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After posting two questions (shared below) to @IrinaBokova, head of UNESCO from 2009-17, regarding her organization receiving $5 million from Azerbaijan in 2013, I was immediately blocked without response. https://twitter.com/NeilPHauer/status/1336767727122452480?s=19
Today was the 15th anniversary of the destruction of the Julfa cemetery, the largest medieval Armenian site in the world. It had 28,000 khachkars, stone cross-stones, whose destruction by Azerbaijani government agents was filmed from adjacent Iran. https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-azerbaijan-julfa-cemetery-destruction-unesco-cultural-heritage/30986581.html
While @IrinaBokova was head of UNESCO, her organization was silent on this, unlike their responses to other acts like the Taliban destroying the Bamyan Buddhas. Investigative reporting shows Bokova's husband received $468k from Az-linked firms in 2012-14. https://www.occrp.org/en/azerbaijanilaundromat/the-influence-machine
I'm not an expert, but I hope UNESCO has become less brazenly corrupt since @IrinaBokova stepped down as its head (although I see she continues to fail upwards, as her ilk often do). Shameful to see an organization responsible for the world's heritage being bought.
