Heritage party leader rejects invitation for Baku ICAPP event

PanARMENIAN.Net - Heritage Party chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian has been invited by the International Conference of Asian Political Parties to attend the organization's assembly scheduled for November in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

Hovannisian's invitation comes in light of his participation in the previous ICAPP convention held in Phnom Penh, where he visited the concentration camps of the Cambodian genocide and delivered an address on the challenges of democracy and sovereignty, the Armenian Henocide and prevention of crimes against humanity, and Nagorno Karabakh's liberty and statehood.

In his response to the invitation, Mr. Hovannisian says:

“It was a pleasure, after the very productive meeting in Cambodia, to receive an invitation to the next Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties.

As I am sure you know, the president of the host country has added to his long-standing record of racism, rights suppression, and anti-Armenian demeanor by pardoning and glorifying an Azerbaijani soldier who had been convicted in Budapest for the cold-blooded murder by axe (yes, you read this correctly) of an Armenian colleague. Today, Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan would have turned 34 years old.

I will not politicize this letter by detailing the Aliev regime's human rights background, its destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, and its failed war of aggression against the freedom-loving people of Mountainous Karabagh.

Suffice it to say here that, in view of the recent release and sanctification of axe-murderer Ramil Safarov, the Heritage Party cannot associate itself with the upcoming Assembly and will not attend.

In view of the aims and purposes of ICAPP, moreover, I would expect an unequivocal condemnation of this unconscionable conduct, which flies in the face of our common values and will necessarily cast a dark shadow upon your host government and, most unfortunately, upon the meeting itself.”