Armenian Community Unrelated to Gunfire Toward Azerbaijani Consulate in Kharkov

I do not know whether there was gunfire in Kharkov or not; I heard about it from the press. This looks very much like a provocation. This was stated by Tigran Seyranyan, the Armenian Ambassador to Ukraine, in an interview with Ukraine-24, commenting on reports of gunfire toward the Azerbaijani consulate in Kharkov.

"Even if shots were fired, we do not know who did it. I am convinced that Armenian community organizations have nothing to do with this. And, in general, where does such confidence come from that Armenians necessarily have to do with it? Honorary consuls are usually involved in some commercial, economic activities. Perhaps this is related to that? Maybe they themselves did something for the purpose of provocation? I do not know. This should be clarified by law enforcement agencies, and if there are criminals, then there are appropriate laws and corresponding sanctions. One should not draw conclusions immediately.

I would like to mention the position of the Armenian community, the Union of Armenians of Ukraine, which I fully support: it is that Ukraine should not be turned into a battlefield. Large communities live here, and the consequences could be unpredictable. And this is managed well by the Armenian community, unlike the Azerbaijani side, which organized a noisy motorcade accompanied by gunfire in the center of Kyiv some time ago.

I would like to note that such provocations in the spirit of Azerbaijani propaganda can be part of a general campaign to incite clashes or shape public opinion against Armenians and Armenia in the host countries. Unfortunately, similar incidents have also occurred in other countries. A similar attempt was recently made to blame the Armenian side in one of the Baltic countries, moreover, they tried to give it a religious nuance.

Thus, we need to stay calm and allow law enforcement to do their job. This is all I can say on this matter at the moment," said the ambassador.