Tweet
Sacramento Bee, CA
May 14 2013
The 25th Anniversary of Sumgait Pogroms and Artsakh's Quest for Independence
By Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles
Published: Tuesday, May. 14, 2013 - 5:57 am
LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The following article is
being released by the Public Relations Department, Consulate General
of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles:
On April 8, 2013 LA City Hall hosted an event featuring Anna
Astvatsaturian Turcotte, lawyer and author of a book entitled,
"Nowhere, A Story of Exile" based on her own diary entries as a young
girl documenting the organized terror in Baku. Below is an article
Anna wrote in which she reflects on the tragic events of her childhood
and projects them on the current status of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic.
Twenty five years ago the events that would later be named "The
Sumgait Pogroms" took place in my home country, then Soviet
Azerbaijan. These pogroms targeted the Armenian population of the
town of Sumgait on 27 February of 1988. Violent rioting mobs of ethnic
Azeris stormed the streets and broke into homes of ethnic Armenians of
that peaceful city. They attacked and killed Armenians both on the
streets and in their homes, while the police observed and let the
events unfold and medical personnel refused to assist the victims.
This was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. The events
were triggered by a movement of liberation in the ancestral Armenian
land of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1920s this historic Armenian region was
handed over to Azerbaijan by Joseph Stalin to instill constant tension
in the region. In the beginning of 1988 Nagorno-Karabakh demanded to
be reinstated back to Armenia, asserting self-determination by a
referendum in accordance with the Soviet Constitution.
Instead of negotiating with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, who
made up close to 95% of its population, the government began an
offensive, both militarily in Nagorno-Karabakh, and internally,
against the peaceful citizens of Azerbaijan of Armenian decent. The
propaganda machine began its operation, fueling anger and hatred
toward Armenians.
After months of riots, the violence hit home in January of 1990 in
Baku, the capital city where I was born and lived; the city which
prided itself on tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity and peace.
The mobs were informed by the government where Armenians resided and,
with surgical precision, they attacked only the homes of Armenians.
Innocent people died, brutally. My family and I were lucky to have
fled the city a few months prior, after over a year of fear and
hiding.
Twenty five years later Nagorno-Karabakh is still fighting for its
independence. The war with Azerbaijan ended in a ceasefire in 1994.
Although the Armenians of Karabakh have full control of their borders,
their own democratically-elected government and a Constitution, along
with their own military and a functioning economy, the reality of
today is that Nagorno-Karabakh is not formally recognized as an
independent state. The two decades of democracy and transparency in
Karabakh will certainly serve as a base to its free and independent
future. But clearly it isn't enough.
There is a generation of Azeri children that are taught by
government-regulated schools that Armenians are monsters.
Anti-Armenianism plagues the policies of that government. Recently,
an Azeri axe murderer who killed a sleeping Armenian soldier in
Hungary during a NATO language course exercise was extradited back to
Azerbaijan (for reportedly a hefty price) and was released as a hero
in Baku, with a promotion and a new home. This is the present-day
Azerbaijan.
Now Azerbaijan is free of Armenians. The US State Department warns
Armenian-Americans against traveling to Azerbaijan. It states that
they might not be able to enter the country of Azerbaijan because the
government cannot guarantee the protection of Armenians from violence.
My five year-old son doesn't understand why he can't see Mama's old
house. He wants to build a rocket ship so I can once again visit my
home city. My response to him is "Armen, my home is where you are
safe; my home city is long gone."
This past December I was honored to be invited to the celebration of
the 21st anniversary of Nagorno-Karabakh's independence on Capitol
Hill. Shortly before attending the celebration, I sat in on an event
sponsored by the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC. The event
was intriguingly titled "Interfaith Respect and Dialogue in
Azerbaijan," featuring Ambassador Iskandarov who is a Chairman of the
State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Religious
Associations.
