On June 3, in Vienna, the capital of Austria, the two-day meeting on “Tolerance and Non-Discrimination” organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Finnish Chairmanship-in-Office of the OSCE, continued its work.
Ambassadors, diplomats, and official representatives of 57 countries attended the event. The participants discussed the protection of civil society in the OSCE region, the activities of human rights defenders, the freedom of peaceful assembly, and existing challenges in this area.
Participating in the meeting, the Head of the Azerbaijan Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, human rights defender Dr. Ahmad Shahidov delivered a speech in the panel titled “Prepare: Towards More Inclusive Approaches to Policymaking to Advance Tolerance, Non-Discrimination and Equality.”
In his speech, he drew attention to the human rights violations and discrimination faced by national minorities in the OSCE region. Dr. Shahidov especially highlighted the situation of the Turkish minority living in Western Thrace, Greece. He stressed that the Greek government officially denies the ethnic identity of the Turkish minority, restricts their educational and religious freedoms, and deprives them of the right to elect their religious leaders and manage their Waqf foundations.
He also emphasized that for 17 years, Greece has not implemented the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concerning this minority, which is a blatant violation of international law.
Dr. Ahmad Shahidov further spoke about the human rights violations faced by other national minorities in the OSCE region, including the Roma community and Crimean Tatars. He called on participating states to involve the real representatives of minorities in decision-making processes and proposed a number of recommendations in this regard.
At the end of his speech, the Azerbaijani representative addressed his Armenian colleague, criticizing the hate speech and revanchist statements voiced over the two days of the event. He noted that the war is over, and peace negotiations are now on the regional agenda. Revanchist rhetoric has no place on this platform.
“If anyone wants a new war, they can enlist in the Armenian army,” said Dr. Shahidov, adding that a new conflict could result in the complete loss of Armenia’s sovereignty.
“The Azerbaijani army can perform prayer at the Blue Mosque in Yerevan tomorrow,” Dr. Ahmad Shahidov concluded.
