Peace Does Not Mean Hate: Arman Tatoyan

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia has published a new report in English about the state of Azerbaijani anti-Armenianism and hostility after the 44-day war. This was noted by Armenia's Human Rights Defender, Arman Tatoyan, on his Facebook page.

“This report is based on objective evidence and concrete facts that we have gathered through continuous daily work. The main conclusions of the report are:
1) After the war, the Azerbaijani authorities continue the state policy of promoting hatred and hostility.
2) It has two pillars: ethnic and religious.
3) It is not merely rhetoric but a long-term real policy in education, culture, sports, etc. Therefore, it is inappropriate to speak only of rhetoric.
4) This very policy is the real source of human rights violations, including war crimes and various atrocities perpetrated by the Azerbaijani armed forces in Armenia and Artsakh before, during, and after the war.
5) The propaganda of hatred and hostility serves as a source of political life for the Azerbaijani authorities, a means to divert their people from internal problems; it has not diminished and will not diminish.
6) Hatred based on religion is acquiring new, dangerously severe developments as the Armenian people are unfoundedly accused of Islamophobia. This also leads to the destruction of churches, erasing their Armenian identity, and new manifestations of torture against Armenian captives.
7) The report demonstrates, with historical facts, the genuine respect of the Armenian Church and our people toward Islam.
8) Azerbaijani policies of hatred keep both peoples in animosity worldwide, and it poses risks to other countries where Armenians and Azerbaijanis live.
9) Azerbaijani calls for peace are insincere, false, and a façade for the outside world. Peace is of the highest value to us, hostility is unacceptable, but real peace cannot exist at the expense of one side’s rights; peace does not mean hate. Therefore, we must not forget all this: we need real guarantees for the protection of our rights,” he wrote.