Following the practice of Safarov and Daesh, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan beheaded and tortured not only servicemen, but also the civilian population, including the elderly and women.
Armenian Deputy FM Ashot Hovakimian, who heads the Armenian delegation in Germany, said the aforementioned at the anti-terrorism conference entitled “Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism” held in Berlin in the framework of the OSCE German Chairmanship.
The event was also attended by a number of high-ranking officials from the OSCE member and partner states. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Foreign Minister of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier together with Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière delivered an opening speech.
In the beginning of his address, Deputy FM Hovakimian noted that Armenia was the first in the OSCE framework to condemn the crimes committed by the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Nusra against the Yezidis in Iraq and Armenians in Deir ez-Zor and Kessab.
In his words, greater attention should be attached to the prevention of crimes committed on the ground of hatred since they immediately link the violent extremism with terrorism.
According to Hovakimian, the current conflicts pave the way for violent extremism, especially when the state authorities use those conflicts to limit human rights and sow hatred against the sides to the conflict. The Deputy FM also stressed that unfortunately the recent developments in our region came to only reconfirm the Armenian side’s concern, when the Azerbaijani armed forces — following the practice of Safarov and Daesh — beheaded and tortured not only servicemen, but also the civilian population, including the elderly and women. The perpetrators of those crimes were not condemned, but awarded by the Azerbaijani president, he added.
Concluding his speech, Deputy FM Hovakimian stressed that any attempt of the states to serve the violent extremism and terrorism their purposes should be severely condemned.
