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Procession In Memory Of Victims Of Sumgait Pogroms And Commemoration

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  • Procession In Memory Of Victims Of Sumgait Pogroms And Commemoration

    PROCESSION IN MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF SUMGAIT POGROMS AND COMMEMORATION OF GURGEN MARGARYAN'S MURDER WAS HELD IN LONDON

    20:34 24/02/2014 >> REGION

    Yesterday, the Armenians in London held a protest in connection with
    the 26th anniversary of Sumgait pogroms and the 10th anniversary of
    Gurgen Margaryan's murder. The Council of the Armenian community of
    the UK posted a message in this connection on its site.

    According to information, the procession was held on the Trafalgar
    Square, London.

    It is noted that the marchers expressed their protest against the
    pardon of Ramil Safarov, who had brutally murdered the Armenian
    officer. They have also commemorated the victims of the Sumgait
    pogroms that had taken place in 1988.

    On 26-29 February 1988 in terms of actual complicity of local
    authorities and inaction of the USSR government mass pogroms
    of civilians were organized in Sumgait city of Azerbaijani SSR,
    accompanied with unprecedented brutal murders, violence and pillaging
    against the Armenian population of the city. Armenian pogroms in
    Sumgait were carefully organized. At the meetings, which began on
    February 26 in the central square, city leaders openly called for
    violence against the Armenians.

    On February 27 protests which were attended by hundreds of rioters
    turned into violence. Armed with axes, knives, specially sharpened
    rebar, rocks and cans of gasoline and with the pre-compiled lists of
    apartments where Armenians lived the rioters broke into the houses,
    turning everything upside down there and killing the owners. In
    the same time, people were often taken out to the streets or to the
    courtyard for jeering at them publicly. After painful humiliations
    and torture the victims were doused with gasoline and burnt alive.

    On February 29 army troops entered Sumgait but without an order to
    intervene. Only in the evening, when the mad crowd began to attack
    the soldiers the military units took up decisive steps.

    The exact number of victims of Sumgait pogroms is still unknown.

    According to official data, 32 people were killed; however there
    is ample evidence that several hundred Armenians have been killed
    in the city in three days. There is also evidence that the riots
    were coordinated by KGB in Azerbaijan. Executioners of Sumgait were
    subsequently declared as national heroes of Azerbaijan.

    Documentary "Ordinary Genocide: Sumgait 1988."

    In 2004, Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan was taking part in
    a three-month English course of NATO "Partnership for Peace" in
    Budapest. Early in the morning of February 19 he was murdered. The
    murderer - Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov - delivered 16 blows
    of ax to the face of the sleeping Armenian officer. As a result, the
    Hungarian court found him sane and sentenced him to life imprisonment
    without a right of pardon for 30 years. The news about the extradition
    of Ramil Safarov to his homeland and pardon by the Azerbaijani
    president Ilham Aliyev broke out on August 31.

    The pardoned murderer Ramil Safarov was greeted as a hero in
    Azerbaijan; he was given an apartment and was paid an officer salary
    for 8 years spent in detention. Moreover, Safarov was breveted
    Major by the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, who also wished him
    "every success."

    Because of Safarov's extradition to Azerbaijan the president of Armenia
    Serzh Sargsyan announced the suspension of diplomatic relations
    with Hungary. Safarov's extradition, pardon, and glorification in
    Azerbaijan was condemned by the US president Barack Obama, US State
    Department, Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Russia and France,
    Secretary General of Council of Europe, Secretary General of CSTO,
    NATO, and international human rights organizations. In addition to
    that, European Parliament adopted a condemning resolution on September
    13, 2012.

    On February 19, is the 10th anniversary of commemoration of Armenian
    officer's death. To the 10th anniversary of Gurgen Margaryan's murder
    in the frameworks of the "Ordinary Genocide" project a video-footage
    has been prepared called "Azerbaijan: Racism without borders." The
    video footage is in English , Russian and Hungarian. It concisely
    presents the history of the murder that had stunned the world, as well
    as the programs following the incident and Safarov's glorification in
    Azerbaijan.It is significant that the authors chose Symphony number 7
    ("Leningrad") by Dmitri Shostakovich known as "the invasion of the
    Nazis" as a soundtrack for the footage.

    The "Ordinary Genocide" project is being implemented by the Information
    and Public Relations Center under the RA President's administration.

    Source: Panorama.am



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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