YEREVAN (PanArmenian.net/Panorama) — The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the 35th anniversary of the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait on February 27. The full statement is provided below.
“Thirty five years ago, on February 27-29, 1988, amid the encouragement and criminal inaction of the Azerbaijani authorities, the massacres of the Armenians in the city of Sumgait were carried out, resulting in the killing of hundreds of Armenians, including children, women, elderly, while thousands were forcibly displaced.
The pre-planned massacres by the Azerbaijani authorities were carried out in order to brutally suppress the civilized struggle of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to live with dignity and peacefully in their historical homeland.
This mass crime committed on the grounds of national identity received a wide response and was condemned by the international community, including relevant resolutions adopted by the European Parliament. However, the real organizers and perpetrators of the crime not only weren’t held accountable but also, encouraged by impunity and indulgence, raised a new wave of Armenophobia and intolerance, carrying out new pogroms and massacres of Armenians in Baku, Kirovabad and other Armenian-populated areas of Azerbaijan.
As a result of these bloody events, hundreds of thousands of Armenians had to leave their homes in haste, leaving behind their possessions and property, and during all these years they never got a chance to exercise their violated rights.
The subsequent events demonstrated that the mentioned crimes of the Azerbaijani authorities were not separate episodes, but vivid examples of state-planned Armenophobia, while their continuous manifestations forced the displacement of tens of thousands of Armenians from the Shahumyan region, Getashen, and as a result of the 44-day war also from Hadrut, Shushi and neighboring regions.
