Azerbaijan condemns Armenian attack on Turkish diplomacy conference in US

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan on Saturday condemned an attack by radical Armenian groups against participants at a conference on Turkish diplomacy held at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

"We strongly condemn radical Armenian groups' attack on the officials attending the (Friday) conference," said a statement by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

Attacks on Azerbaijani and Turkish citizens have grown more intense and systematic as a result of Armenia's policy of ethnic hatred and intolerance after the fall 2020 Karabakh conflict and last week’s anti-terrorist operation by Azerbaijan in Karabakh, and these attacks pose a serious threat, the statement added.

"Such attacks by representatives of the radical Armenian diaspora, who cannot accept the failure of Armenia's smear campaign against Azerbaijan and the collapse of the illegal regime in the (Karabakh) region, are crimes that should be punished," the statement also said.

"These behaviors of radical Armenian groups, which amount to racial discrimination, hate speech, and violence, should be strongly condemned by the international community and, necessary steps should be taken by relevant government institutions to prevent such actions."

The ministry statement came after Turkish and Azerbaijani officials on Friday were verbally and physically harassed by radical Armenian groups at the conference before they were removed by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Throughout the conference, protesters gathered outside and tried to disrupt the normal flow of the program by making noise, and later physically and verbally attacked Turkish officials and a Turkish TV executive outside the venue.

Armenia is notable for having a large diaspora population with an outsize influence on the landlocked Caucasian country.

The diaspora is notorious for rejecting overtures for peace from neighboring Türkiye and Azerbaijan as well as opposing Azerbaijan recently taking control of its long-occupied Karabakh territory, while guaranteeing the safety of Azerbaijan civilians living there.

Liberation of Karabakh

In the fall of 2020, with Türkiye lending its support, in 44 days of clashes Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements in Karabakh from Armenian occupation. The war ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire.

Then, earlier this month, in the wake of provocations by Armenian forces in Karabakh, Azerbaijan said it had launched "counter-terrorism" activities to uphold the trilateral peace pact. After 24 hours, a cease-fire was reached, with Azerbaijan widely seen as the victor.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are set to meet on Oct. 5 in the Spanish city of Granada to discuss the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries.