Azerbaijan’s five-year report "Chovgan - a traditional sporting team game with Karabakh horses" was adopted during the 13th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the city of Port Louis, Mauritius.
The report includes the activity carried out in Azerbaijan in connection with the development of the traditional chovgan game, as well as the impossibility of holding this traditional game as a result of occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region by Armenia.
According to the report, the Azerbaijani population, forcibly expelled from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, despite the bitter consequences of the war and aggression, seeks to preserve the chovgan.
Remaining faithful to its unconstructive tradition, during the meeting, the Armenian delegation stood against Azerbaijan and demanded to return the submitted report to the Azerbaijani side.
Discussions were held in connection with this issue and Armenia’s another attempt as always failed again. No committee supported Armenia’s proposals on this issue.
Standing against Armenia’s claim, Azerbaijan’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO Anar Karimov stressed that this report was created by the Ministry of Culture in accordance with international law, the UN Charter and the corresponding UNESCO convention, and the document reflects the opinions and interviews of all the communities playing the chovgan game in Azerbaijan.
Karimov thanked the members of the committee for their constructive position and called on the representative of Armenia not to use his membership in the committee for political purposes.
