President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev declared Shusha the capital of Azerbaijani culture, when receiving in a video format Anar Karimov on his appointment as Minister of Culture.
“The city of Shusha deserves that. I think that it can be considered not only the cultural capital of Azerbaijan but also of the entire region. The cultural life of Shusha should be rich," the head of state stressed.
According to him, work has already begun on the restoration of Shusha, a large delegation was sent there on his instruction. "So the housing stock and historical sites must be inspected, the damage must be accurately calculated, and we must begin the restoration of Shusha. However, the original appearance and the historical image of Shusha must be restored without wasting time, but at the same time without haste," Ilham Aliyev noted.
"In particular, our mosques in Shusha must be overhauled, restored and their original appearance returned to them. The Armenians have destroyed more than 60 of our mosques. Pigs and cows were kept in the Aghdam mosque. A photo recently published by an Armenian journalist on the Internet infuriated the entire Azerbaijani people yet again. In that photo, the executioner of the Azerbaijani people, former President of Armenia Kocharyan stands in front of a mosque in the occupied city of Aghdam," he recalled, adding that insulting inscriptions can be seen on the walls of the Aghdam mosque.
He also ordered to restore the Poetry Days of Vagif in Shusha and the 'Khari Bulbul' festival. The Azerbaijani leader said a new road is being built to Shusha now, running through an area with very difficult terrain. But we will achieve this.
Recalling that Vagif's mausoleum in Shusha was destroyed, Ilham Aliyev stressed that occupiers destroyed cities, expelled people and demolished historical sites, thus committing "cultural genocide."
