Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan has released a new ad hoc report on Azerbaijan’s policy of hatred and animosity towards Armenians after the 44-day war in Artsakh.
The report contains factual data collected during the daily activities of the Ombudsman’s Office.
The key points of the report outlined by Tatoyan include:
1) After the war, the Azerbaijani authorities stick to the state-supported policy of hatred and animosity against Armenians.
2) It has 2 pillars – ethnic and religious.
3) It is not only about rhetoric, but a real long-running policy (education, culture, sports, etc.). Therefore, it is not right to speak only of rhetoric.
4) This policy is the actual source of human rights violations by Azerbaijani forces in Armenia and Artsakh before, during and after the war, including war crimes and various atrocities.
5) The propaganda of hatred and hostility serves as a guarantee for the legacy of the Azerbaijani authorities, which use it to divert their own people from internal problems. It has not diminished and will not diminish in the future.
6) Hatred on religious grounds is taking a new and extremely dangerous turn, with ungrounded allegations of Islamophobia against the Armenian people. This leads to new manifestations of the destruction of churches, elimination of their Armenian identity and torture of Armenian captives. The report presents historical facts to show the real respect of the Armenian Church and our people for Islam.
7) Azerbaijan’s policy of hatred incites hostility between the two peoples worldwide, which is also dangerous for other countries where Armenians and Azerbaijanis live.
8) The Azerbaijani calls for peace have no sincere motives, they are false and a veil for the outside world.
“Peace is the highest value for us, hostility is not acceptable, but there is no real peace at the expense of the rights of one party, peace does not mean hatred. Therefore, we must not forget about all this. We need real guarantees to protect our rights,” the ombudsman said.