Armenians of Greece protest envoy’s visit to occupied Karabakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - Following the visit of Ambassador Nikolaos Piperigos to the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh that are under Azerbaijani occupation, the Armenian community in Greece has made a strong protest to Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, Greek City Times reports.

Piperigos, who was silent during the handing over ceremony of his credentials when Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev made it clear that his country supports Turkey in the East Mediterranean, decided to join a propaganda tour to the occupied territories.

The Armenian National Committee of Greece sent an open letter to Dendias, expressing the anger of Greece’s Armenian community.

"With surprise and great discomfort we learned of the participation of the Ambassador of Greece to Azerbaijan Mr. Nikolaos Piperigkou in a provocative celebration organized by the Aliyev regime and included other diplomats accredited in Azerbaijan in the Armenian-occupied town Shushi in Artsakh," the letter reads.

"Following literally Ankara’s demands and similar provocative fiestas organized by Erdogan in occupied Cyprus, the President of Azerbaijan invited representatives of states to ‘celebrate’ with him.

"To celebrate what? The hateful work of Azerbaijan that continues to violate the agreements and invade the sovereign territory of Armenia? Or to ‘honour’ a dictator who still illegally holds Armenian soldiers and civilian Prisoners of War after the end of the catastrophic war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)?

"We believe that the presence of the representatives of the states, but mainly of Greece, encourages the outrageous and arrogant regime of President Aliyev."

The ambassadors of the United States, France and Russia have rejected the invitation of the Azerbaijani government to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh city of Shushi, which came under Baku's control during the 44-day war in fall 2020. Ambassadors of 46 countries, however, did accept the invitation and were pictured taking selfies near the iconic Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, which was targeted by Azerbaijan's precision guided missiles twice within an hour.