Daniel Ioannisyan’s response to the Azerbaijani delegate at the OSCE ODIHR Human Dimensions Conference

Because the distinguished representative of Azerbaijan has called us GONGOs, I would like to start by stating that the Union of Informed Citizens is absolutely independent, we are one of the strongest critics of the Armenian government, we have several court cases against the ruling party of Armenia and a few years ago we had the honor to be awarded the Democracy Defender Award by many member state delegations to the OSCE.

Also, I would like to mention that Azerbaijan is stating here that Armenian scouting organizations like VOMA and Metsn Tigran are terrorist organizations. But those organizations have absolutely no weapons or ammunition.

Here I would like to switch to the Armenophobic state policy of Azerbaijan by bringing some examples:

In 2012, Ilham Aliyev pardoned and rewarded Ramil Safarov, who had killed a sleeping Armenian soldier with an axe in Budapest. In 2016, president Aliyev rewarded an Azerbaijani servicemen who had decapitated the body of an Armenian soldier.

In 2020, soldiers, who were under investigations for war crimes committed against Armenians ended up receiving medals from President Ilham Aliyev.

Armenophobia in Azerbaijan is so deep and goes so unpunished that Azerbajiani soldiers freely post  footage of war crimes in social media (for example, mass execution of Armenian POWs) without any fear of being punished for that but, rather, they are applauded by the society and high ranking officials.

In his nationwide address, the President Aliev stated: “We are driving them (read Armenians) away like dogs! Azerbaijani soldiers are driving them away like dogs.”

The Armenophobic state policy of Azerbaijan has been recorded by a number of respected international organizations, as well as the European Commission Against Racism and Discrimination. I should mention that Azerbaijan is a state that rejects the entry of persons with Armenian surnames irrespective of their citizenship.

During last year Azerbaijan took all measures to take control of the territory of Nagorno Karabakh without Armenians remaining there. And because of the silence of the international community, they successfully completed the ethnic cleansing of Armenians.

And, today, as you know the so-called “Western Azerbaijan community”, an entity that has been introduced in the political discourse by Ilham Aliev, is organizing a side-event for inciting hatred against Armenians and de-facto claiming the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia. I just want to bring to your attention that the spokesperson of this entity has recently stated in her social media: “May all enemy dogs die”, “May all Armenian people die”.

Please, feel free to join their event to ask how exactly they want all Armenians to die.