The Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo met this Monday with the Turkish ambassador, Hüseyin Müftüoğlu, to ask him for explanations for the attitude of his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who on Saturday, after inaugurating the embassy of his country in Montevideo, directed a racist gesture at a group of members of the local Armenian community.
Çavuşoğlu addressed the demonstrators, making with his hand the symbol of the Gray Wolves, a Turkish far-right nationalist paramilitary organization, banned in several European countries and accused of being racist and of, among other things, harassing and attacking those who demand a Turkey’s official recognition of the genocide triggered in 1915 that claimed the lives of almost two million Armenians.
Diplomatic sources confirmed to The Observer what Bustillo He reiterated to the ambassador the Uruguayan government’s “deep annoyance” at the minister’s attitude. The Turkish diplomat rehearsed an explanation for the gesture, “took note” of the annoyance and left without making a statement.
On Sunday, Bustillo had already expressed the Uruguayan government’s condemnation of the Turkish foreign minister’s attitude, during his oratory at the genocide commemoration event. At the same time, President Luis Lacalle Pou described the event as “regrettable”, and took off the commercial rapprochement with Turkey from the discussion about the role of that country in the persecution of the Armenian people.
The date
On the other hand, Çavuşoğlu, who arrived to agree on the terms of reference to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) between his country and Uruguay, I intended to be in Uruguay on Sunday the 24th, the exact date that Armenians commemorate the genocide, which would have been a bigger problem.
Official sources indicated that Bustillo interceded so that this did not happen. The honorary consul of Armenia in Uruguay, Alicia Aprahamian, agreed with that version.
Also the Frente Amplio senator Liliam Kechichian, who in any case expects Bustillo to give the corresponding explanations in Parliament in the face of what she defined as a “direct provocation” by the Turkish foreign minister to the Uruguayan Armenian community.
In addition to answering what was the official position expressed to the Turkish ambassador, the senator will ask to know why the Executive Power did not have another date for the arrival of the Turkish minister, knowing that it was going to coincide with the days of remembrance of the genocide.
Beyond the fact that the chancellor finally did not arrive on the exact day of the commemoration of the genocide, the coincidence in the dates caused discomfort in the Armenian community, and this discomfort became more visible after the provocation of Çavuşoğlu.
“Uruguay accepted Çavuşoğlu thinking that they could be civilized. The Armenian community spoke with Bustillo and told him about the true interest, knowing that he was also coming at a special time. And well, I stick to reality. Let Uruguay see what happened “Aprahamian said. “Let Foreign Minister Bustillo and all those who are in government today not forget the words of Artigas: ‘Do not sell the rich heritage at the low price of necessity,'” he added.
Montevideo was the minister’s first stop on his tour of Latin America. After Uruguay he moved to Brazil, from where he will continue to Colombia, Ecuador and Panama.
