ARMENIAN FM: POGROMS OF ARMENIANS IN SUMGAIT THE FIRST ATTEMPT OF ETHNIC PURGE IN OUR REGION

arminfo
2008-01-09 18:13:00

ArmInfo. ‘Sumgait pogroms of Armenians was the first attempt of ethnic
purge in our region’, Foreign Minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan said
at a press conference, Wednesday, on occasion of the 20th anniversary
of these tragic events to be marked in 2008.

He said the negotiations for settlement of Karabakh conflict and the
Sumgait events of 1988 are inseparably associated. ‘The military phase
of the conflict started after the events in Sumgait. It was Sumgait
that changed the course of Karabakh process’, the minister said. He
also added that commemoration of these events will drive home the
NKR people’s right to self-determination. Return to the status quo of
1988 is impossible and Azerbaijan must understand this, the minister
stressed. He drew parallels between purges in Kosovo and Sumgait and
stressed that Armenian diplomats have to carry out serious outreach
activities at international instances.

The minister also urged NGOs to join the events to be organized on
occasion of the 20th anniversary of Sumgait pogroms.