CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK ‘REFUGEES AND INTERNATIONAL LAW’ MAKES STATEMENT ON OCCASION OF 21ST ANNIVERSARY OF MASSACRE IN SUMGAIT

ArmInfo
2009-02-26 13:33:00

ArmInfo. Civil Society Network ‘Refugees and International Law’ makes
a statement on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the massacre
in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.

‘Starting 1988 every year in late February Armenians across the world
remember the bloody crime against the peaceful Armenian population
in Sumgait organized and committed by the authorities and criminal
elements of Azerbaijan. That massacre became an alarm of the beginning
of another unprecedented wave of anti-Armenian persecutions and
violence, a new genocide of Armenians in Azerbaijan. The Armenians
of Kirovabad, Ghazakh, Khanlar, Dashkesan, Mingechaur, Baku and
other towns and villages in Azerbaijan fell victim to this wave. Our
compatriots in Azerbaijan became hostages of the policy of the USSR
and Azerbaijani authorities on the one hand and inexperience and
not preparedness of the Armenian authorities and leaders of the Pan
National Movement on the other hand. The interests and the rights of
Armenians in Azerbaijan were ignored and infringed those terrible
days. Unfortunately, the Armenian and NKR authorities relegate the
legal rights and interests of the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
also today. They do not admit that neglecting the problem of Armenian
refugees they allow thinking that one-day they will ignore also each
other’s interests. As a result, our independent statehood obtained
at the expense of so many lives and by genuine efforts will be
lost. Statesmen, you are responsible for the fate of the Armenians
from Azerbaijan, for the fate of Getashen and Shahumyan. We urge
you to display approaches protecting the interests and rights of all
the parts of our people. Only in this case we will gain victory and
protect our national values’, the statement says.