NEWS

Shikhlar Tomb (Circular Tomb) is located near Shikhlar village of Jabrayil district. The upper part of the tomb was destroyed during Armenian occupation in 1993.

Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum has showcased sahang and satil from the museum's Artistic Metalwork collection.

Historically, rulers and great statesmen are remembered for their deeds, perpetuated in memory due to their important role in the people's fate. Khurshidbanu Natavan, a generous, thoughtful poet, an active public figure, and patron of the arts is one of these historical figures. The supply of water from the Isa Bulag spring to the Shusha fortress to provide the population with drinking water, the construction of a pool and a bath was her major charitable project.

People used sahang, guyum, and satil, decorated with beautiful patterns, to carry water from the spring.

Founded in 1967, the National Carpet Museum holds more than 14,000 exhibits of the finest Azerbaijani carpets.

The museum, initiated by eminent carpet artist Latif Karimov, is beautiful inside and out. The museum's new building is designed in the form of a rolled carpet.

The Carpet Museum opened its doors in 2014 at Baku Seaside Park. All carpets were transferred to the museum's new location.

Now, the museum hosts multiple events, including international symposiums, conferences and various exhibitions.

In 2019, the museum received the national status for its significant contribution in popularization and promotion of the Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving Art.

The Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture has begun work on the preparation of a nomination dossier in order to include the historical center of Shusha in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

The inclusion of the Shusha Historical and Architectural Reserve, founded in 1977 at the initiative of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, in the preliminary list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2001 is one of the important steps in this direction.

The Shusha Historic and Architectural Reserve includes historical monuments like  the Upper and Lower Govharaga mosques, Khan gizi Natevan’s hose, Garabag khan palace, Vagif mauzoleum, Mirza Salah bey Zohrabbeyov’s residential house, Shusha kurgan, Shusha cave camp, Shusha fortress, and others.

In total, there were 549 ancient buildings in Shusha, including a total length of 1,203 meters streets laid with stone, 17 quarter springs, 17 mosques, 6 caravanserais, 3 mausoleums, 2 medrese, 2 castles, fortress walls as well as 72 important art and historic monuments, houses of state figures, and other renowned persons.

Notably, Azerbaijan and UNESCO have been enjoying successful cooperation since 1992. In 2003, the parties signed the framework agreement on cooperation in the areas of culture, science, education and communication, which allowed Azerbaijan to become one of the donors of UNESCO.

Many Azerbaijan's cultural sites have been included into UNESCO's World Heritage List: Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower, Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace and Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape.

The Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture has released a statement on Armenia's illegal archaeological activities carried out in Azerbaijan's occupied territories.

The Ministry reports that Armenia has been conducting illegal archeological excavations since 1992, thus violating  international law, including the legislation of Azerbaijan.

Since 2002, excavations have been carried out with the participation of foreign experts in the Azykh Cave in Azerbaijan's Khojavand region. It should be noted that Azykh Cave is one of the most ancient human habitats in the world. In 1968, the low jaw bone of a human related to the Neanderthal type was found there. 

The statement says that material and cultural samples found during the excavation were transported to Armenia and appropriated.

Paragraph nine of the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention on the 'protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict' dated 1954 prohibits and warns in relation to the occupied territory any illegal export, other seizure or transfer of ownership of cultural property, any archaeological excavation, unless it is required solely for protection, accounting or preservation of cultural property, any modification or change in the use of cultural property, which is intended to hide or destroy evidence of a cultural, historical or scientific nature. 

Hence, illegal acts against cultural property and cultural heritage during armed conflicts are considered a war crime under international criminal law. Armenia, as a state, bears direct international legal responsibility for acts of vandalism against material and cultural monuments in the territories that were once occupied by it," the ministry noted.

This issue is under the strict control of the Azerbaijani Culture Ministry. In addition, many international organizations will be regularly informed about the illegal actions of the Armenian side.

The Ministry emphases that relevant measures will be taken to apply the necessary legal procedures to prevent such misappropriation. International organizations, in particular UNESCO, must give a legal assessment to these facts.

