ISSUE OF ARMENIANS OF AZERBAIJAN IS CORNERSTONE OF KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2010 20:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Draft assessment of events in Sumgait is on the
agenda of the Armenian Parliament, and is supported in international
bodies, Gregory Ayvazyan , head of "Assembly of Azerbaijani-Armenians"
told a news conference in Yerevan.

"First and foremost, we must recognize as Genocide the events in
Sumgait, and then submit the draft to the international community,"
Ayvazyan said.

"Azerbaijan is not a rival to Armenia, it is an implacable enemy,"
Ayvazyan said.

If Azerbaijan is ready to provide guarantees of international security
to Armenian refugees, the Armenians of Azerbaijan are ready to return.

"But this does not happen, we will accept a one-way return of
Azerbaijani refugees to the region without resolving of our problems,"
Ayvazyan said. "The question of Armenians in Azerbaijan is not only
the issue of refugees, but the cornerstone of Karabakh conflict
settlement", Ayvazyan said.

The Sumgait pogroms (also known as the Sumgait Massacre or February
Events) was an Azeri-led pogroms of the Armenian population of
Azerbaijani Sumgait from 26 to 29 February 1988. On February 27, 1988,
large mobs made up of Azeris formed into groups that went on to attack
and killed Armenians both on the streets and in their apartments.

Sumgait pogroms lasted three days and were accompanied by widespread
violence, looting and murder. Sumgait events signaled the beginning of
another unprecedented wave of anti-Armenian persecutions and violence
in Azerbaijan, a new genocide. The victims of this of anti-Armenian
persecutions and violence were Armenians of Kirovabad, Kazakhs,
Khanlar, Dashkesan, Mingechaur, Baku and other towns and villages
of Azerbaijan. This has led to floods of refugees from Azerbaijan in
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

The armed conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke
out in 1998, as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched
in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought
from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994
(when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most
of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions is
now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are
holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.