The political factions and independent lawmakers represented in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) National Assembly have urged international human rights organizations to take a strong action to condemn the 1988 Armenian pogroms of Sumgait.
In a joint statement, they also call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to confront their past and end the policy of xenophobia.
“31 years ago – from February 27 to 29, 1988 – the Azerbaijani authorities perpetrated the pogroms and the deportation of the Armenian population in the city of Sumgait. Hundreds were killed and thousands were deported – most women, children and elderly people – only on the grounds of their ethnic origin.
“The wave of genocidal acts spread also to Gandzak [Ganja], Baku, Northern Artsakh and other Armenian-populated cities and towns. The systematically repeated crimes – pursuing the same style – turned into official policies, posing a real threat of extermination to the ethnic Armenian community of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh]. Hence the popular movement, which was gaining momentum in Artsakh in that very period, aimed to reinstate dignity and those violated rights.
“Paying tribute to our compatriots who fell victim to the Sumgait pogroms and condemning any form of discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia, the factions and the independent lawmakers in the Artsakh Republic National Assembly
– insist that the permissiveness of the genocidal acts perpetrated by Azerbaijan led to more crimes and wars against the people of Artsakh;
– reiterate the commitment to reinstate the rights of the Azerbaijani-Armenians who survived violence and deportations;
– urge international human rights organizations to recognize and condemn the Sumgait genocide,
– call upon Azerbaijan to confront its past, abandon the
belligerent rhetoric and end the state policy of Armenophobia continuing
to date,” reads the statement.