As a multicultural and multi-religious country, Azerbaijan has always been home for representatives of all nations and religions, who have co-existed and worked together peacefully for centuries; the state shows due care towards protecting, restoring and rebuilding their cultural heritage. The large Christian community in our country is an integral and active part of our society, and their monuments and places of worship, churches are fully protected by the Azerbaijani state and are regularly restored. It is no coincidence that during his visit to Azerbaijan in October 2016, Pope Francis praised Azerbaijan as a model country in the world for religious tolerance. The restoration and reconstruction of our historical and religious monuments, including churches and synagogues, is an integral part of the policy pursued by the Azerbaijani state in this area. Over the last 20 years, the Russian Orthodox Church (The Church of the Jen-Mironosits Cathedral), The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baku or Baku Church of the Saviour, and the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church in Ganja have been renovated by the state, and the Orthodox Religious and Cultural Centre of the Baku and Azerbaijan Eparchy has been built. Moreover, the repair of the Chotari Albanian-Udi Church in Gabala and the Orthodox Church in Baku, and the construction of the Church of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception in Baku were carried out as part of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s project “Azerbaijan – the Land of tolerance”. In 2020, within the framework of this project, the Albanian Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nij settlement of Gabala was thoroughly restored by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The Armenian Church in the centre of Baku was restored by the Azerbaijani state and given to the free use of the people. Azerbaijan has contributed to the protection of the Christian heritage not only within the country but also worldwide; the restoration of the St. Sebastian catacombs at the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, including the restoration of the catacombs of Saints Marcellino and Pietro in Vatican, Rome, which was carried out as part of a bilateral agreement between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Holy See (Vatican) on the restoration of Roman catacombs, as well as the erection of a monument to Prince Vladimir in the square in front of the St. Vladimir’s Church by the order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which were dedicated to the 1025th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Russia and the 455th anniversary of the founding of Astrakhan, are among these projects. In addition, assistance was provided in the restoration of seven churches of the 10th-12th centuries in the settlements of Saint-Hilaire, Fresnaye-au-Sauvage, Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard, Tanville, Courgeoût, Réveillon and Mâle in the Orne department of France. The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan states that along with mosques and other Islamic monuments in the liberated territories, the Christian heritage, irrespective of its origin will also be preserved, restored and put into operation at the highest level.

“As a multicultural and multi-religious country, Azerbaijan has always been home for representatives of all nations and religions, who have co-existed and worked together peacefully for centuries; the state shows due care towards protecting, restoring and rebuilding their cultural heritage. The large Christian community in our country is an integral and active part of our society, and their monuments and places of worship, churches are fully protected by the Azerbaijani state and are regularly restored. It is no coincidence that during his visit to Azerbaijan in October 2016, Pope Francis praised Azerbaijan as a model country in the world for religious tolerance.

The restoration and reconstruction of our historical and religious monuments, including churches and synagogues, is an integral part of the policy pursued by the Azerbaijani state in this area,” says a statement by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture.

“Over the last 20 years, the Russian Orthodox Church (The Church of the Jen-Mironosits Cathedral), The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baku or Baku Church of the Saviour, and the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church in Ganja have been renovated by the state, and the Orthodox Religious and Cultural Centre of the Baku and Azerbaijan Eparchy has been built. Moreover, the repair of the Chotari Albanian-Udi Church in Gabala and the Orthodox Church in Baku, and the construction of the Church of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception in Baku were carried out as part of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s project “Azerbaijan – the Land of tolerance”. In 2020, within the framework of this project, the Albanian Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nij settlement of Gabala was thoroughly restored by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The Armenian Church in the centre of Baku was restored by the Azerbaijani state and given to the free use of the people.

Azerbaijan has contributed to the protection of the Christian heritage not only within the country but also worldwide; the restoration of the St. Sebastian catacombs at the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, including the restoration of the catacombs of Saints Marcellino and Pietro in Vatican, Rome, which was carried out as part of a bilateral agreement between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Holy See (Vatican) on the restoration of Roman catacombs, as well as the erection of a monument to Prince Vladimir in the square in front of the St. Vladimir’s Church by the order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which were dedicated to the 1025th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Russia and the 455th anniversary of the founding of Astrakhan, are among these projects.

In addition, assistance was provided in the restoration of seven churches of the 10th-12th centuries in the settlements of Saint-Hilaire, Fresnaye-au-Sauvage, Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard, Tanville, Courgeoût, Réveillon and Mâle in the Orne department of France.

