Armenian rally condemns US congressman’s move to recognize Xocali massacre

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
28 Feb 05

A prominent Armenian writer has condemned US Congressman Dan Burton’s
recent appeal to the US Congress to recognize the massacre in the
Nagornyy Karabakh town of Xocali in February 1992 as genocide.

Zori Balayan, who was shown on Armenian Public TV addressing a
rally at Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd memorial to commemorate pogroms
against Armenians in Azerbaijan in 1988, accused Congressman Burton
of one-sidedness.

“There are issues which cannot be discussed and which are even
dangerous to be discussed and presented in a one-sided manner ignoring
the fundamental principle of jurisprudence – listen to the other side,”
Balayan said.

The writer, who spoke on behalf of the participants in the rally,
said that the US congressman should have also mentioned the killing
of Armenians in the Azerbaijani cities of Sumqayit, Baku and Ganca
in 1988 and 1990. Balayan also compared the Armenian attack on the
Azerbaijani town of Xocali during the Karabakh war with the US strikes
on Afghanistan.

The rally decided to present the statement to the US embassy in
Armenia. After the ceremony the people marched to the US embassy,
the TV report said.