chovqan game in Azerbaijan.

Anar Karimov thanked the members of the committee for their constructive position and called on the representative of Armenia not to use their membership in the committee for political purposes.

At the session, Azerbaijan was represented by a delegation led by deputy foreign minister Ramiz Hasanov, Head of Azerbaijan`s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO Anar Karimov, Ambassador-at-Large, Secretary-General of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO Elnur Sultanov, Deputy Head of Administration, Head of International Cooperation and Innovations Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan Vasif Eyvazzade and the Second Secretary of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO Nahid Omarov.