For nearly 200 years, members of the Albanian-Udi community were deprived of the opportunity to visit the Gandzasar monastery and other historical religious monuments in the region.

Operativ Media reports that Rafik Danakari, deputy chairman of the Albanian-Udi Religious Community, said this during a media tour organized to the Gandzasar monastery.

He said that community members visited the Gandzasar monastery for the first time, where they prayed and lit candles.

“We are very happy to visit this monastery, this complex, for the first time. We are delighted. Today we prayed and lit candles here. We were able to conduct our service here in our own Caucasian Albanian language, the Udi language. We had been deprived of this for nearly 200 years. We could not come to these churches, monasteries, or this region in general,” Rafik Danakari said.

According to him, this was because those religious monuments had been placed under the jurisdiction of the Armenian Gregorian Church.

“In protest, we kept our churches closed and did not come. Today, our purpose in coming here is both to celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary and to worship freely in this sacred place now that our lands have been liberated,” the deputy chairman of the community noted.

Rafik Danakari said that the Albanian-Udi community plans to visit other historical monasteries in the future.

“In the future, we will try to visit other monasteries as well. After the Gandzasar complex, one of the largest is the Amaras complex. We hope to visit there in the future, light our candles, and pray,” he said.

The deputy chairman of the community said it is important to implement state-level measures for the future preservation of historical religious monuments.

“In any case, this must be a state initiative. Because a few years ago, our esteemed President sent a message to the whole world that the owners of the Albanian churches in the liberated lands are our Udi brothers. And they will come here,” Rafik Danakari said.

He noted that the restoration, conservation, and future use as museums of religious monuments in the liberated territories, including churches, monasteries, and mosques, are planned.

“It was declared to the world that these are the heritage of the Azerbaijani people, the history of the Azerbaijani people. The world must know this. True, these territories were under occupation for 30 years and we could do nothing. But now we are free. The whole world must know who the owners of these churches, and temples in general, are. It is the Azerbaijani people,” he emphasized.

Rafik Danakari said that the Albanian-Udi community is pleased with the opportunity created to freely visit historical religious monuments.

“We are very happy today. We express our deep gratitude to our esteemed President that we can freely and comfortably visit these churches, monasteries, and complexes,” the deputy chairman of the community added.