He made the remarks at the fifth meeting of representatives of national committees and commissions of TURKSOY Member Countries to the UNESCO Dec. 18.
Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan and UNESCO mark the 20 year-cooperation this year, and said Azerbaijan joined almost all conventions of the organization.
He said that TURKSOY Member Countries have a common history and roots.
"The appropriate meetings were held at the level of the presidents,” he said. “The decisions that will further develop the relations among the Turkic-speaking countries were made. Our goal is to work for the benefit of future generations."
He said that Azerbaijan makes a great contribution to this activity, and the cultural heritage preservation projects implemented by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation are examples of that.
Mammadyarov further reminded that Azerbaijan has faced the Armenian aggression, as thousands of cultural monuments were destroyed by Armenia.
"As a result of this aggression, more than one million people were expelled from their native lands," the minister said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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