News - Three months after Kostanyan's announcement, the transfer of Palestinian heritage to the Matenadaran remains unclear.

Three months after Vahan Kostanyan's statement at the UN Headquarters, the relocation of Palestinian heritage to the Matenadaran remains uncertain. More than three months have passed since Vahan Kostanyan's statement at the UN Headquarters, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still has not provided clear answers about the initiative to temporarily house Palestine's endangered cultural heritage in the Matenadaran. Let us recall that on July 29, 2025, during an international high-level conference at the UN Headquarters on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue and the implementation of the two-state principle, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan referred to Armenia's cooperation with Palestine, declaring that Palestine's endangered cultural heritage would temporarily be housed in the Matenadaran. We sent a written inquiry to the MFA to clarify which cultural assets are planned to be brought from Palestine to the Matenadaran, when and how the transfer will be carried out, whether they will be displayed or kept in storage, how long it will take, whether a memorandum or official document has been drafted, and which side will pay the costs and carry out the transfer. The MFA replied that the project is in the agreement phase, and questions about the project can be answered only in its final completion phase. In August we also tried to clarify details of the program. The MFA only stated that 'the draft legal document aimed at implementing the program is in the drafting phase.' Preservation of Palestine's cultural heritage in Armenia — there are still no clear agreements. We sent the same inquiry to Matenadaran as well. The institute's public relations department said they learned about the announcement from the deputy foreign minister's speech. They noted that they still do not know when the process will begin. To clarify the details of the initiative, we also sent inquiries to the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and the Prime Minister's Office, but we have not received a reply. If you find a typo, you can send it to us by selecting the error and pressing CTRL+Enter.