Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the pogroms against Armenians in Sumgait, which we present in full below:
“35 years ago, on February 27-29, 1988, at the instigation of the Azerbaijani authorities and as a result of their criminal inaction, mass pogroms against Armenians took place in the city of Sumgait, claiming the lives of hundreds of Armenians, including children, women and the elderly, while thousands were forcibly displaced.
The pogroms, pre-planned by the Azerbaijani authorities, were carried out with the aim of brutally suppressing by force the civilized struggle of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to live with dignity and peacefully create in their historical homeland.
This mass crime committed on the grounds of national identity drew a wide response and was condemned by the international community, including through the adoption of relevant resolutions by the European Parliament. However, the real organizers and perpetrators of the crime not only evaded responsibility, but, emboldened by impunity and permissiveness, raised a new wave of Armenophobia and intolerance, carrying out new pogroms and massacres of Armenians also in Baku, Kirovabad and other Armenian-populated settlements of Azerbaijan.
As a result of these bloody events, hundreds of thousands of Armenians were forced to hastily leave their homes, abandoning their property and possessions, and over the years have never had the opportunity to realize their violated rights.
Subsequent events showed that the aforementioned crimes of the Azerbaijani authorities were not isolated episodes, but vivid examples of state-planned Armenophobia, as a result of whose continued manifestations tens of thousands of Armenians were also forcibly displaced from the Shahumyan region, Getashen, and, following the 44-day war, also from Hadrut, Shushi and adjacent regions.
35 years after the Sumgait crime, it has been about 80 days that Azerbaijan has been illegally keeping the Lachin corridor under blockade, and the purpose of this action is to displace the 120,000 Armenians remaining in Nagorno-Karabakh as well.
Azerbaijan, thus, continues its policy of depopulating Nagorno-Karabakh of Armenians through subjecting the Armenians of Artsakh to ethnic cleansing, and in preventing this, the targeted condemnation of the international community and the application of relevant international mechanisms are imperative.
Even today, disregarding even the rulings of authoritative international judicial bodies, Azerbaijan openly continues to destroy, desecrate and vandalize Armenian historical-cultural monuments and shrines, with the aim of erasing the Armenian trace in the territories under its control. At the same time, at the highest level, it continues its campaign of hatred against Armenians, which aims to deny the two peoples the opportunity to overcome the atmosphere of enmity.
Today, paying tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian pogroms carried out in Sumgait and other settlements, we reiterate that in response to the Armenian side’s efforts to build stability and peace in the region, Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian rhetoric, maximalist aspirations and aggressive actions are unacceptable.
The Republic of Armenia, at the same time, reaffirms its commitment to the peace agenda, considering the establishment of lasting and comprehensive peace and security in the region an urgent imperative,” the statement said.
