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Baltic News Service
April 26, 2005
ESTONIA'S ARMENIAN ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO
WARNINGS BY AZERIS
TALLINN, Apr 26
Representatives of Estonia's Armenian community have dismissed the
tone of a recent statement by local Azeri associations concerning the
events commemorating the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Turkey as
hostile and not fit for a democratic society.
The statement by the Armenian community organizations is addressed to
the same parties as the Azeri statement a week ago, which accused the
Armenians of spreading lies and said the commemorative events were
prone to lead to an ethnic conflict in Estonia.
Addressing the president, the parliamentary speaker, the prime
minister, the population minister and the chairs of the city councils
of Tallinn and Tartu, the ethnic Armenian organizations express
surprise at the tone of the statement by the Azeri associations at
the end of last week.
According to the Armenian organizations, the Azeri statement accused
Armenians of inciting ethnic hatred and threatened with violence. The
Armenian organizations say such behavior reveals unconcealed
hostility toward Armenians and their historic memory as well as
contempt of democratic society and its values.
The letter says that only with sick fantasy it's possible to regard
the events dedicated to the memory of the genocide committed in the
Osman empire in 1915 as an insult to the national dignity of Azeris.
It says that similar events are being held right now, on the 90th
anniversary of the tragic events, in many countries, including in
parliaments and at conferences, and the same topic has been raised in
Turkey.
"... it is not understandable how Azeris are linked to the genocide
of Armenians committed in 1915 and why leaders of the Azerbaijani
community have assumed the unrewarding task of justifying one of the
most horrendous crimes of the last century," the letter says.
Threats and ultimatums that are addressed by one ethnic group to
another are to be qualified as a variety of terrorism, it says.
The section of the statement by the Azeris that warns of
deterioration in Estonia's relations with Turkey, a fellow member of
NATO, is viewed in the letter by the Armenian organizations as
blackmail that is insulting to the Estonian state.
The authors of the letter underline that all the events staged by
Estonia's Armenian community to remember the genocide of Armenians
were held in abidance by Estonian and European laws, without
insulting anyone's national dignity or banning anyone from the event.
The letter is signed by the Armenian National Association of Estonia,
the Armenian National Association of South Estonia, the Tallinn
Armenian National Society, and representatives from the St. George's
congregation of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Estonia.
Ethnic Azeri associations of Estonia warned last week that
commemoration of the anniversary of genocide of Armenians may led to
a conflict between the two ethnic communities in Estonia. As the
Azeri representatives argued in the statement, with their actions
that conceal history and disseminate false information the Armenian
community representatives are provoking Azeris to take counter-action
and that Estonian officials' participation in the events may harm
ties with Turkey, which helped Estonia become a member of NATO.
April 26, 2005
ESTONIA'S ARMENIAN ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO
WARNINGS BY AZERIS
TALLINN, Apr 26
Representatives of Estonia's Armenian community have dismissed the
tone of a recent statement by local Azeri associations concerning the
events commemorating the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Turkey as
hostile and not fit for a democratic society.
The statement by the Armenian community organizations is addressed to
the same parties as the Azeri statement a week ago, which accused the
Armenians of spreading lies and said the commemorative events were
prone to lead to an ethnic conflict in Estonia.
Addressing the president, the parliamentary speaker, the prime
minister, the population minister and the chairs of the city councils
of Tallinn and Tartu, the ethnic Armenian organizations express
surprise at the tone of the statement by the Azeri associations at
the end of last week.
According to the Armenian organizations, the Azeri statement accused
Armenians of inciting ethnic hatred and threatened with violence. The
Armenian organizations say such behavior reveals unconcealed
hostility toward Armenians and their historic memory as well as
contempt of democratic society and its values.
The letter says that only with sick fantasy it's possible to regard
the events dedicated to the memory of the genocide committed in the
Osman empire in 1915 as an insult to the national dignity of Azeris.
It says that similar events are being held right now, on the 90th
anniversary of the tragic events, in many countries, including in
parliaments and at conferences, and the same topic has been raised in
Turkey.
"... it is not understandable how Azeris are linked to the genocide
of Armenians committed in 1915 and why leaders of the Azerbaijani
community have assumed the unrewarding task of justifying one of the
most horrendous crimes of the last century," the letter says.
Threats and ultimatums that are addressed by one ethnic group to
another are to be qualified as a variety of terrorism, it says.
The section of the statement by the Azeris that warns of
deterioration in Estonia's relations with Turkey, a fellow member of
NATO, is viewed in the letter by the Armenian organizations as
blackmail that is insulting to the Estonian state.
The authors of the letter underline that all the events staged by
Estonia's Armenian community to remember the genocide of Armenians
were held in abidance by Estonian and European laws, without
insulting anyone's national dignity or banning anyone from the event.
The letter is signed by the Armenian National Association of Estonia,
the Armenian National Association of South Estonia, the Tallinn
Armenian National Society, and representatives from the St. George's
congregation of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Estonia.
Ethnic Azeri associations of Estonia warned last week that
commemoration of the anniversary of genocide of Armenians may led to
a conflict between the two ethnic communities in Estonia. As the
Azeri representatives argued in the statement, with their actions
that conceal history and disseminate false information the Armenian
community representatives are provoking Azeris to take counter-action
and that Estonian officials' participation in the events may harm
ties with Turkey, which helped Estonia become a member of NATO.