Azerbaijanis miffed at pro-Armenian Canadian MP presence at event for "Nagorno Karabakh Republic"

According to the Canadian Press, Kenney, who is parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, attended a banquet June 11 held by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund banquet. The group does charitable works in Armenia and specifically Nagorno Karabakh, a breakaway region that Canada does not recognize as a state.

At the event earlier this month, anthems from Canada, Britain, Armenia and "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" were played. Kenney read out greetings from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Farid Shafiyev, a councillor at the embassy of Azerbaijan, said his presence is being interpreted by people in both the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities as tacit support for so called "Nagorno Karabakh Republic".

"That kind of undertaking, the singing of anthems in the presence of a high-electoral official, it can be considered a kind of blessing," said Shafiyev. "And I believe the Armenian media caught up with that event and portrayed that as getting attention from Canadian officials."

Shaifyev says he gives Kenney the benefit of the doubt that he didn't know the anthem would be played, but the embassy sent a letter to Foreign Affairs to underline its concern.

Kenney said he attended 14 cultural events that weekend alone, and went to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund banquet because it was a registered charity. He pointed out that the deputy speaker of the British House of Lords was also there.

"There was no political or diplomatic or foreign relations content to my visit," Kenney said in an interview.

Kenney added that his understanding previous to attending was that the charity raised money for projects throughout Armenia.

"I wasn't aware beforehand that they did this in Nagorno Karbakh, but I can't imagine anybody objecting to Canada supporting clinics, schools, hospitals and the like," Kenney said.

Still, the organization's executive director is a former minister from the disputed territory, and the evening's event's included the reading of a letter from the Nagorno Karbakh "Republic" office in Washington.

One of the banquet's organizers, Migirdic Migirdician, said there was nothing unusual about playing the anthem of the host "country."

Ilham Akhundov of the Canada Azerbaijan Partnership Association said his community doesn't have any quarrel with the group's fundraising activities, only with the playing of the anthem.

"Everybody knows this anthem is of the "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" which actually doesn't exist, our concern is just with that part of the event," said Akhundov, who wrote Kenney a letter of complaint. "He must mention that this is not something that should be done at such level of meetings."

The Conservative government, particularly Kenney, is regarded as a friend of the Armenian community. In April, Harper publicly recognized the disputed Armenian genocide of the early part of the 20th century. That created a diplomatic row with the Turkish government, which recalled its ambassador and pulled out of a NATO training exercise in protest.

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin landed in hot water in 2000, after he attended a dinner in Toronto hosted by the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils. Federal lawyers later declared that group a front for a Tamil terrorist group.

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