The Artsakh government has condemned the visit, on April 8, by a delegation of TURKSOY (The International Organization of Turkic Culture) to Shushi.

The delegation was comprised of TURKSOY national commissions on UNESCO issues.

“It is obvious that this illegal visit, as well as the holding of other similar events in the occupied Armenian city of Shushi, are aimed at legitimizing the results of the aggressive war and illegal use of force unleashed by Azerbaijan and its allies against the Republic of Artsakh and its people in 2020,” reads a statement issued by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry.

“We emphasize once again that the city of Shushi is an integral part of Artsakh both in territorial, cultural, economic and historical terms. The visit of the national commissions on UNESCO issues to Shushi seems even more sacrilegious and provocative, considering the illegal blockade of Artsakh that has been ongoing for four months, the systematic destruction of religious, historical and cultural monuments of the Armenian people in the territories under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces, including the ancient Armenian city of Shushi. and the falsification of their identity, as well as the obstacles continuously caused by the Azerbaijani authorities in sending a UNESCO assessment mission to Nagorno Karabakh for the purpose of inventorying cultural heritage objects and studying their condition.”

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are members of TURKSOY.