What was surreal about his presentation was not the blatantly false
portrayal of Azerbaijan as a place of religious and cultural
tolerance, but the government's outrageous assertion that other Muslim
countries should look to the "Azerbaijan Model" (as opposed to the
secular models) as the more successful of the two. This so-called
"Azerbaijan Model" is the height of intellectual dishonesty. It is a
farce. The Ambassador happily stated that all faiths and cultures,
including Armenians, which he denied were driven out by the pogroms,
are free to worship in Azerbaijan at the places of worship that in
reality were either destroyed or taken over by the government, such as
an Armenian Cathedral in the center of Baku (after it was set on
fire). In other words, the Azerbaijan Model professes openness and
tolerance for all the cultures that no longer exist within its border.
The absurdity didn't stop there. When I asked the Ambassador
regarding the recent intolerance and violence toward Armenians, and
how can this reality coincide with his portrayal of his country, the
Ambassador invited me to Baku and told me there are tens of thousands
Armenians still living there - which I personally know to be untrue.
If any Armenians wanted to use the church, Iskandarov promised, they
only need to identify themselves to the government and ask. That these
citizens would be outing themselves to a government that just lionized
a convicted ethnic axe murderer is notably left unspoken.
How does one expect a country that unbelievably prejudiced and violent
toward Armenians, a country that so outrageously portrays itself as a
beacon of tolerance and a model of multicultural success to me, an
Armenian refugee, to once again gain control of the region that is 99%
Armenian in population, regardless of its strong Armenian history? If
Azerbaijan soldiers are richly rewarded for brutally murdering an
Armenian soldier in his sleep in a foreign country, what would they do
to Armenian citizens once they gain control over their lands?
On the 25th anniversary of Sumgait pogroms, I honor the victims. Their
deaths were senseless. I honor the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
and all they have been through in the last 25 years. You are not
forgotten; your pain and suffering will not be in vain. Your suffering
is memorialized in Nagorno-Karabakh's freedom, through its practice of
democratic government, real cultural and religious tolerance and
lasting peace. It's time the world recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh
plight for independence. It is the only way.
SOURCE Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/14/5418803/the-25th-anniversary-of-sumgait.html
May 14 2013
The 25th Anniversary of Sumgait Pogroms and Artsakh's Quest for Independence
By Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles
Published: Tuesday, May. 14, 2013 - 5:57 am
LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The following article is
being released by the Public Relations Department, Consulate General
of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles:
On April 8, 2013 LA City Hall hosted an event featuring Anna
Astvatsaturian Turcotte, lawyer and author of a book entitled,
"Nowhere, A Story of Exile" based on her own diary entries as a young
girl documenting the organized terror in Baku. Below is an article
Anna wrote in which she reflects on the tragic events of her childhood
and projects them on the current status of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic.
Twenty five years ago the events that would later be named "The
Sumgait Pogroms" took place in my home country, then Soviet
Azerbaijan. These pogroms targeted the Armenian population of the
town of Sumgait on 27 February of 1988. Violent rioting mobs of ethnic
Azeris stormed the streets and broke into homes of ethnic Armenians of
that peaceful city. They attacked and killed Armenians both on the
streets and in their homes, while the police observed and let the
events unfold and medical personnel refused to assist the victims.
This was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. The events
were triggered by a movement of liberation in the ancestral Armenian
land of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1920s this historic Armenian region was
handed over to Azerbaijan by Joseph Stalin to instill constant tension
in the region. In the beginning of 1988 Nagorno-Karabakh demanded to
be reinstated back to Armenia, asserting self-determination by a
referendum in accordance with the Soviet Constitution.
Instead of negotiating with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, who
made up close to 95% of its population, the government began an
offensive, both militarily in Nagorno-Karabakh, and internally,
against the peaceful citizens of Azerbaijan of Armenian decent. The
propaganda machine began its operation, fueling anger and hatred
toward Armenians.
After months of riots, the violence hit home in January of 1990 in
Baku, the capital city where I was born and lived; the city which
prided itself on tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity and peace.
The mobs were informed by the government where Armenians resided and,
with surgical precision, they attacked only the homes of Armenians.
