The fate of Nakhichevan awaits the Armenian cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated by cartographer and geographer Ruben Ghalcyan at the international conference on the problems of historical and cultural heritage in the post-Soviet period, which is being held Thursday at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

Ghalcyan reminded that Azerbaijan is attempting to appropriate the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, claiming that it actually belongs to the "Caucasus Albanian" culture.

"Furthermore, Azerbaijan is attempting to advance the false theory that Armenians came to the region in the 19th century," Ghalcyan added.

The cartographer said that by occupying new Armenian territories, the Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem is simultaneously destroying the Armenian heritage.

"It happened both in Ottoman Turkey during the Armenian Genocide, and in the following years in Nakhichevan, by Azerbaijan. The same is awaiting Nagorno-Karabakh, too. It is a consistent policy that implements the same regime. Therefore, it is impossible to hope that this trend will change if nothing is reversed," the geographer emphasized.

For comparison, Ghalcyan presented the current state of Armenian cultural heritage in Iran. He reminded that not only the Armenian heritage is preserved with care in this Islamic country, but a part of it has been submitted for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.