The president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has condemned an attack by Armenian protesters on Turkish and Azerbaijani officials in the US state of California.
“I strongly condemn the verbal and physical attacks made by Armenian radical groups against the delegations of our homeland, the Republic of Türkiye and Azerbaijan, who attended Türkiye’s Public Diplomacy Conference held in Los Angeles,” Ersin Tatar said in a statement on Saturday.
Tatar said the actions of “radical groups aiming to affect the peace process initiated in the region” are worrying and expressed his best wishes to Türkiye’s Ambassador to the US, Hasan Murat Mercan, Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Los Angeles, Ramil Gurbanov and other conference participants at the scene of the attacks.
He underlined that the TRNC will always stand by Türkiye and will continue to support Azerbaijan’s “just cause.”
During a conference on Turkish diplomacy in Los Angeles with the sponsorship of Yunus Emre Institute and the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, an Armenian group made verbal and physical attacks on participants, including Turkish and Azerbaijani diplomats and former US diplomats.
Türkiye raised concern over radical diaspora groups using hate speech to incite violent actions against Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Armenian government, and the peace process, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry statement came after Turkish officials were verbally and physically harassed by radical Armenian groups at a conference at the University of Southern California in the US.
The US Diplomatic Security Unit and the Los Angeles Police Department handled the situation on campus and kept it from escalating by implementing necessary security measures.
“It is worrying that the hate language of radical diaspora groups, which target our country and Azerbaijan, and more recently the Armenian government and the peace process in the region, has turned into violent acts.
We will initiate the necessary legal process against those who physically attack our delegation,” the ministry said.
This incident demonstrated that “distortion of historical events with narrow and local political motives and statements made to please extremist groups encourage radicalisation, hate speech and violence,” the statement said.
On Saturday, Turkish officials attended the conference on Türkiye’s Public Diplomacy, co-hosted by the Annaberg School of Journalism and Yunus Emre Institute at the University of Southern California.
Following the event’s opening speeches, a group of Armenian students began protesting when Türkiye’s Ambassador to Washington Hasan Murat Mercan started speaking.
Another protester verbally abused Azerbaijan’s Los Angeles Consul General Ramil Gurbanov.
The group’s 10-minute protest against Türkiye and Azerbaijan was put to an end by security and police, who removed the group from the venue.
Throughout the conference, the protesting group gathered outside and attempted to disrupt the normal flow of the program by making noise.
Source: TRTworld.com