Switzerland-Armenia association calls international community’s
attention to Baku’s anti-Armenian policy

28.02.2010 15:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On 22nd anniversary of pogroms of Armenians in
Sumgait, Switzerland-Armenia association issued a statement reminding
about ongoing anti-Armenian policy of Baku, resulting in mass murder
and deportation of Armenian population in Azerbaijan.

Switzerland-Armenia association characterized Azerbaijan’s aggression
against Artsakh and destruction on Armenian cultural heritage in the
city of Julfa as propagation of hatred towards Armenia and Armenian
people.

The pogroms of Armenians in Sumgait (a town located a half an hour
drive away from Baku) took place on February 27-29, 1988. The events
were preceded by a wave of anti-Armenian statements and rallies that
swept over Azerbaijan. Almost the entire area of the town with
population of 250 thousand became a site of unhindered mass pogroms.
Armed with iron rods, stones, axes, knives, bottles and canisters full
of petrol, the perpetrators broke in Armenian houses. There were
dozens of casualties, mostly burnt alive after assaults and torture.
Hundreds of innocent people were wounded and disabled. The story of
Sumgait marked the first entry in a long list of crimes against
humanity and ethnic cleansings of the end of the 20th century.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in 1988
as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the final
years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 to
1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh
and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of
Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of
NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.