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Armenian paper points to growing racism in society

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  • Armenian paper points to growing racism in society

    Armenian paper points to growing racism in society

    Aravot, Yerevan
    12 Mar 04

    Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on 12 March
    headlined "Official racism"

    "The increase in anti-Armenian sentiments in Azerbaijan and its
    consequences cannot be an excuse for spreading racist and chauvinistic
    ideas that are characteristic of our society," the Civic Society
    Institute, the Yerevan Press Club, the Helsinki Committee and the
    Caucasus Centre for Peaceful Initiatives said in a joint statement
    published in the press yesterday. The authors of the statement are
    anxious about "irresponsible statements by some Armenian politicians
    and public figures" who make unacceptable generalizations with regard
    to the whole Azerbaijani people.

    The chairman of the foreign relations committee of the National
    Assembly, Armen Rustamyan, and the leader of the Republican Party's
    parliamentary faction, Galust Saakyan, are these "irresponsible
    figures". The authors of the statement think that statements by
    officials who have such a high political level and represent the
    ruling coalition are more than unacceptable because they may be
    understood to be the official position of our country. In turn, this
    will create new obstacles for a peaceful settlement to the Karabakh
    issue. It is natural that the statement by these four public
    organizations will meet with resistance from our nationalistic
    circles: how can racism and chauvinism be to blame if we have to live
    in an atmosphere of permanent hatred, hostility and revenge in order
    to preserve our national originality?

    The president of our country has expressed almost the same
    idea. According to him, the Budapest incident [the killing of an
    Armenian officer] testifies to the fact that Armenophobia has reached
    a physiological level in Azerbaijan. If the country's president
    expresses such ideas and if he in fact says during a meeting with
    students that the Azerbaijanis have innate pathological Armenophobia,
    which makes them reach for an axe when they meet an Armenian, there is
    no need to complain about Rustamyan and Saakyan. The authors of the
    joint statement are wrong as racist and chauvinistic ideas have been
    an ordinary thing in our society for a long time. They are being
    stimulated by the official ideology and propaganda.
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