The destruction of Khan’s Palace and elimination of cultural heritage since the illegal annexation of ARC were highlighted at the press conference by the Minister of culture of Ukraine Yevhen Nishchuk. Particularly a large-scale work is done under the guise of construction of a national important sight Khan’s Palace (security № 285) which belongs to the historical capital of Crimean Khans in the town of Bahchysaray and added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage in 2013.
The Minister of the culture of Ukraine stressed that several appeals had been addressed to the international organizations and to UNESCO headquarters in particular about the violation of norms of international law and Ukrainian legislation by Russia Federation in the TOT of Crimea.
“We have got the documents and photos confirming the large-scale illegal reconstructive works done at this sight. The authentic shapes are being destructed, the unique tile and ancient oak rafters of the Great Khan’s Mosque (Büyük Han Cam) are being ruined and eliminated, Khan’s Palace is threatened with destruction. The illegal reconstructive activity causes the irreparable harm not to authentic culture of Crimean Tatar People but of the whole world” – said Yevhen Nyshchuk, and continued:
“But there is mounting evidence of violations of not only the sovereign rights of our country but a number of international legal instruments on preserving the cultural heritage of Crimea given direct to UNESCO headquarters. I have personally been in touch with UNESCO General-Director, announced about it in my presentation to the Ministers of many countries in Davos.
We were encouraged that a Special Monitoring Mission of UNESCO would be dispatched as soon as possible to examine the sights. We rely on the international institutions and European partnership support in protection of cultural heritage according to the international legislation because it is Russia Federation who is fully responsible for preservation of cultural heritage and cultural treasures in the occupied territory.”