“I am not currently involved. I cannot say for certain what happened, but in any case, it is an unpleasant incident in Armenian-Canadian relations,” the former Armenian ambassador to Canada, Levon Martirosyan, said in response to Aravot Daily’s question about the possible impact the Canadian Embassy in Turkey’s statement would have. In a statement posted on the embassy’s Twitter page, they had said that Canada supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and it does not recognize the so-called “elections” that took place in Nagorno-Karabakh on March 31st.
The tweet also said, “Such ‘elections’ undermine efforts, [including] by the OSCE Minsk Group, to achieve a peaceful settlement of the NK conflict.”
Levon Martirosyan said that Armenian-Canadian relations have improved greatly over the past several years politically, in some ways economically, and in a humanitarian manner. He said, “I was surprised by this unpleasant statement, but it would be better for us to wait for the Ministry of Affairs’ official statement. I know that Armenian organizations condemned this statement, such as the Armenian Cause office in Canada. They expressed their anger and worry over this statement. It truly does require an explanation.”
Levon Martirosyan said that the Canadian Embassy in Turkey was the one to make this statement, and he emphasized that embassies are official divisions of any country’s foreign affairs ministry and an official representation of that country. Therefore, that is the official standpoint of that country and it cannot be said that such statements are the personal opinions of the ambassador or embassy. “Considering this, it was very unpleasant, especially for me.”
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Tatev Harutyunyan
