Violence in the Middle East has seriously harmed the Armenian communities of the region, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan said, addressing a ministerial conference on “Ethnic and religious violence” in Brussels.
He noted that many Armenians have been killed as a result of terrorist actions, a number of Armenian settlements, churches, schools and cultural establishments have been destroyed, forcing Armenians to leave their homes 100 years after the Armenian Genocide.
The Deputy Foreign Minister noted that Armenia was one of the first countries to criticize the mass killing of the civilian population by terrorist groups.
He reminded that the Armenian Parliament officially recognized and strongly condemned the Yezidi Genocide in Iraq, thus reaffirming its commitment to keep fighting for prevention of genocides and other crimes against humanity.
Ashot Hovakimyan called Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s statements on Nagorno Karabakh false and unfounded and reminded about Azerbaijan’s Daesh-style crimes against Armenians.
The Deputy Foreign Minister He also pointed out that the Azerbaijani policy of justifying hate crimes and glorification of criminals, the patronage of violence and terrorism and bellicose rhetoric on the state level are strongly condemnable.
