Armenia’s U.N. Ambassador Mher Margaryan
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Mher Margaryan condemned the instigation of inter-ethnic clashes and violence against the Armenian communities in various parts of the world by Azerbaijanis.
Margaryan said that Azerbaijan’s recent provocations at the Armenian border were mirrored in inter-ethnic clashes, encouraged and condoned by the leadership of Azerbaijan, whose frustration about the failed attempts of aggression against Armenia continued to grow.
“Such clashes began with the infliction of economic harm by some members of the Azerbaijani diaspora in unlawful and discriminatory attempts to obstruct the export and retail of Armenian products and goods in other countries – rather distasteful and ill-advised acts of unconcealed racism,” Margaryan wrote.
“These actions were soon followed by violent attacks perpetrated against ethnic Armenians in different parts of the world, involving the deliberate damage and destruction of property belonging to Armenians, including the vandalization of a school and other disruptive acts of ethnically motivated violence and aggression,” said the letter.
Margaryan stressed that “such acts, carried out with the direct participation of Azerbaijani officials, have come to demonstrate a most irresponsible intention to spread violence and radicalization to third countries, reflecting the policy and rhetoric of the Azerbaijani leadership aimed at inciting animosity against the Armenian people.”
He added that “the hateful and racist rhetoric dominating the political discourse of the Azerbaijani leadership constitutes all elements of incitement to violence and represents a significant indicator of risk of atrocity crimes.”
“Armenia reiterated the inadmissibility of using such rhetoric to incite inter-ethnic clashes and the imperative of focusing on de-escalating tensions to prevent violence in the future,” the letter concluded.