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Armenian Assembly of America releases ten-page report on the Sumgait
pogroms and the targeting of Armenian Christians
http://times.am/?l=en&p=18725
In a letter to the US President Barack Obama, the Armenian Assembly of
America (Assembly) expressed its deep concern over Azerbaijan's
attempt to subvert the Administration's well-intentioned program to
create greater access for the American public to the White House
through the "We the People" website. The site invites citizens to post
a petition and is intended to give all Americans a way to engage their
government on the issues that matter to them.
However, the Azerbaijani government manipulated the process by
generating anonymous signatures from non-Americans emanating from
Azerbaijan and Turkey. The Assembly's letter urged the removal of
"these harmful propaganda-based petitions" and to "safeguard against
foreign manipulation."
The Assembly cited multiple news sources establishing the fraudulent
nature of the petition drives, including evidence that the Azerbaijani
government and Foreign Ministry were directly involved with these
petitions.
One story from Azerbaijani media quotes the Director of the U.S.-Azeri
Network as putting out a call to all Turks around the world to sign
the petitions.
"Such actions raise questions as to the appropriateness of a foreign
government exploiting a site designed for American citizens," adds the
Assembly" and raised questions as to "whether or not the provisions of
the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) have been complied with."
In addition, the Azerbaijan America Alliance announced this week that
it has hired former Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana as chairman of
its board. While in Congress, Burton routinely opposed U.S.
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide citing opposition from Turkey. He
also voted against Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Enacted in
1992, Section 907 restricts U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan until it
takes "demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive
uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."
The Azerbaijani government, which has been spreading a virulent
disinformation campaign agitating for war by condoning the slaying of
Armenians, as with the pardon of the murderer Ramil Safarov who axed
to death an Armenian officer in his sleep at a NATO Partnership for
Peace training exercise in Hungary, and ramping up tensions along the
ceasefire line, is aiming to distract attention from the upcoming 25th
anniversary of the atrocities that mark the beginning of the pogroms
against Armenians in Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.
To mark the occasion of the Sumgait anniversary, the Assembly released
a 10-page summary report documenting the Sumgait pogrom and subsequent
attacks against the civilian Armenian population in
other towns in Azerbaijan, including its capital city of Baku. The
publication, Sumgait Pogrom of 1988: The Public Record, Armenian
Christian Minority Targeted in Azerbaijan, may be accessed on the
Assembly's website, and reads in part:
Twenty-five years ago, in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait (Sumgayit),
longtime Armenian residents were brutally targeted on the basis of
their ethnicity and subjected to unspeakable crimes. According to a
March 1988 article in The Economist, "reports of atrocities, including
the murder and mutilation of pregnant Armenian women and newborn
babies in a maternity hospital, have not been denied. Other reports
speak of gangs of young Azerbaijanis hunting down Armenian families
and committing murder, rape and robbery." The Azeri government never
saw to the punishment of the perpetrators.
February 28, 2013, marks the 25th anniversary of the pogroms committed
by the Azerbaijani authorities against its Armenian population and the
beginning of the escalation of violence against the Armenian minority
across the entire country of Azerbaijan and against Armenians in
Nagorno Karabakh, culminating in the violent expulsion of 200,000
Armenians from the Azeri capital city of Baku in January 1990.
Despite the Azeri government's assertion that the violence was due to
spontaneous riots, the pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad (now Ganja),
Baku, and elsewhere, were a retaliatory attempt to silence and thwart
the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh who lawfully
approached their government on the basis of a new openness in Soviet
society ushered in by President Gorbachev's policy of glasnost and
perestroika.
Instead of respecting the legal rights of Armenians, Azeri mobs
targeted Armenians as a group and subjected them to gross human rights
violations reminiscent of practices and policies resulting in the
attempted annihilation of the Armenian population in neighboring
Ottoman Turkey earlier in the century.
The Sumgait pogrom was widely reported and roundly condemned, but the
violence was never contained. Increasingly anti-Armenian forces acted
with impunity and the pogroms spread across Azerbaijan leading to the
military campaigns of the late 1980s to 1994 to deport the Armenians
of Nagorno Karabakh until a ceasefire agreement was signed by
Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh, and Armenia.
Hidayat Orujev, a leader of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, days
before the massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, stated in an address to
the governing Council of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region: "If
you do not stop campaigning for the unification of Nagorno Karabakh
with Armenia, if you don't sober up, 100,000 Azeris from neighboring
districts will break into your houses, torch your apartments, rape
your women, and kill your children." Mr. Orujev was appointed State
Advisor for Ethnic Policy by the late President Heydar Aliyev of
Azerbaijan and head of Azerbaijan's State Committee for Religious
Affairs by current President Ilham Aliyev.
The Sumgait pogroms are a reminder of the need to respect the ethnic
and cultural identity of all people without discrimination and
violence, concluded the Assembly in its report.
The text of the Assembly letter to President Obama, Secretary of State
John Kerry, and Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the fraudulent
petitions with links to Azerbaijani news sources is available on the
Assembly website.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public
understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a
501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
http://aaainc.org/fileadmin/aaainc/pdf/2013/AAA_Letter_to_President_Obama_2.14.13.pdf?utm_sour ce=Sumgait+Anniversary+%26+Azer+Petition&utm_campa ignȘA%3A+Sumgait%2C+Bakus%2C+Azeri%2C+White+House+ Petition&utm_medium=email
http://aaainc.org/fileadmin/aaainc/pdf/2013/SUMGAIT_THE_PUBLIC_RECORD.pdf?utm_source=Sumgait+A nniversary+%26+Azer+Petition&utm_campaignȘA%3A+Sum gait%2C+Bakus%2C+Azeri%2C+White+House+Petition&utm _medium=email
16.02.13, 11:27
From: Baghdasarian
pogroms and the targeting of Armenian Christians
http://times.am/?l=en&p=18725
In a letter to the US President Barack Obama, the Armenian Assembly of
America (Assembly) expressed its deep concern over Azerbaijan's
attempt to subvert the Administration's well-intentioned program to
create greater access for the American public to the White House
through the "We the People" website. The site invites citizens to post
a petition and is intended to give all Americans a way to engage their
government on the issues that matter to them.
