They are a people who do not value, create, or preserve culture
Aravot Daily interviewed the Minister of Education and Science of Artsakh, Lusine Gharakhanyan, who was recently in Yerevan to participate in the International Religious Freedom and Peace conference organized in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The communiqué adopted by the latter, by the way, calls on Azerbaijan to immediately allow international experts and observers to enter Artsakh.
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- Gharakhanyan, in the occupied settlements of Artsakh, Azerbaijan continues the destruction and appropriation of the Armenian cultural traces. What is left in the hands of the enemy and what do you expect from the international community in this matter?
As the 44-day war was full of surprises (in the negative sense of the word), we did not manage to take any samples from almost all the museums. Shushi was invincible to us. We did not think it would fall. Twelvemuseums remained under the control of the enemy- ten state museums and two private with about 21,000 exhibits, which are a whole civilization, history, spiritual, and cultural heritage. If the international structures and the structures concerned with the preservation of the spiritual-cultural heritage cannot support us, world civilization will also be endangered. This issue should be a challenge for the civilized world.
- The founder of the Shushi Carpet Museum, Vardan Astsatryan, was saying that the collection of the museum is still in Yerevan, and proper storage conditions are needed. What solution does the Artsakh government have for the problem?
During the war, the carpet museum was evacuated with state funds, but only part of the exhibition. The carpets are now in the National Museum-Institute of Architecture after Alexander Tamanyan. Carpets are left in the vault of the Shushi museum. The saved carpets are in a safe place. We offered Mr. Astsatryan to allocate a place in Artsakh and allocate maintenance costs. We do not have an answer yet, but we have made the offer.
- Are there any international levers to preserve the Armenian museum fund that came under the control of Azerbaijan? If so, how can we use them?
I don’t think so. We tried to do something with the help of peacekeeping troops. We offered to exchange the works of some Azerbaijani artists that we kept after the first war, but Azerbaijan did not agree. They are people who do not value, create, or preserve culture. The fate of the galleries and museum exhibits is unknown.
Luiza Sukiasyan