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan states that along with mosques and other Islamic monuments in the liberated territories, the Christian heritage, irrespective of its origin will also be preserved, restored and put into operation at the highest level.”

The church is located on Beshikdag Mountain in Aghdam district.  The church, built in the style of Caucasian Albanian architecture, dates back to the 4th-7th centuries.

Chairman of the Board of "Azerkhalcha" Open Joint Stock Company, Professor Vidadi Muradov has made an appeal to carpet companies, international cultural organizations and influential media outlets operating in various countries around the world.

The document features detailed information about the Armenians’ attempts of falsifying Azerbaijani carpets, plundering Azerbaijani material and cultural artifacts, including carpets in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the Armenian armed forces’ shelling of a carpet weaving workshop in Tartar, that employs 71 women.

The appeal reads: “Armenians, who were resettled in the South Caucasus by Tsarist Russia in the early 19th century, managed to establish their state in the territory of the former Iravan Khanate of Azerbaijan in 1918. Armenians seized Zangazur region, which was historically inhabited by Azerbaijanis during the Soviet era, to cut off Nakhchivan's ties with the major territories of Azerbaijan. The Armenians committed ethnic cleansing and unprecedented genocide against our people by occupying the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and 7 adjacent districts in the early 1990s.

Alongside with destroying the historical monuments of our people in the occupied Azerbaijani lands, Armenians are trying to appropriate many examples of our national culture, including our carpets. We declare that carpet weaving is an integral part of Azerbaijan’s history, a piece of national art. Every place where the Azerbaijani carpet is woven, including Karabakh is Azerbaijan.

Karabakh carpet group, which is one of the 9 groups of Azerbaijan carpet school, includes carpets and carpet products woven in Shusha, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Tartar, Khankandi, Khojaly, Kalbajar, Jabrayil, Gubadli, Aghdara, Lachin, Khojavand, Beylagan, Aghjabadi, Barda and Zangilan.

The international community should know that historical roots of Azerbaijani carpet weaving are directly related to Turks. On all carpets woven in Karabakh there are dozens of elements and stamps symbolizing the Turkish tribes like Bayat, Kangarli, Kolani, Baydili, Damirchi, Kazanchi, Yayji, Mughanli, Afshar, Gushchu, Otuzikilar, Yirmidordlar, Javanshir, Garagoyunlular and others.

The attempt of Armenians, who falsify the history and have false and hypocritical past, to appropriate the Karabakh carpets is an integral part of another insidious plan. Carpet is one of the rare pieces of art that provides a rich source of information about the past history and the region which it belongs to. One of their main goals in Armenianizing our carpets is to falsify the history of Karabakh. In fact, the carpets that have been woven here for centuries, the patterns reflected in these carpets prove once again Karabakh to be one of the ancient cultural centers of Azerbaijan.

The whole world should know that Armenians learned carpet weaving from Azerbaijani Turks. They had no idea about carpet weaving and did not have their own carpet patterns before they were resettled in the South Caucasus. If carpet weaving is, as the Armenians claim, their ancient craft, then why didn't they bring a carpet sample which was woven before they moved to Azerbaijan? Or why there were no carpet factories in Karabakh with Armenian carpet weavers, both before and during the Soviet era? If the history of compact resettlement of Armenians in Karabakh dates back to the middle of the 19th century, how come they can claim Azerbaijani, as well as and Karabakh carpet weaving, which had all the main compositions formed and technical standards improved by the end of the 18th century? They have been unable to find answers to these reasonable questions for many years, deceiving the world community with their fantasies. Karabakh carpets presented by the Armenians as their own works of art are the products of the Azerbaijani people’s mindset. There is one name for the appropriation of another people's work of art and it is theft.

Long before the resettlement of Armenians to the South Caucasus, Karabakh carpets had already been recognized all over the world. There are reports in many historical sources that carpet weaving reached a high stage of development in Karabakh. This information proves that Karabakh carpet weavers weaved carpet products and carpets with unique patters based on orders received from neighboring and far countries. In the 19th century, as in most settlements of Karabakh, carpet weaving in Shusha had already become a commodity. Carpets woven here were highly valued in Russia, Europe and Asia. This proves once again that only Azerbaijanis were professionally engaged in carpet weaving in Karabakh.