Innocent people died, brutally. My family and I were lucky to have
fled the city a few months prior, after over a year of fear and
hiding.
Twenty five years later Nagorno-Karabakh is still fighting for its
independence. The war with Azerbaijan ended in a ceasefire in 1994.
Although the Armenians of Karabakh have full control of their borders,
their own democratically-elected government and a Constitution, along
with their own military and a functioning economy, the reality of
today is that Nagorno-Karabakh is not formally recognized as an
independent state. The two decades of democracy and transparency in
Karabakh will certainly serve as a base to its free and independent
future. But clearly it isn't enough.
There is a generation of Azeri children that are taught by
government-regulated schools that Armenians are monsters.
Anti-Armenianism plagues the policies of that government. Recently,
an Azeri axe murderer who killed a sleeping Armenian soldier in
Hungary during a NATO language course exercise was extradited back to
Azerbaijan (for reportedly a hefty price) and was released as a hero
in Baku, with a promotion and a new home. This is the present-day
Azerbaijan.
Now Azerbaijan is free of Armenians. The US State Department warns
Armenian-Americans against traveling to Azerbaijan. It states that
they might not be able to enter the country of Azerbaijan because the
government cannot guarantee the protection of Armenians from violence.
My five year-old son doesn't understand why he can't see Mama's old
house. He wants to build a rocket ship so I can once again visit my
home city. My response to him is "Armen, my home is where you are
safe; my home city is long gone."
This past December I was honored to be invited to the celebration of
the 21st anniversary of Nagorno-Karabakh's independence on Capitol
Hill. Shortly before attending the celebration, I sat in on an event
sponsored by the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC. The event
was intriguingly titled "Interfaith Respect and Dialogue in
Azerbaijan," featuring Ambassador Iskandarov who is a Chairman of the
State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Religious
Associations.
What was surreal about his presentation was not the blatantly false
portrayal of Azerbaijan as a place of religious and cultural
tolerance, but the government's outrageous assertion that other Muslim
countries should look to the "Azerbaijan Model" (as opposed to the
secular models) as the more successful of the two. This so-called
"Azerbaijan Model" is the height of intellectual dishonesty. It is a
farce. The Ambassador happily stated that all faiths and cultures,
including Armenians, which he denied were driven out by the pogroms,
are free to worship in Azerbaijan at the places of worship that in
reality were either destroyed or taken over by the government, such as
an Armenian Cathedral in the center of Baku (after it was set on
fire). In other words, the Azerbaijan Model professes openness and
tolerance for all the cultures that no longer exist within its border.
The absurdity didn't stop there. When I asked the Ambassador
regarding the recent intolerance and violence toward Armenians, and
how can this reality coincide with his portrayal of his country, the
Ambassador invited me to Baku and told me there are tens of thousands
Armenians still living there - which I personally know to be untrue.
If any Armenians wanted to use the church, Iskandarov promised, they
only need to identify themselves to the government and ask. That these
citizens would be outing themselves to a government that just lionized
a convicted ethnic axe murderer is notably left unspoken.
How does one expect a country that unbelievably prejudiced and violent
toward Armenians, a country that so outrageously portrays itself as a
beacon of tolerance and a model of multicultural success to me, an
Armenian refugee, to once again gain control of the region that is 99%
Armenian in population, regardless of its strong Armenian history? If
Azerbaijan soldiers are richly rewarded for brutally murdering an
Armenian soldier in his sleep in a foreign country, what would they do
to Armenian citizens once they gain control over their lands?
On the 25th anniversary of Sumgait pogroms, I honor the victims. Their
deaths were senseless. I honor the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
and all they have been through in the last 25 years. You are not
forgotten; your pain and suffering will not be in vain. Your suffering
is memorialized in Nagorno-Karabakh's freedom, through its practice of
democratic government, real cultural and religious tolerance and
lasting peace. It's time the world recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh
plight for independence. It is the only way.
SOURCE Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/14/5418803/the-25th-anniversary-of-sumgait.html