SCHIFF COMMEMORATES 22ND ANNIVERSARY OF SUMGAIT POGROM
orates-the-22nd-anniversary-of-sumgait-pogrom/
Mar 2nd, 2010
Washington
Congressman Adam Schiff Tuesday released a statement commemorating
the twenty-second anniversary of the Sumgait Pogrom, the 3-day
massacre in the winter of 1988 that resulted in the deaths of scores
of Armenians. Below are Rep. Schiff’s full remarks, which will be
entered into the Congressional Record.
"Madam Speaker, this past Sunday marked the twenty-second anniversary
of the pogrom against Azerbaijanis of Armenian descent in the town
of Sumgait, Azerbaijan. The 3-day massacre in the winter of 1988
resulted in the deaths of scores of Armenians, many of whom were
burnt to death after being brutally beaten and tortured. Hundreds
of others were wounded. Women and girls were brutally raped. The
carnage created thousands of ethnic Armenian refugees, who had to
leave everything behind to be looted or destroyed, including their
homes, cars and businesses.
"These crimes, which were proceeded by a wave of anti-Armenian
rallies throughout Azerbaijan, were never adequately prosecuted
by Azerbaijan authorities. Many who organized or participated in
the bloodshed have gone on to serve in high positions on the Azeri
government. For example, in the days leading up to the massacre,
a leader of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Hidayat Orujev,
warned Armenians in Sumgait: "If you do not stop campaigning for the
unification of Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia, if you don’t sober up,
100,000 Azeris from neighboring districts will break into your houses,
torch your apartments, rape your women, and kill your children." Orujev
is currently the State Advisor for Ethnic Policy to Azeri President
Heidar Aliyev.
"Despite efforts by the Government of Azerbaijan to cover up the
events of February 1988, survivors of the pogrom have come forward
with their stories. They told of enraged mobs, which threw furniture,
refrigerators, television sets and beds from apartment balconies
and set them afire. Armenians were dragged from their apartments. If
they tried to run and escape, the mob attacked them with metal rods,
knives and hatchets before the victims were thrown into the fire. One
witness said of a victim, "He was still moving, trying to escape from
fire, but five young men were pushing him back into the fire with
metal rods." Others told of Interior Ministry troops, who stood by
doing nothing.
"The Sumgait massacres led to wider reprisals against Azerbaijan’s
ethnic minority, resulting in the virtual disappearance of Azerbaijan’s
450,000-strong Armenian community, and culminating in the war launched
against the people of Nagorno Karabakh. That war resulted in almost
30,000 dead on both sides and created more than one million refugees
in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"This April will mark the 95th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
a crime that Azerbaijan’s ally and protector Tukey has devoted
enormous political resources to deny. Just as we cannot allow the
first genocide of the Twentieth Century to fade into history, the
memory of the victims of Sumgait must not be forgotten either."