I was surprised to read the news about the appeal of famous cultural figures of UNESCO. Directors, conductors, musicians and other representatives of the creative elite are asking to include monuments of the Christian cultural and artistic architectural heritage of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the world heritage list for their further preservation. I was struck by the selective approach of cultural figures who quite openly pointed out that they consider only Christian churches in Nagorno-Karabakh to be a cultural property that must be preserved, and don’t pay attention to the desecration and destruction of Muslim monuments. 63 out of 67 mosques in the region were destroyed during the decades of their stay on the territory of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic! I would consider it very shameless to hint at the potential destruction of churches whose ownership is disputed by the Albanian-Udi church, while completely ignoring the cultural catastrophe when hundreds of Muslim monuments in Karabakh were destroyed. With an objective approach, any observer will note that Azerbaijan is a multicultural state that respects all religious traditions. I do not think that Patriarch Kirill would have met regularly with President Ilham Aliyev and the head of the Caucasus Muslim Board, Shaykh al-Islām Allahshukur Pashazade, if the leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan had compromised itself in an inappropriate way to Christianity. But I think it is absolutely right to draw UNESCO's attention to the historical heritage of Karabakh. I hope and believe that the specialists of this authoritative international organization, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, will have the tact to start an expert examination of the preservation and make appropriate decisions to further protect the historical heritage of the region without regard to the religious affiliation of the objects.

Damir Mukhetdinov,

Executive Secretary of the International Muslim forum,
Deputy Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation,
Rector of the Moscow Islamic institute