ARMEN RUSTAMIAN: SUMGAYIT WAS CONTINUATION OF 1915
Noyan Tapan
Feb 28 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. A commemoration procession towards
the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex of Armenian Genocide victims
took place on February 28 on the initiative of ARFD Nikol Aghbalian
student union. The procession was dedicated to the 19th anniversary
of massacres of Armenians in Azerbaijani city of Sumgayit.
Over 200 young people, political, public figures, deputies,
intellectuals took part in the procession. They laid wreaths to the
memorial to the Armenian martyrs who perished in Sumgayit.
ARFD Armenian Supreme Body representative Armen Rustamian said in
his speech that the civilized world should recognize the Sumgayit
massacres. "The barbarities committed 19 years ago were the result
of Azerbaijan’s hostile policy towards Armenians. This was the
continuation of the Genocide committed in 1915," he emphasized.
Writer, publicist Zori Balayan, in his turn, declared that the Armenian
people should not only remember its victims, but also should continue
to demand restoration of justice. "Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian policy
fits into the logic of chauvinism and extremism," he said.