Heritage: Unesco proposes sending a mission to Nagorno Karabakh

Save what can still be saved.

Unesco has offered to send an expert mission to Nagorno Karabakh, the scene of the recent deadly conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"

" this detachment from the UN agency will be responsible for making an inventory of cultural property in the region, explained the United Nations organization for education, science and culture, based in Paris.

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During meetings with representatives of the two countries in conflict, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of Unesco, "

" with a view to a possible "field

”.

To her interlocutors, Audrey Azoulay "

", according to a Unesco press release.

A first for the Hague Convention

She referred in particular to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which enables the Unesco secretariat to send such a mission.

However, this never happened, it would be a first.

Since the start of the clashes, Unesco has received a flood of information from the two conflicting parties on alleged violations affecting the heritage and cultural property of Nagorno-Karabakh: destruction, vandalism ...

To ensure the possibility of the implementation of such a mission, Audrey Azoulay has conducted a series of consultations over the past few days.

She met with representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also with the co-chairs of the Minsk group (France, Russia, United States) of the OSCE, mediators in this conflict.

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Ayaz Gojayev, deputy permanent delegate of Azerbaijan to Unesco and Christian Ter Stépanian, Armenian ambassador, permanent delegate to Unesco, each expressed "

", sources told AFP close to the file.

Audrey Azoulay spoke earlier this week with the Russian ambassador to Unesco.

According to the organization, President Vladimir Putin and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke of their wish that Unesco is committed to the protection of heritage.

"Window of opportunity"

She continued her consultations Thursday evening with French President Emmanuel Macron who supported the Unesco initiative, the same sources said, before meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei on Friday. Lavrov.

The latter "

", according to these sources.

During this telephone conversation, “

”

were mentioned

.

Unesco should continue contacts "

".

If caution remains in order, "

", whereas since the first war of the 90s, the UN agency was never able to visit this region, despite attempts to do so.

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Nagorno Karabakh, an independentist enclave of Azerbaijan supported by Armenia, had already been the scene of a war that killed more than 30,000 people in the early 1990s.

Once the political conditions are met, there will remain the practical phase of sending such a mission, which is complex and which should take several weeks.

In particular, the perimeter of the mission - Unesco wishing to be able to access the geographical areas on both sides -, the assets to be targeted, and the very composition of the mission, with the choice of "

"

experts, will have to be determined

.

A phase that promises to be very "

" too.