During the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, the Azerbaijanis were congratulating us on the deaths of Armenians. This is what Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, a refugee from Baku, told reporters today.

According to her, this goes to show that there had been not only physical, but also psychological pressure exerted on the Armenians for many years. “It came to a point where, in 1989, my neighbor attacked me, and we moved to the United States. Our neighbors stayed in Baku and were killed during the pogroms. Overall, we had felt a change of attitude towards the Armenians in 1988, and my entire life has been linked to memories of those horrible events,” the eyewitness said and regretted that the Armenian authorities have been passive all this time.

“Living in the United States, I see how Azerbaijan actively advances the false agenda related to the events of Khojalu, while Armenia isn’t doing anything to present the real image of the events of the past to the world,” Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte said.

From February 26 to 29, 1988, Armenian pogroms took place in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, and based on official statistics, the pogroms left 27 dead and hundreds wounded. In a matter of days, 18,000 Armenians left the city. Two years later (from January 13 to 19, 1990), Armenian pogroms took place in Baku, leading to the murders of nearly 100 people and the expulsion of more than 200,000.