Azerbaijan’s State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations has condemned the decision to name a hall at Yerevan’s Blue Mosque after Armenian poet Yeghishe Charents, describing it as “reprehensible and provocative.”
Baku, which has destroyed Armenian churches and monasteries in Artsakh or declared them to be Caucasian Albanian, describes the Blue Mosque as “one of the oldest examples of the historical and cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people.” It characterized the decision as “disrespect for universal values enshrined in international conventions and a provocation against efforts to establish an atmosphere of peace and mutual trust.”
“The State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan noted that the initiative to install a bust of Yeghishe Charents in the ceremonial hall of the Blue Mosque has raised serious questions about the Armenian side’s, particularly the country’s political leadership’s, objective and impartial attitude toward the monument’s original purpose and historical affiliation,” APA reports.
The committee also addressed the mosque’s construction history, claiming that it “was built in the 18th century on the initiative of Yerevan Khan Huseyn Ali Khan and is a unique example of Azerbaijani architecture.”
According to the Azerbaijani agency, financing restoration work by any state cannot serve as grounds for changing a cultural monument’s historical affiliation or presenting its original architectural features as part of another culture.
“When assessing the historical identity of the Blue Mosque, it is necessary to take into account the period of its construction, the history of the Yerevan Khanate and the city’s alleged links to Azerbaijani cultural heritage,” the statement said.
The Azerbaijani government body called on Armenia and Iran to “respect historical facts and refrain from using religious and cultural monuments for political and ideological purposes.”
The meeting hall of Yerevan’s Blue Mosque was named in honor of Yeghishe Charents during a meeting between Armenian Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Alfred Kocharyan and Iranian Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Cultural Affairs Mohsen Javadi.
