“Shusha is our historical city, and we have returned to this city. If the Armenians considered this city their own, then why didn’t they create anything there in 28 years? Why couldn't they save the historical sites of Shusha?”

President Ilham Aliyev said as he received in a video format Aydin Karimov due to his appointment as Special Representative of the President in Shusha district on January 27^th. “All historical sites have been razed to the ground. If this is your city, why did you destroy the sites? If Armenia declared that it had liberated Shusha, then who did it liberate it from? From the civilian population? From Azerbaijanis? Okay, if you thought you had liberated it, then why did you destroy the buildings? If this is an Armenian city, then why did you raze it to the ground? Not only our mosques were destroyed there but also all the buildings,” the head of state stressed.

President Ilham Aliyev mentioned that during the meeting, the ICESCO secretary general noted that they would propose to declare Shusha the capital of Islamic culture. “This step makes us very happy. I must also say that so far this honorary title has been awarded to two Azerbaijani cities – Baku and Nakhchivan. I remember that ICESCO makes such a decision several years in advance, and only a few years later the city is awarded this honorary title. There is a sequence. Therefore, the fact that such a statement was made in Baku causes special joy. At the same time, during a recent meeting with a delegation of the Turkic Council, the secretary general of the Turkic Council also put forward a proposal to elect Shusha as the cultural capital of the Turkic world. See what interest and what great love of our historic city we see in the Turkic and Muslim world as a whole”.

Mr. President added that a specific program is being developed to restore our historical and religious sites. Relevant instructions have been given. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation is actively involved in this work, and so are the Ministry of Culture and other relevant bodies.