Armenian youth in Prague protest
The Armenian Youth Association of the Czech Republic has conducted a protest rally outside the Slovakian Embassy and CZECHOSLOVAK GROUP, a company specializing in engineering, automotive, rail, aviation and defence industries, to raise public concerns over the supply of offensive weapons to Azerbaijan.
“The youth organized a protest action to raise public awareness of the armament transported from the Czech Republic to Slovakia and later also – to Israel from where it reached Azerbaijan,” Hakob Asatryan, the editor-in-chief of the Prague-based Armenian magazine Orer, told Tert.am, describing the transaction a kind of corruption by the Czech company.
He added that the activists intend to continue the campaign also on the social networks, “The efforts of the Armenian community, especially the youth, should be directed to at least preventing the exportation of those weapons from the Czech Republic,” he added.
Reports on the supply of the Czech-manufactured self-propelled artillery piece DANA M1 and the heavy multiple rocket launcher РСЗО were published by the Azerbaijani media in 2017.
Asatryan cited also recent reports in the local media about an investigation into the sale of Czech weaponry to Azerbaijan through Slovakia. He added that the topic was addressed also by the Czech Public Television which had conducted an extensive journalistic investigation.
But despite the wide coverage of the transaction and the protests, neither the Slovakian authorities nor any international organization has reacted to the growing concerns, Asatryan said.
In a recent interview with a Czech TV channel, Armenian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Tigran Seyran said he initiated discussions on different levels and in different formats and even sent a request to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs upon knowing the investigation outcomes.
“We expect that the Slovak authorities will not only answer our questions but will also run a detailed investigation on how it was possible that CZECHOSLOVAK GROUP exported dangerous combat armament to Azerbaijan, a country, which is unpredictable and abates universal human rights,” he said in comments to Tert.am.