ArmInfo. "In commemoration of the Baku and Sumgait pogroms, the executive of the Washington D.C.
"Ani" Chapter of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) has announced that it will hold a protest outside the Embassy of Azerbaijan on Sunday, February 25, at 2 p.m, the AYF's press release reads.
"As this is one of the first major actions since the government of
Azerbaijan committed genocide against the indigenous Armenian
population of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the Armenian community of
the Washington D.C. region, along with its allies, are encouraging a
large turnout.
"The AYF will always be at the forefront of the movement to defend
our homeland and our people," stated AYF D.C. "Ani" Chapter chair
Galy Jackmakjian. "The massacres of Armenians by Azeri authorities at
Baku and Sumgait decades ago were just the tip of an iceberg that has
continued to threaten the Armenian nation - not just in Artsakh but
everywhere."
The Baku and Sumgait pogroms were massacres of Armenians, then living
in the Azerbaijani SSR, by Azeri authorities in retaliation for
demands for self-governance of the historically Armenian region of
Artsakh. According to contemporary accounts, innocent Armenian
civilians were mutilated and burned alive as Azerbaijanis paraded
through the streets shouting, "Long live Baku without Armenians" and
"Death to the Armenians."
The demands for self-determination were repeatedly denied by Azeri
authorities, eventually culminating in the recent forced exodus of
the entire region's indigenous inhabitants to the Republic of Armenia
last September. Altogether, the pogroms and wars that followed
resulted in hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees and thousands
more killed. "This is an ongoing genocide that hasn't stopped since
1915," said Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Washington D.C.
chair Matthew Girardi. "By denying the Armenian Genocide of 1915 for
decades, sending arms to Turkey and Azerbaijan and failing to
sanction the Azeri government, our government betrays its stated
values of freedom and justice for all. Instead, this complicity is
encouraging further genocide and authoritarian aggression." The AYF,
in addition to commemorating the Baku and Sumgait pogroms, is
immediately calling on Congress to end all aid to Azerbaijan,
sanction the Aliyev regime for its repeated crimes against humanity,
expand U.S. aid to Artsakh genocide survivors and ensure the dignity,
safe right of return and self-determination for the people of
Artsakh" the source notes.
In response to the desire of the Armenians of Artsakh
(Nagorno-Karabakh) to realize their right to self- determination, a
wave of Armenian pogroms swept across Azerbaijan, accompanied by
murders, violence and robberies of unprecedented cruelty.
The first victims of Azerbaijan's policy of violent suppression of
the free will of the people of Nagorno- Karabakh were the Armenians
of Sumgait, an Azerbaijani city located several hundred kilometers
from Nagorno-Karabakh. The massacre in Sumgayit lasted three days,
from February 27 to 29, 1988.
In November 1988, the second wave of Armenian pogroms began in
Azerbaijan; the largest of them were in Kirovabad, Shemakha,
Shamkhor, and Mingachevir. During the same period, in
November-December 1988, residents of 50 Armenian settlements of
northern Artsakh - the mountainous and foothill parts of the Khanlar,
Dashkesan, Shamkhor and Gadabek regions, as well as the 48 thousand
Armenian population of Kirovabad (Gandzak) were also deported.
The massacres and final deportation of the Armenians of Baku in
January 1990 were the culmination of the persecution, violence,
pogroms and murders of the Armenian population in Azerbaijan in
1988-1990. They were illegally fired from their jobs and forcibly
evicted from apartments and houses. There were beatings, public
mockery and murder of Armenians. By January 1990, out of the 250
thousand Armenian population, about 35-40 thousand Armenians remained
in Baku. For the most part, these were elderly, lonely, sick or
low-income people who did not want or were unable to leave, as well
as their relatives who did not want to leave.
