Culture Minister: Our neighbouring country is continually destroying our heritage
UNESCO is the only international organization that protects the interests of culture on an international level, Armenia’s Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan said during an international conference titled 'Cultural policy and policy for culture: the role of culture in sustainable development in post-2015 agenda.” She says we should seize the opportunity to present the existing problems. “Armenia has joined five of the seven cultural conventions and has prepared regular reports on four of them in recent years. During the preparation of the reports we encountered a number of problems. Considering the problems associated with historical and cultural heritage in the region, we decided to present everything within the framework of the current conference. I think we shall discuss [during the conference] the applicable provisions of the conventions and the conflicts that lie at the core of the cultural heritage. Also, the ministers will present their cultural policies and we shall combine all general terms on the basis of which we shall draft the cultural policy after 2015.” The minister stressed that all countries have assumed certain commitments by the conventions but not all countries implement the conventions and the question is what form sanctions are applied in this case. “In case of Armenia, I must say that our neighbouring country is continually destroying our heritage and I wonder what sanctions are applied and against which side. The issue needs serious discussions. I guess it is not accidental that in recent three months the UNESCO has convened a series of conferences and expressed concerns over the current situation in the latest conference. I do not think that this conference will give a final answer, but I expect that at least we shall be able to come to a conclusion.”
