Androulakis hits back at Azerbaijani Ambassador to Athens

Member of the European Parliament Nikos Androulakis harshly criticised a “park of barbarity” in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku for displaying “trophy” helmets and dummies of Armenian soldiers who were martyred in last years war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a post on social media, Member of the European Parliament for the Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, denounced the country’s president and stressed that he “insults the memory of the Armenian soldiers” by establishing a park of “barbarism.”

“International organisations cannot remain silent to these medieval practices that shame humanity,” he added.

The park was inaugurated on Monday by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Athens, Anar Huseynov, attacked the Greek MEP for his principled position, saying that “the reasons for Mr. Androulakis’ biased attitude towards Azerbaijan have been known for a long time.”

“The MEP mentioned the helmets and dummies of the dead Armenian soldiers, but unfortunately forgot about the 20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers who died during the two wars and the one million refugees and internally displaced persons,” he added.

For his part, Huseynov forgets that Artsakh has been an integral part of the Armenian heartland for 2,500 years, 1,500 years before the first marauding Turkic barbarians arrived in the region from Central Asia.

Androulakis response was immediate.

“I do not really understand the meaning of the Ambassador’s post.

“He may find it biased to co-sign an amendment last summer, a few months before the war.

“He and other colleagues called for a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, based on the principles of territorial integrity, non-violence, equal rights and self-determination.

“He had been annoyed even then, and at the condemnation of a barbaric act against the values ​​represented by the European Parliament and which are being brutally trampled on by the War Trophy Park inaugurated in Baku.

“Lack of respect for the memory of the dead is an abominable act and offends humanity by any government in any part of the world.”

READ MORE: On the legal political status of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).