YEREVAN. – Despite the fact that the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia is not well aware of the national musical instruments, he is sure that tar is a musical instrument of Iranian origin and it was famous for many centuries.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mohammad Raiesi commented on the Azerbaijani claims for tar, a string instrument.

 “There are countries which have nothing of their own, and they take things from others. Azerbaijan as a state was established in 1918. Hence, a research should be conducted to find out for how many years tar has been known. It is hard for me to say since when tar is used in Armenia and in Iran. Anyway our country is ready to conduct the research,” the ambassador said.

The diplomat also emphasized that the Blue Mosque in Yerevan is of Iranian origin. The Iranian side expressed content over the fact that due to the close cooperation with Armenian Ministry of Culture an issue is raised to include the mosque in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am