No:243/21, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva answers the media's question

Question: What are the latest developments in the UNESCO mission, which Azerbaijan has invited to the territories affected by the conflict, in accordance with the Hague Convention of 1954 "For the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict"?

Answer: Following the telephone conversation between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, a number of meetings between Azerbaijan and UNESCO have been held in recent months in a video conference format.

During the last meeting, which took place on June 21, 2021, the Azerbaijani side reiterated its readiness to accept the UNESCO mission and called on the organization to accelerate this process. In this regard, discussions were held on the visit of the UNESCO mission to the liberated Aghdam and Fizuli regions and the city of Shusha.​

In addition, I would like to note that as a result of discussions between the Azerbaijani side and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an agreement was reached on the implementation of the UNHCR mission to the conflict-affected areas of our country. Azerbaijan is fully prepared to accept the UNHCR mission. We are currently awaiting a response from both organizations to complete the work related to the visit.