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REP. BERMAN: WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO STOPPING AZERBAIJAN'S UGLY THREATS
PanARMENIAN.Net
February 29, 2012 - 11:02 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Representative Howard Berman (D-CA) delivered
remarks on Azerbaijan's pogroms and massacres against ethnic Armenian
civilians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku.
"One of the least noticed and most dangerous trends of recent years
have been Azerbaijan's rapidly growing military budget and its
increasing bellicosity toward Armenian populated Nagorno Karabakh,"
Rep. Berman said.
"Last June, during Azerbaijan s largest military parade since the
Soviet era, President Aliyev vowed to avenge the deaths of Azerbaijani
soldiers killed during the 1988-1994 Nagorno- Karabakh war and declared
that "the war isn't over yet; only the first stage is over."
He then boasted that Azerbaijan s defense budget is twenty times
larger than it was just eight years previously and larger, in fact,
than the entire budget of Armenia," he reminded.
"It is particularly appropriate that today, February 27 - the
anniversary of the 1988 Azerbaijani pogrom directed against its own
Armenian population in Sumgait - that we commit ourselves to stopping
these ugly threats. Armenian history is drenched in tragedy. Everybody
knows about the Armenian Genocide, even if, sadly, only a minority of
my colleagues has been willing to recognize it officially. But fewer
know about the hundreds of thousands of Armenians murdered under the
Ottoman regime in the nineteenth century. And fewer still, it seems,
know about the pogroms and ethnic cleansing that Armenians living in
Azerbaijan suffered at the hands of Azerbaijanis as the Soviet Union
was breaking up," Rep. Berman stressed.
He went on to say: "The Sumgait pogrom that we recall today lasted
three days and resulted in the murder of hundreds of Armenian
civilians. Other anti- Armenian pogroms took place in Kirovobad
November 21 27, 1988, and in the Azerbaijani capital Baku January
13 19, 1990. During this era, there were media reports of Armenians
being hunted down and killed in their homes. The systematic pattern
of all these attacks suggested that something even more sinister than
a mob uprising was at work."
"Azerbaijan seems bent on destroying every last vestige of the Armenian
presence in Azerbaijan For example, there is videotaped evidence of
the Azerbaijani government's December 2005 systematic desecration and
destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetery, including thousands of
intricately-carved grave-stones in Djulfa, in a section of Azerbaijan
near the Turkish border. I believe our State Department still has
not adequately examined this incident, and I call on it to do so,"
Rep. Berman said.
"Today is a solemn day as we recall this history of murder,
displacement, and destruction, but it is this very history that
underscores the importance of self-determination for Nagorno Karabakh.
I call on the Administration to press the Azerbaijani government to
cease its bellicose rhetoric and to stop its headlong rush to war now
and to adhere strictly to the principled basis of the Minsk Process,
namely, the search for a peaceful, negotiated solution for Nagorno
Karabakh I likewise call on the Administration to redouble its
efforts to achieve a solution for Nagorno Karabakh And, on this day
when we once again reflect on the brutality Armenians have suffered,
and endured, for centuries, I once again call on the Administration
simply to acknowledge history and to recognize the Armenian Genocide,"
he concluded.
PanARMENIAN.Net
February 29, 2012 - 11:02 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Representative Howard Berman (D-CA) delivered
remarks on Azerbaijan's pogroms and massacres against ethnic Armenian
civilians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku.
"One of the least noticed and most dangerous trends of recent years
have been Azerbaijan's rapidly growing military budget and its
increasing bellicosity toward Armenian populated Nagorno Karabakh,"
Rep. Berman said.
"Last June, during Azerbaijan s largest military parade since the
Soviet era, President Aliyev vowed to avenge the deaths of Azerbaijani
soldiers killed during the 1988-1994 Nagorno- Karabakh war and declared
that "the war isn't over yet; only the first stage is over."
He then boasted that Azerbaijan s defense budget is twenty times
larger than it was just eight years previously and larger, in fact,
than the entire budget of Armenia," he reminded.
"It is particularly appropriate that today, February 27 - the
anniversary of the 1988 Azerbaijani pogrom directed against its own
Armenian population in Sumgait - that we commit ourselves to stopping
these ugly threats. Armenian history is drenched in tragedy. Everybody
knows about the Armenian Genocide, even if, sadly, only a minority of
my colleagues has been willing to recognize it officially. But fewer
know about the hundreds of thousands of Armenians murdered under the
Ottoman regime in the nineteenth century. And fewer still, it seems,
know about the pogroms and ethnic cleansing that Armenians living in
Azerbaijan suffered at the hands of Azerbaijanis as the Soviet Union
was breaking up," Rep. Berman stressed.
He went on to say: "The Sumgait pogrom that we recall today lasted
three days and resulted in the murder of hundreds of Armenian
civilians. Other anti- Armenian pogroms took place in Kirovobad
November 21 27, 1988, and in the Azerbaijani capital Baku January
13 19, 1990. During this era, there were media reports of Armenians
being hunted down and killed in their homes. The systematic pattern
of all these attacks suggested that something even more sinister than
a mob uprising was at work."
"Azerbaijan seems bent on destroying every last vestige of the Armenian
presence in Azerbaijan For example, there is videotaped evidence of
the Azerbaijani government's December 2005 systematic desecration and
destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetery, including thousands of
intricately-carved grave-stones in Djulfa, in a section of Azerbaijan
near the Turkish border. I believe our State Department still has
not adequately examined this incident, and I call on it to do so,"
Rep. Berman said.
"Today is a solemn day as we recall this history of murder,
displacement, and destruction, but it is this very history that
underscores the importance of self-determination for Nagorno Karabakh.
I call on the Administration to press the Azerbaijani government to
cease its bellicose rhetoric and to stop its headlong rush to war now
and to adhere strictly to the principled basis of the Minsk Process,
namely, the search for a peaceful, negotiated solution for Nagorno
Karabakh I likewise call on the Administration to redouble its
efforts to achieve a solution for Nagorno Karabakh And, on this day
when we once again reflect on the brutality Armenians have suffered,
and endured, for centuries, I once again call on the Administration
simply to acknowledge history and to recognize the Armenian Genocide,"
he concluded.