There was a need for an urgent UNESCO fact-finding mission, proposed by UNESCO Secretary-General Audrey Azoulay, to protect the Armenian cultural and religious heritage from the imminent threat of extinction in the post-war territories under the control of Azerbaijan. This was stated by the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Vahan Hunanyan.
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that cases of vandalism against Armenian monuments, as well as the announcement of the creation by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan of a working group to distort the identity of the Armenian historical and cultural heritage, prove that such a danger is more than real.
Armenia supports the speedy implementation of this mission in accordance with the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols.