ARMENIAN AMERICANS PROTEST AZERBAIJAN’S CONDUCT
by Emil Sanamyan
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Wednesday March 03, 2010
Washington – Several dozen protestors gathered outside Azerbaijan’s
embassy on February 26 to mark the anniversary of the start of
anti-Armenian violence in Azerbaijan and to denounce that country’s
present-day policies.
Local chapters of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) and the
Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA) jointly called
an hour-long protest to "commemorate the victims of Sumgait," according
to a flyer the two groups released earlier in the week.
Sumgait is Azerbaijan’s third largest town where in February 1988
local Armenian residents were subjected to unprecedented and unprovoked
attacks leaving more than 30 killed by official count.
The violent mobs were organized days after the adoption of a formal
request by Nagorno Karabakh’s legislature for the Armenian-populated
area’s reunification with Armenia.
There were more deadly attacks against Armenians inside Azerbaijan
from 1988 to 1991 with the entire community of some 400,000 expelled
ahead of Azerbaijan’s ultimately unsuccessful military aggression
against Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.
Although immediately after the Sumgait pogrom Soviet prosecutors
rounded-up several dozen perpetrators, with several eventually
receiving death penalty on charges of murder and rape, high-level
organizers and instigators were never brought to justice opening the
way for more attacks.
Two decades later, some of the pogrom organizers are believed to be
members of the present-day Azerbaijani government.
To this day, Azerbaijani officials continue to promote intolerance
against ethnic Armenians, threaten use of force against Armenia and
oppose efforts to promote Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue.
As the protest began on Friday, alarms on Azerbaijani embassy cars
parked around the facility began to blare in an apparent effort to
drown out the protestors. The alarms were turned off only after the
U.S. Secret Service intervened with Azerbaijani embassy staff. The
Secret Service is responsible for security of foreign embassies in U.S.
Protestors displayed American and Armenian flags and posters and
chanted "We will never forget Sumgait!" and "Karabakh is Armenia!"
At the end of the gathering, priests from Washington’s St. Mary’s
and Surb Khach Armenian churches led protestors in prayer.
Earlier in the day, a smaller group of Azerbaijanis gathered outside
Armenia’s embassy in Washington for an annual commemoration of
Azerbaijani victims of the Karabakh war.