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ADAM SCHIFF: SUMGAIT POGROMS WERE ONLY PART OF ANTI-ARMENIAN ACTIVITIES
Tert.am
29.02.12
On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Armenian pogroms
in Sumgait, US Representative Adam Schiff addressed the House on
Monday to commemorate the innocent victims who fell victim to the
Azerbaijani aggression.
His full speech is provided below:
Mr Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the scores of Armenian lives
lost in the vicious attacks perpetrated by Azerbaijani pogroms against
Armenian civilians in the town of Sumgait, Azerbaijan 24 years ago.
Beginning on February 27, 1988 and for three days, Azerbaijani mobs
assaulted and killed Armenians. Hundreds of Armenians were wounded,
women and young girls were brutally raped, and victims of all ages
were beaten and tortured and eventually burned to death.
Thousands were driven from their homes and forced to become refugees.
Armenian homes and businesses were left to be looted and destroyed.
In the years that followed this heinous event, Armenians living in
Kirovabad and Baku suffered a similar fate. These pogroms were only
part of a pattern of anti-Armenian activities occurring throughout
Azerbaijan, setting the stage for two decades of aggression during
which the Azerbaijani government initiated a war against the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands of people lost their lives and hundreds of
thousands of Armenians were displaced as a result of the fighting. A
once thriving population of 450,000 Armenians living in Azerbaijan
virtually disappeared.
A cease-fire agreement, brokered in 1994, remains in place today.
However, Azerbaijan's continued war-mongering, recent cease-fire
violations, and dramatic increase of its military budget threaten
to destabilize the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks. In January 2008,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned Armenians living in
Nagorno-Karabakh, "We are reinforcing our army because we must be
ready to free our lands ..... at any moment and by any means." Such
rhetoric is detrimental to the peace process and is further evidence
that this conflict is ongoing and must be resolved. It is my sincerest
hope that a democratic and peaceful resolution can be reached, and
Nagorno-Karabakh's right to self-determination affirmed.
This April will mark the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
an event the Turkish government, Azerbaijan's closest ally, goes to
great and tragic lengths to deny. We must not let such crimes against
humanity go unrecognized. Today, let us pause to remember the victims
of the atrocities of the Sumgait pogroms. Mr. Speaker, it is our moral
obligation to condemn crimes of hatred and to remember the victims,
in hope that history will not be repeated.
From: Baghdasarian
Tert.am
29.02.12
On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Armenian pogroms
in Sumgait, US Representative Adam Schiff addressed the House on
Monday to commemorate the innocent victims who fell victim to the
Azerbaijani aggression.
His full speech is provided below:
Mr Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the scores of Armenian lives
lost in the vicious attacks perpetrated by Azerbaijani pogroms against
Armenian civilians in the town of Sumgait, Azerbaijan 24 years ago.
Beginning on February 27, 1988 and for three days, Azerbaijani mobs
assaulted and killed Armenians. Hundreds of Armenians were wounded,
women and young girls were brutally raped, and victims of all ages
were beaten and tortured and eventually burned to death.
Thousands were driven from their homes and forced to become refugees.
Armenian homes and businesses were left to be looted and destroyed.
In the years that followed this heinous event, Armenians living in
Kirovabad and Baku suffered a similar fate. These pogroms were only
part of a pattern of anti-Armenian activities occurring throughout
Azerbaijan, setting the stage for two decades of aggression during
which the Azerbaijani government initiated a war against the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands of people lost their lives and hundreds of
thousands of Armenians were displaced as a result of the fighting. A
once thriving population of 450,000 Armenians living in Azerbaijan
virtually disappeared.
A cease-fire agreement, brokered in 1994, remains in place today.
However, Azerbaijan's continued war-mongering, recent cease-fire
violations, and dramatic increase of its military budget threaten
to destabilize the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks. In January 2008,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned Armenians living in
Nagorno-Karabakh, "We are reinforcing our army because we must be
ready to free our lands ..... at any moment and by any means." Such
rhetoric is detrimental to the peace process and is further evidence
that this conflict is ongoing and must be resolved. It is my sincerest
hope that a democratic and peaceful resolution can be reached, and
Nagorno-Karabakh's right to self-determination affirmed.
This April will mark the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
an event the Turkish government, Azerbaijan's closest ally, goes to
great and tragic lengths to deny. We must not let such crimes against
humanity go unrecognized. Today, let us pause to remember the victims
of the atrocities of the Sumgait pogroms. Mr. Speaker, it is our moral
obligation to condemn crimes of hatred and to remember the victims,
in hope that history will not be repeated.
From: Baghdasarian