We state that the national heritage of our people, including carpets were looted from our museums which were destroyed during the Armenian military aggression against Azerbaijan. Moreover, when IDPs were expelled from their ancestral lands, they were unable to remove most of their ancient carpets. Today, carpets presented by Armenians as their works of art are carpets looted from the occupied regions of Azerbaijan in 1990s. Armenians are trying to present these carpets as their own works of art at various exhibitions, international events and auctions. In fact, the authors of these carpets are Azerbaijani Turks, indigenous people of Karabakh.

Armenians renamed our national carpet patterns as they did with the Azerbaijani cities, settlements and villages in the occupied territories and Armenianized toponyms. It is impossible to achieve anything by making illogical and unjustified additions to the carpet patterns created by Azerbaijani people. They will one day be held accountable for their actions, as well as for deceiving the world community.

As carpet weaving is an ancient art of our people, Azerbaijani state has created a wide network of carpet weaving around the country. At present, 3 out of 21 branches of Azerkhalcha Open Joint Stock Company operate in Karabakh, and 1 in the settlement inhabited by IDPs from Jabrayil district. Hundreds of Karabakh women weave Karabakh carpets on the basis of ancient patterns at these carpet factories.

We strongly condemn the fact that the carpet factory in Tartar, is one of the civilian infrastructure facilities, which has been seriously damaged as a result of the recent shelling of Azerbaijani towns, villages and civilians by the Armenian armed forces. 71 out of 78 people working in the workshop are women. The fact that Armenians opened fire on the carpet workshop shows once again that this terrorist state is targeting the civilian population of Azerbaijan, especially women, and trying to destroy our cultural property. The world's carpet weavers must protest against this vandalism and condemn the inhumane acts of terrorist Armenia.

Finally, it should be noted that Azerbaijani Turks will continue to be engaged in carpet weaving even after thousands of years. Because carpet weaving is an ancient art that has become an unshakable tradition of these people, and carpet weaving is their inborn ability. As President Ilham Aliyev said: “Azerbaijan is the homeland of carpet weaving, our national value, our asset just as mugham and architectural monuments."

YAP Ganja Youth Union has presented a patriotic video dedicated to the National Flag Day (November 9). 

It was noted that Azerbaijani flag waving at the highest peaks today demonstrates the strength of the Azerbaijani state and national unity.

The video features young people dressed in traditional costumes in the colors of the national flag, who sing poems dedicated to Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani Democratic Republic adopted the Azerbaijani tricolour as the national flag of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on November 9th 1918.

The flag was flown until 1920 when Azerbaijan became part of the Soviet Union. 

After gaining independence in 1991, the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan Republic announced the tricolor flag with a star and a crescent as the national flag of Azerbaijan on February 5, 1991.

On November 17, 2009, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to declare November 9 as the National Flag Day.

To honor the flag, the National Flag Square in Baku was officially opened by President Ilham Aliyev on September 1 2010. 

Bilasuvar Youth Public Union "Window to the World" has launched a new project aimed at promotion of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. 

The initiative was previously named best at the contest co-organized by the Council on State Support to NGOs and Baku International Multiculturalism Center. 

The project titled "Azerbaijan's unique model of multiculturalism in the Francophonie media" features six articles on the current multicultural situation in Azerbaijan to be published in the French newspapers "L'Ami Hebdo d'Alsace" and "L'Alsace". 

The work to be done as a result of the project focuses on spreading truth about Azerbaijan's multicultural values in the international arena.

Being a part of Azerbaijan’s domestic policy, multiculturalism contributes to the high-level regulation of relations between the state and religion, preservation of cultural values ​​of ethnic groups.

The atmosphere of tolerance is always at the highest level in Azerbaijan. 

Along with Azerbaijanis, representatives of a number of other small peoples and ethnic minorities live in the republic, including the Tats, Talyshes,  Mountain Jews and others.

The year 2016 was declared the Year of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan. In 2014,  Azerbaijan set up an international center for multiculturalism in order to promote the values of multiculturalism. Also, in 2008, Azerbaijan launched the "Baku process "on the theme of "Intercultural dialogue as a basis for peace and sustainable development in Europe and its neighboring regions".