Rac ist slogans by Armenians echo similar calls for destruction of
Israel: Azerbaijani-Turkish diaspora societies of USA

14.03.09 13:33 Racist slogans by Armenians echo similar calls for
destruction of Israel: Azerbaijani-Turkish diaspora societies of USA

Azerbaijan, Baku, March 14 /Trend News, corr. E.Rustamov /

Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC) and Azerbaijan Society of America
(ASA) join Azerbaijani-and Turkic-American community in California to
express their concern about the racist remarks made by the
Armenian-American activists at the presentation on "Geopolitics of
Energy Security" sponsored by the California State University
Northridge (CSUN) College of Engineering and Computer Science on March
11, 2009, the press release received by Trend News from these
organizations says.

During the speech on regional energy projects by the Consul General of
Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, Elin Suleymanov, a group of Armenian
student activists turned the discussion into an offensive attack on
Azerbaijani and Turkic peoples by shouting slogans against ethnicity
and race.

"We value every American’s right to express his/her opinions freely
and encourage a civilized, open dialogue with the Armenian-American
community. At the same time, ethnic insults and racial slurs represent
a disturbing abomination in 21st century America and are unacceptable
for the academic environment," the press release says.

"Unfortunately, instead of engaging in a constructive and relevant
discussion, Armenian activists resorted to shouting slogans calling
openly for the destruction of Azerbaijan and mass deportation of
Azerbaijani people from their lands, moving the entire nation
elsewhere on Earth," the document says.

"These sentiments clearly echo similar calls for the destruction of
Israel and exodus of Jewish people made by some enemies of humanity.
Even more disturbing were references made by the Armenian activists to
"Armenian Aryan superiority", while Azerbaijanis were denigrated as an
"inferior Turkic race"," mentioned in the press release.

AAC and ASA considers this as deeply offensive to
Azerbaijani-Americans as it is, and want to believe that such
manifestations of racism and Turcophobia are not shared by all
Armenian-Americans.

"And today, we are hopeful that Armenian-Americans and friends of
Armenia share those values and understand how damaging the
ethnicity-based chauvinism and racism are for Armenia," the press
release says.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.