Azerbaijan does not even value its own culture. This country did not agree to exchange Azerbaijani painters’ paintings which the Armenian side had left after the first Karabakh war [in the early 1990s] with the Armenian cultural values left in the occupied territories of Karabakh. The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Lusine Karakhanyan, said this during a working discussion Thursday at the National Assembly session.

According to her, close to 2,000 Armenian cultural monuments, 122 churches, 13 monasteries, 52 castles, and 536 cross-stones remain in the territories now occupied by the Azerbaijanis.

"Azerbaijanis have a total of 20,885 exhibits and 617,000 books," added Karakhanyan.

The minister emphasized that it is not only about the Armenian historical-architectural and historical-cultural monuments.

"It is the heritage of all mankind. An entire civilization has been subjected to occupation. The Azokh Cave, Tigranakert, and Karabakh as a whole—an area where the heritage of an entire civilization is preserved," the Artsakh official explained.