Ambassador criticises Canadian university for axing talk

The Turkish Ambassador to Canada, Kerim Uras, blasted a Canadian university’s decision to cancel an event on the Southern Caucasus after pressure by radical Armenian groups, as he called it a “sad day” for freedom of speech in Canada, reports the Daily Sabah.

Uras was scheduled to attend the online event organised by the Montreal-based Concordia University’s Strategic and Diplomatic Society and the International Relations Society to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which had recently been liberated by Azerbaijan from three decades of Armenian occupation. The event, which was scheduled to take place on 18 March, was cancelled after radical Armenian groups, including the Armenian National Committee of Quebec put pressure on the university and the relevant student clubs to cancel it.

The ambassador criticised the cancellation, saying that he had accepted the university’s invitation weeks ago and that his participation would have enabled students of diplomacy to listen to every perspective and ask questions “for a better understanding of international issues and Southern Caucasus”.
Full report on the Daily Sabah site