YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan participated in World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 23-24 organized by the UN, where he delivered a speech touching upon the announcement made by the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.

As “Armenpress” was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, Hovakimyan particularly stated, “The recent acts of barbarism, including the deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of the civilians, particularly children, women and elderly, as well as civilians facilities, including schools and kindergartens, executions, beheadings, tortures and mutilation of the bodies of the killed are inconsistent with the elementary norms of the civilized world”, he said, adding that all these are a result of Azerbaijani long term policy of disseminating racism, intolerance, and hatred against Armenians.

“The periodic and gross violation of international humanitarian law and the glorification of those directly involved in crimes by top state level are crimes against humanity and war crimes on their own”, Ashot Hovakimyan stated.

Referring to the announcement of the Azerbaijani president on May 23 at the summit, Hovakimyan mentioned, “The president of Azerbaijan, who bears personal responsibility for unleashing the aggression and glorifying the terrorists who acted in ISIL-style, raised imaginary accusations against Armenians from this high platform. The lies he told have nothing in common with reality. Armenia definitely has no plans to create a nuclear weapon, and of course, the Armenian armed forces never used chemical weapons”, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia said.

He also spoke about the issues of refugees who arrived in Armenia from Syria and the efforts of the Armenian Government to grant them asylum.