STEPANAKERT (Public Radio of Armenia) — On March 2, at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh, the statement by the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh on the 30th anniversary of the massacre of the Armenian population of the town of Sumgait was disseminated as an official document in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The statement says, in part, “On 27-29 February 1988, atrocities against and forced deportation of the Armenian population was carried out by the Azerbaijani authorities in Sumgait, just 30 kilometers from Baku. Hundreds of Armenians, mostly women, children and elderly people, fell victim to a pre-planned massacre; thousands of Armenians were forcibly deported and their property and plundered. The crime committed in Sumgait was another manifestation of the policy of discrimination, ethnic cleansing and expulsion of Armenian people, which, following the example of Nakhichevan, was carried out with impunity by the Azerbaijani authorities during the Soviet period. It later continued in Baku, Gandzak (Kirovabad) and other Armenian settlements of Northern Artsakh.”
It continued, “The National Assembly of the Artsakh Republic condemns any manifestation of discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, believes that official Baku continues to pursue a policy of genocide, the latest evidence of which were crimes committed against the civilian population of Artsakh in April 2016, reaffirms that the Artsakh Republic will be consistent in restoring and protecting the rights of Azerbaijani Armenians who were exposed to violence and deportation, urges parliamentary structures and international human rights organizations, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of mass pogroms and atrocities against the Armenian population of Sumgait, to condemn the genocidal acts committed by Baku against the Armenians of Azerbaijan.
