AZERBAIJANI DIASPORA SENTS HUNDREDS OF PROTEST LETTERS TO THE CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS
APA
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=165314
Feb 8 2012
Azerbaijan
Baku-APA. The Azerbaijani Diaspora in the US strongly opposed
California Assemblymen Fuentes, Gatto and Achadjian's resolution to
designate February 27, 2012, as "California Day of Remembrance for
the Massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku"
The Diaspora members have sent the hundreds of letters to the
California lawmakers, expressing their indignation over the draft
and called it "a real outrage, especially considering the date it
chooses to designate for remembrance".
"It's appalling that the California legislature will serve as a venue
to celebrate the killing of 30,000 Azerbaijani people by the Armenian
army, the ethnic cleansing of up to 800,000 Azeris that are unable to
return to their homes and live as refugees in their own country for
20 years now. This is a consequence of irredentist claims and campaign
of aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan", wrote the authors.
The Azeri Diaspora members also mention that the facts about the
Sumgait events of 1988 were distorted and obscured by the propaganda
and greater tragedies that followed, such as dozens of Azerbaijanis
massacred in Armenia throughout 1988, the terrible massacre of over 400
Azerbaijanis in Baku during the Black January of 1990, a genocidal act
of mutilating well over 600 Azerbaijanis during the Khojaly Massacre
in February 1992 - the largest massacre in the region to date. All
these tragedies caused considerable and irreparable damage to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and should be carefully examined,
with their masterminds brought to justice.
"The Sumgait tragedy, which killed people on all sides, should be
considered only in the larger historic context of the occupation
of NK and other Azerbaijani regions by the armed forces of Armenia,
displacement of over 800,000 Azerbaijanis, killing of a total of over
20,000 Azeris, and of course the gerrymandering of the Soviet Communist
regime with the lives of millions of people on their periphery",
say the letters.
The authors also mention that Azerbaijan is a country with
well-recognized positive record of tolerance, where Jews and Christians
of all denominations, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Bahais and Agnostics,
have lived side by side for centuries. "Meanwhile, Armenia is a
mono-ethnic state that regularly jails Jehovah Witnesses".
APA
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=165314
Feb 8 2012
Azerbaijan
Baku-APA. The Azerbaijani Diaspora in the US strongly opposed
California Assemblymen Fuentes, Gatto and Achadjian's resolution to
designate February 27, 2012, as "California Day of Remembrance for
the Massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku"
The Diaspora members have sent the hundreds of letters to the
California lawmakers, expressing their indignation over the draft
and called it "a real outrage, especially considering the date it
chooses to designate for remembrance".
"It's appalling that the California legislature will serve as a venue
to celebrate the killing of 30,000 Azerbaijani people by the Armenian
army, the ethnic cleansing of up to 800,000 Azeris that are unable to
return to their homes and live as refugees in their own country for
20 years now. This is a consequence of irredentist claims and campaign
of aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan", wrote the authors.
The Azeri Diaspora members also mention that the facts about the
Sumgait events of 1988 were distorted and obscured by the propaganda
and greater tragedies that followed, such as dozens of Azerbaijanis
massacred in Armenia throughout 1988, the terrible massacre of over 400
Azerbaijanis in Baku during the Black January of 1990, a genocidal act
of mutilating well over 600 Azerbaijanis during the Khojaly Massacre
in February 1992 - the largest massacre in the region to date. All
these tragedies caused considerable and irreparable damage to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and should be carefully examined,
with their masterminds brought to justice.
"The Sumgait tragedy, which killed people on all sides, should be
considered only in the larger historic context of the occupation
of NK and other Azerbaijani regions by the armed forces of Armenia,
displacement of over 800,000 Azerbaijanis, killing of a total of over
20,000 Azeris, and of course the gerrymandering of the Soviet Communist
regime with the lives of millions of people on their periphery",
say the letters.
The authors also mention that Azerbaijan is a country with
well-recognized positive record of tolerance, where Jews and Christians
of all denominations, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Bahais and Agnostics,
have lived side by side for centuries. "Meanwhile, Armenia is a
mono-ethnic state that regularly jails Jehovah Witnesses".