AZERBAIJANI DIASPORA IN US TO EDUCATE US MEDIA AND POLITICIANS ON FACTS SURROUNDING TRAGIC EVENTS IN SUMGAIT

APA
Feb 10 2010
Azerbaijan

Washington. Isabel Levine – APA. The Azerbaijani Diaspora in US
has decided to educate the US media and politicians on the facts
surrounding the tragic events of February 28, 1988 in the city
of Sumgait.

According to APA’s Washington correspondent, the members of Diaspora
started sending letters to fundamental US broadcasting and print
services and politicians on the subjects of Sumgait, March Massacres
(day of Genocide against Azerbaijanis) and the Armenian issue of 1915.

"It is important to set the record straight on the issue to better
understand the turbulence of the time, complexity of the Caucasus
region and how rapidly can relations between two communities of
people deteriorate, leading one to an aggressive, expansionist
behavior, occupying lands (e.g., 16% of Azerbaijan), carrying out
ethnic cleansing (e.g., 800,000 Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs), and
committing crimes against humanity (e.g, Khojaly)" -Diaspora stated
on February 10th.

According to the Azeri Diaspora, "for over two decades, the
Armenian lobby and propaganda have been using Sumgait events to
lambast Azerbaijan and to justify their actions against the people
of Azerbaijan".

The authors are reminding that, "Sumgait Pogroms" refer to tragic
events which took place in the era of "perestroika" in the waning days
of the Soviet Union, in the economically-depressed and poverty-stricken
Azerbaijani industrial town of Sumgait (pop.

300,000). As a result of the unfortunate provocations, according to
official data, a total of 32 people were killed (26 ethnic Armenian,
6 ethnic Azerbaijani), many more were wounded, substantial private
and public property damage occurred due to vandalism and looting.

"This was the first instance of what was labeled as an inter-ethnic
strife in an otherwise multi-cultural, ethnically and religiously
diverse, and historically tolerant Azerbaijan, but was quickly picked
up by Armenian nationalists and propaganda, with heavily inflated
casualty figures, as an example of large-scale massacre and perhaps
even "genocide". Before too long, the tragedy of Sumgait Pogroms
was spiraled out of control, and became accepted as an example of
persecution of Armenians, and the cause of Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) war
between then-Soviet Armenia and Azerbaijan. Such allegations are still
made by Armenian nationalist circles, including in the United States,
where they take advantage of their numerical strength and overwhelm the
U.S. public opinion with false propaganda claims" – the letter says.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress