ASHOT MELKONYAN: ARMENIANS OF BAKU GREATLY CONTRIBUTED THE TOWN’S DEVELOPMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.01.2010 17:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenians of Baku greatly contributed to the
town’s development, but what they got in return was genocide and ethnic
cleansing, RA NAS History Institute Director Ashot Melkonyan says.
"Following our victory in Artsakh war, we somehow forgot about
propaganda struggle whereas Baku resorted to wide information campaign
to give rebuff to its defeat," he told Tuesday a scientific conference
dedicated to January 1990 Armenian pogroms in Baku.
At that, he noted that despite falling behind Azerbaijan in propaganda
war, Armenian seeks to disclose to the world the true history of
1905, 1918 and 1990 ethnic cleansing and genocides that took place
in Azerbaijan.
"We must raise the issue on state level, calling for proper assessment
on the events," Mr. Melkonyan said.
In January 1990, Azerbaijani authorities instigated the Armenian
pogroms in Baku. Some 400 Armenians were killed and 200 thousand
were exiled in the period of January 13-19, 1990. The exact number
of those killed was never determined, as no investigation was carried
out into the crimes.
On January 13, a crowd numbering 50 thousand people divided into
groups and started "cleaning" the city of Armenians. On January 17,
the European Parliament called on EU Council of Foreign Ministers
and European Council to protect Armenians and render assistance to
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. On January 18, a group of U.S. Senators
sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev to express concerns over the
violence against the Armenian population in Azerbaijan and called
for unification of Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia.