Dominant faction of Armenia`s Parliament declines proposal to set April 10 as Day in Commemoration of Maraga massacre victims

ARM INFO
March 1 2022
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo. The dominant faction of Armenia's Parliament, Civil Contract, has declined a proposal to set April 10 as Day in Commemoration of the victims in Maraga.  Aregnaz  Manukyan of the opposition faction Hayastan proposed amendments to  the RA Law on Holidays and Commemoration Days.

According to her, the organizers and perpetrators of the atrocities went unpunished, which served as the breeding ground for Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy  that resulted in the war on Artsakh unleashed on September 27. 2020. 

"We must show Azerbaijan has not changed its policy, which  predetermines Artsakh's fate in case it remains part of Azerbaijan,"  she said.  

In his turn, Vladimir Vardanyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee  on State and Legal Affairs, said that the Maraga pogroms were a crime  against humanity that must be internationally condemned.  "Each event  of Armenian history cannot be a memorial day. Otherwise, we will come  to a situation when each day is a memorial day," he said. 

According to the 1989 census in Azerbaijan, 4,660 Armenians lived in  Maraga, Martakert region, which borders on the Terter region of  Azerbaijan. The settlement has been under Azerbaijan's control since  1992.  On April 10, 1992, the Azerbaijani forces invaded Maraga and  killed the remaining residents, 50 to 100 people, with at least 30 of  them being women. The perpetrators have never been punished.

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS