During the period of the Armenian occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, hundreds of mosques, other shrines and cemeteries were destroyed, desecrated, destroyed. This is stated in the report of the US State Department.
“A long conflict had a catastrophic impact on the cultural heritage of the region,” the report says.
The report notes that the systematic destruction of dozens of Azerbaijani cemeteries in Fizuli, Agdam, Zangilan, Kalbajar and Dzhabrail is documented. The graves were defiled, traces of their destruction were discovered with heavy construction equipment, damage to tombstones, exhumation of the remains.
The report says that the remains of Azerbaijani graves were exhumed to extract golden teeth, after which the skulls and bones remained scattered in cemeteries.
“Armenian cemeteries remained untouched,” the report says.
It is also noted that the large -scale mining of the territories of Azerbaijan during the period of their occupation made access to the vast majority of hundreds of religious objects in cities and villages.
Among the Vandalism of significant religious objects, the destroyed gadzhi Alekper of the 19th century in the Fizuli district and the Juma mosque in Agdam, which was desecrated by graffiti in the Armenian language, and whose niche in the wall indicating the direction to Mecca) was intact with bullets. The cemeteries throughout the Agldam were defiled, plundered and destroyed, among them the sacred historical tombs of the 18th century in the cemetery Imrat Harvand, the city “Alley of the Shehids”.
“Diplomats of Western countries, visiting the” Alley of the Shahids “, reported that they saw excavated and desecrated graves,” the report said.