Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

Armenians have not only looted and destroyed our cities and villages, our natural resources in the occupied territories for almost 30 years, but also committed unprecedented vandalism against the historical and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Hundreds of immovable historical, cultural and religious monuments belonging to our people have been destroyed, insulted, falsified and misappropriated.

One of the historical heritages damaged by Armenians in Karabakh is the Azykh cave, one of the rare cultural treasures not only of Azerbaijan, but also of the world.

For a while, the Armenian invaders turned the Azykh cave into a weapons depot, and then, with the involvement of foreign scientists, conducted illegal archeological excavations here, engaged in subversive activities to appropriate this ancient wealth belonging to Azerbaijan, to appropriate history. By doing so, they grossly violated international humanitarian law, the 1954 UNESCO Convention on "Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict", and the 1970 Convention on "Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property .

"This cave was discovered by Azerbaijani archeologist Mammadali Huseynov in 1960. Research was conducted here after that. It is one of the oldest human settlements in the world, belongs to the history of Azerbaijan, it is our historical asset. Armenia illegally carried out work in this cave, illegally brought scientists here from abroad. They have caused great damage to this cave and our historical heritage. They will pay for all this damage. We will make them do that" President Ilham Aliyev said during a visit to Azykh.