Caucasus Muslims Office Protests Event Incompatible with Islamic Rites Held at Historic Blue Mosque in Yerevan

"Expressing the will of the Muslims of Azerbaijan, we state that we strongly condemn and decisively protest the holding of an event incompatible with Islamic religious rites at the historic Blue Mosque in Yerevan."

Operativ Media reports, citing a statement from the Caucasus Muslims Office.

It was noted that this incident represents an unethical and distortive attitude toward Azerbaijan's religious and spiritual heritage, as well as a clear manifestation of vandalism and a provocation:

"Unfortunately, the Blue Mosque in Yerevan, one of the historic religious monuments of the Azerbaijani people, has not been spared from the vandalism carried out by Armenians over long decades in our historic lands. Following our religious places of worship—including our historic mosques in Shusha—that were destroyed, burned, and desecrated by keeping animals forbidden in Islam, naming a hall of the Yerevan Blue Mosque after an Armenian poet today and planning to erect a bust of that Armenian in a Muslim place of worship in the future is nothing short of blasphemy.

Cultured nations hold book presentations in their own cultural centers, not in places of worship belonging to another religion. Staging a show in a mosque under the guise of a cultural event brings credit to no one.

Attempts to take revenge on the historic Azerbaijani cultural and spiritual heritage remaining in present-day Armenia following the expulsion of Armenians from occupied Azerbaijani territories, to falsify the history of the mosque built in the 18th century by Huseyn Ali Khan of Yerevan—a rare gem of Azerbaijani architecture—by portraying it as an Iranian mosque and holding staged events there are doomed to failure.

We decisively condemn this uncultured show held under the guise of a cultural event and demand that the Armenian government prevent such occurrences. Against the backdrop of Armenia, which capitulated as a result of the 44-day Patriotic War, demonstrating commitment to peace talks, such an occurrence casts doubt on the peace process. This serves only the interests of revanchists."