Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was confronted by Armenian protesters during a visit to Uruguay on April 23, using the opportunity to flash a fascist Gray Wolves hand signal.
This was all the more provocative as he made the hand gesture one day before the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey.
When facing the Armenians protesting his visit, he “greeted” them with the sign of the Turkish nationalist organisation “Gray Wolves” that are responsible for numerous massacres over the decades and deny the Armenian genocide.
Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made the gesture of the racist “Gray Wolves” organization to demonstrators from the Armenian community in Uruguay who were marching the day before the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. pic.twitter.com/ZB5iNEcblc
— vicky🇦🇲🇦🇷 (@vickysheklian) April 23, 2022
Çavuşoğlu, in fact, is smiling ironically, being fully aware of the move he is making towards the people in front of him.
Some people near his car – most likely Turks – applauded him proudly for his reaction.
Çavuşoğlu, who held a meeting last Saturday with his Uruguayan counterpart Francisco Bustillo, passed his official vehicle in front of the activists before making the gesture.
After the scandal, Bustillo - who was the keynote speaker on behalf of the Uruguayan Executive Branch on Sunday in an act to commemorate the genocide - decided to convene Turkey's ambassador to Uruguay, Hüseyin Müftüoğlu on Monday.
The Armenian Cause Council of Uruguay, an organisation that is dedicated to the defence of human rights and the strengthening of Armenia, uploaded the video showing the stunt gesture of the chancellor to its Twitter account.
El canciller de #Turquía se retira haciendo el gesto de la organización terrorista turca Lobos Grises a los manifestantes armenios.
Un gesto vergonzoso que demuestra el objetivo real de esta visita.
Lamentamos que el @MRREE_Uruguay cobije a quienes reivindican el terrorismo. pic.twitter.com/DDAQ5dd8Gf— Consejo Causa Armenia del Uruguay (@causaarmeniauy) April 23, 2022
They also condemned the official’s action as “shameful" and lamented that the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry “shelters those who claim terrorism.”
Çavuşoğlu not only offended Uruguayan Armenians but the whole nation, since the first country in the world to recognize the Armenian genocide was precisely Uruguay in 1965.
The Turkish Foreign Minister was received by Bustillo at the Palacio Santos, headquarters of the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, to formally begin negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
As reported by the Uruguayan ministry in a statement, the ministers “held a working meeting held in a climate of friendship and mutual respect, during which the state of bilateral relations was reviewed.”
During the meeting this Saturday, both ministers signed the Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments.
In a statement, the agreement is “an instrument of special importance to favour the development of business activities and the establishment of capital in productive enterprises that generate employment and trade for both countries."
The Armenian Genocide is recognised by about thirty countries and by the historical community.
According to estimates, between 1.2 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed during the First World War by the troops of the Ottoman Empire, then allied to Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Last year, at another historic milestone, Joe Biden became the first US president in office to describe the events of 1915 as “genocide”. Today, in fact, the American commemorated the tragedy again.
The Grey Wolves was established by Colonel Alparslan Türkeş in the late 1960s, and had close dealings in the past with the Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish branch of the NATO Operation Gladio.
Despite cooperating with NATO, that did not stop them from carrying massacre’s against minorities, like when they slaughtered 100 members of the Alevi religious minority during the massacre of in Maraş in December 1978.
They also masterminded the Pope John Paul II assassination attempt in 1981 and thousands of Gray Wolves fought in the first Artsakh War in the early 1990’s.
Their flags have been seen among the Azerbaijani military in the current Artsakh War, and they were also involved in the First and Second Chechen Wars.
The ultra-nationalist group also engages in drug trade, human trafficking, extortion, death squads, targeted assassinations and a literal front for the Turkish state.
For the fascist group, the main hand signal is a fist with the little finger and index finger raised, something that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is often seen doing.
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