Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Karen Nazaryan made a speech during a discussion on “Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance” within the framework of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly. He referred to the steps Armenia has taken to meet the commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other international documents.
The Armenian Ambassador called the attention of the participants to the alarming facts of increased hatred towards Armenians in Azerbaijan. In particular, he noted that during TV debates the candidates running for president were accusing each other of being of Armenian descent. He noted that the Azerbaijani government uses education to encourage hatred towards Armenians and uses words such as “fascist,” “terrorist” and others to describe Armenians in textbooks.
Ambassador Nazaryan noted that this obvious hatred towards Armenians in Azerbaijan can be compared to the most vicious examples in the history of racism. The Ambassador called on the UN member states to condemn the growing intolerance and expressions of racism in Azerbaijan, adding that these could lead to gross violations of human rights and basic freedoms.