However, the Azerbaijani government manipulated the process by
generating anonymous signatures from non-Americans emanating from
Azerbaijan and Turkey. The Assembly's letter urged the removal of
"these harmful propaganda-based petitions" and to "safeguard against
foreign manipulation."
The Assembly cited multiple news sources establishing the fraudulent
nature of the petition drives, including evidence that the Azerbaijani
government and Foreign Ministry were directly involved with these
petitions.
One story from Azerbaijani media quotes the Director of the U.S.-Azeri
Network as putting out a call to all Turks around the world to sign
the petitions.
"Such actions raise questions as to the appropriateness of a foreign
government exploiting a site designed for American citizens," adds the
Assembly" and raised questions as to "whether or not the provisions of
the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) have been complied with."
In addition, the Azerbaijan America Alliance announced this week that
it has hired former Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana as chairman of
its board. While in Congress, Burton routinely opposed U.S.
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide citing opposition from Turkey. He
also voted against Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Enacted in
1992, Section 907 restricts U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan until it
takes "demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive
uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."
The Azerbaijani government, which has been spreading a virulent
disinformation campaign agitating for war by condoning the slaying of
Armenians, as with the pardon of the murderer Ramil Safarov who axed
to death an Armenian officer in his sleep at a NATO Partnership for
Peace training exercise in Hungary, and ramping up tensions along the
ceasefire line, is aiming to distract attention from the upcoming 25th
anniversary of the atrocities that mark the beginning of the pogroms
against Armenians in Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.
To mark the occasion of the Sumgait anniversary, the Assembly released
a 10-page summary report documenting the Sumgait pogrom and subsequent
attacks against the civilian Armenian population in
other towns in Azerbaijan, including its capital city of Baku. The
publication, Sumgait Pogrom of 1988: The Public Record, Armenian
Christian Minority Targeted in Azerbaijan, may be accessed on the
Assembly's website, and reads in part:
Twenty-five years ago, in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait (Sumgayit),
longtime Armenian residents were brutally targeted on the basis of
their ethnicity and subjected to unspeakable crimes. According to a
March 1988 article in The Economist, "reports of atrocities, including
the murder and mutilation of pregnant Armenian women and newborn
babies in a maternity hospital, have not been denied. Other reports
speak of gangs of young Azerbaijanis hunting down Armenian families
and committing murder, rape and robbery." The Azeri government never
saw to the punishment of the perpetrators.
February 28, 2013, marks the 25th anniversary of the pogroms committed
by the Azerbaijani authorities against its Armenian population and the
beginning of the escalation of violence against the Armenian minority
across the entire country of Azerbaijan and against Armenians in
Nagorno Karabakh, culminating in the violent expulsion of 200,000
Armenians from the Azeri capital city of Baku in January 1990.
Despite the Azeri government's assertion that the violence was due to
spontaneous riots, the pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad (now Ganja),
Baku, and elsewhere, were a retaliatory attempt to silence and thwart
the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh who lawfully
approached their government on the basis of a new openness in Soviet
society ushered in by President Gorbachev's policy of glasnost and
perestroika.
Instead of respecting the legal rights of Armenians, Azeri mobs
targeted Armenians as a group and subjected them to gross human rights
violations reminiscent of practices and policies resulting in the
attempted annihilation of the Armenian population in neighboring
Ottoman Turkey earlier in the century.
The Sumgait pogrom was widely reported and roundly condemned, but the
violence was never contained. Increasingly anti-Armenian forces acted
with impunity and the pogroms spread across Azerbaijan leading to the
military campaigns of the late 1980s to 1994 to deport the Armenians
of Nagorno Karabakh until a ceasefire agreement was signed by
Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh, and Armenia.
Hidayat Orujev, a leader of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, days
before the massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, stated in an address to
the governing Council of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region: "If
you do not stop campaigning for the unification of Nagorno Karabakh
with Armenia, if you don't sober up, 100,000 Azeris from neighboring
districts will break into your houses, torch your apartments, rape
your women, and kill your children." Mr. Orujev was appointed State
Advisor for Ethnic Policy by the late President Heydar Aliyev of
Azerbaijan and head of Azerbaijan's State Committee for Religious
Affairs by current President Ilham Aliyev.
The Sumgait pogroms are a reminder of the need to respect the ethnic
and cultural identity of all people without discrimination and
violence, concluded the Assembly in its report.
The text of the Assembly letter to President Obama, Secretary of State
John Kerry, and Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the fraudulent
petitions with links to Azerbaijani news sources is available on the
Assembly website.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public
understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a
501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
http://aaainc.org/fileadmin/aaainc/pdf/2013/AAA_Letter_to_President_Obama_2.14.13.pdf?utm_sour ce=Sumgait+Anniversary+%26+Azer+Petition&utm_campa ignȘA%3A+Sumgait%2C+Bakus%2C+Azeri%2C+White+House+ Petition&utm_medium=email
http://aaainc.org/fileadmin/aaainc/pdf/2013/SUMGAIT_THE_PUBLIC_RECORD.pdf?utm_source=Sumgait+A nniversary+%26+Azer+Petition&utm_campaignȘA%3A+Sum gait%2C+Bakus%2C+Azeri%2C+White+House+Petition&utm _medium=email
16.02.13, 11:27
From: Baghdasarian