WE NEED FORCEFUL PROPAGANDA
Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
01 March 07
On February 26 the parliamentary factions and groups of the NKR
National Assembly held a news conference on the anniversary of the
tragedy in Sumgait.
All the parliament forces condemn this horrendous crime. "Sumgait was
the picture of Azerbaijan of the early 20th century displayed late in
the 20th century, " said Armen Sargsian, ARF-Movement 88 group. Arthur
Tovmassian, Hayrenik faction, said: "The events in Sumgait are the
continuation of the Armenian genocide in the beginning of the past
century." According to him, the Azerbaijani authorities had tried
to stage similar acts in other areas but failed. The leader of the
Democratic faction Vahram Atanessian emphasized that the events in
Sumgait were perpetrated a week after the February 20, 1988 decision
of the NKR Soviet of Deputies. It was the reaction of Azerbaijan to
the constitutional claims of the Armenians of Karabakh. There were also
proposals. "We intend to mark this day not only as the day of memory of
victims of Sumgait but also as a day of protest of Armenians against
the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan," said Armen Sargsian. The
other parliament forces agree on this evaluation of these events. And
not only on these events. The leaders of the parliament factions
assured that the political forces are unanimous on all the important
issues of the Armenians of Artsakh. As an example, they pointed to the
hearings at the NKR parliament on the Karabakh issue and the document
adopted during these hearings. However, the political forces are not
enough, the entire society should act unanimously, they say. The
leaders of the factions touched upon the events of Khodjalu, more
exactly the false information the Azerbaijani propaganda machine is
constantly supplying. The parliamentary forces agree that Sumgait and
Khodjalu are not equal. In the end the leaders of the factions made a
statement. "The massacres perpetrated by the Azerbaijani authorities on
February 27-29 in 1988 were not given an adequate political and legal
evaluation, the organizers were not punished, and the international
community never learned their names," the statement runs. As a result,
the Azerbaijani authorities went on with ethnic cleansing in Khanlar,
Kutkashen, Vardashen and Shamkor regions and Mingechaur in November
and December 1988, Kirovabad in 1989, Baku in 1990, the members
of parliament announced. With regard to the events in Khodjalu, the
representatives of the parliament forces stated that by falsifying the
reality in Khodjalu the Azerbaijani authorities first of all deceive
their people hiding the truth that the village had become a theatre
of internal political struggle for power in Azerbaijan. However, it is
necessary to be able to convey this to the international community. "
Unfortunately, we do not have established propaganda," said Vahram
Atanessian, adding that some efforts are nevertheless made.