In the city of Los Angeles, the police intervened against the Armenian group who verbally and physically attacked the conference organized jointly by Yunus Emre Institute (YEI) and USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism Public Diplomacy Master’s Program.

Turkish Ambassador in Washington, Hasan Murat Mercan, Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Los Angeles Ramil Gurbanov, Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş, the Chair of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, James Jeffrey, Washington Yunus Emre Institute Coordinator Gökhan Coşkun, O3 Media Manager Saner Ayar and speakers attended the conference organized in collaboration with Yunus Emre Institute and USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.

After the opening speeches of the event, Turkish Ambassador in Washington, Hasan Murat Mercan took the podium to deliver his speech, a group of 11 students started protesting. At the same time, another protester targeted Azerbaijan's Consul General in Los Angeles, Ramil Gurbanov, and made a verbal attack.

The 10-minute protest of the group targeting Türkiye and Azerbaijan was ended with the intervention of the university’s security guards and police, and the protesting group was removed from the hall. Throughout the conference, protesters waiting outside tried to affect the normal flow of the program by making noise.

Continuing his speeches in the program despite all the negative conditions, Turkish Ambassador in Washington, Mercan made the following evaluations: “Like-minded countries should collaborate to solve problems and develop new ideas. At the same time, we must increase our communication and understanding, otherwise, we cannot make any progress.”

Ambassador Mercan stated that Türkiye’s foreign policy is based on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s principle of “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” and emphasized that the Republic of Türkiye has approached all segments of society with respect since its establishment.

In his speeches at the program, Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş stated that there are many different forms of diplomacy and underlined that public diplomacy reaches people around the world in different ways that traditional diplomacy cannot reach.

Emphasizing that Yunus Emre Institute brings together people from different geographies of the world under the unifying roof of Turkish culture and Turkish through the unique elements of Turkish culture, Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş noted that the Institute carries out its activities with more than 80 representative offices in more than 60 countries around the world.

After the end of the conference, Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş, Türkiye’s Los Angeles Religious Services Attache İsmail Demirezen İsmail Demirezen and O3 Media Manager Saner Ayar were physically and verbally attacked by demonstrators outside.

Following the attack, Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş participated in the live broadcast programs of Türkiye’s leading media channels and made the following statements:

“This region is an important region for both the United States and the world. This region is also a region where the Armenian diaspora is strong. It is very sad that there are no Turkish investors, Turkish non-governmental organizations, therefore Turkish presence and Turkish thought in this region. Here, any initiative to be made by Türkiye with local governments and universities was canceled due to Armenian pressure and reaction.

With the awareness of this situation, we have formed a working group within the university for a year and a half. We invited the students in this working group to Türkiye and organized educational trips for two weeks. Throughout the study, Türkiye’s foreign policy breakthroughs and foreign policy victories and the position it has reached in public diplomacy were determined by students and academics themselves. Together with the university administration, we decided to organize a day under the title of ‘Türkiye Day’ and ‘The Role of Public Diplomacy in Turkish Foreign Policy’ in order to share all the data that emerged at the end of the study. Despite the negative conditions in the region, the university administration did not cancel the program and the necessary precautions were taken, but no one could foresee that such aggression, such brutality and vandalism could occur outside the building.”

“Türkiye’s Strong Unity with Azerbaijan in Recent Years is Quite Disturbing to the Foreign Disapora”

In the continuation of his speech, Institute President Prof. Dr. Ateş made the following evaluations: “Türkiye’s strong unity with Azerbaijan in recent years is quite disturbing to the disapora outside, but no matter how disturbed they are, we must maintain our calm and carry the wisdom and cultural richness of Anatolia to all over the world. At the conference, American diplomats, students and scientists expressed Türkiye’s increasing role and power both in its own territory and in the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Turkish World and the Islamic World. All of these caused the Armenian diaspora to actually attack because they had no argument.”

“In this day and age, it is not acceptable for young children to be raised with such hostility towards Turks and to attack people with sticks”

In his statement, President Prof. Dr. Ateş used the following statement: “The images you see are a shame for humanity. In this age, it is not acceptable for young children to be raised with such hostility towards Turks and to attack people with sticks.”

It has been announced that the necessary legal process will be initiated against those who committed heinous attacks by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.