MASSACRES AGAINST ARMENIANS IN BAKU AND SUMGAIT MEMORIALIZED IN NEW YORK

March 31, 2016

NEW YORK, NY – In February, Armenians worldwide commemorated the massacres against the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other cities of Azerbaijan during the period from 1988 to 1992. The Armenian-American community of New York – under the leadership of the local Armenian National Committee – organized public events and other initiatives to memorialize those tragic events.

On February 26, ANC of NY together with over sixty activists from around the state gathered in front of the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations to demand truth and justice for the crimes perpetrated against the Armenians in Azerbaijan (For the demonstration press release, please, click here).

On February 27, ANCA-ER Community Outreach and Communications Director Dr. Artur Martirosyan spoke at a special event held at St. Vartan Cathedral in Manhattan, stressing the important of grassroots activism and engagement with elected officials. Dr. Martirosyan also gave an interview to The New Meridian Russian-language weekly newspaper as well as to the New Jersey-based Ardzagang Armenian TV station, where he highlighted the activities that ANCA-ER is undertaking to bring truth and justice for the Sumgait-Baku massacres, to strengthen the independence and freedom for the people of Artsakh Republic as well as to further enhance the US-Armenia bilateral relations.

He particularly noted, “Armenian massacres in late 80s and early 90s in Azerbaijan can be considered as the bloodiest page of the recent Armenian history and should be properly commemorated by the Armenian-American community. In their nature, the massacres were the continuation of the Armenian Genocide aimed at expelling the Armenians from their ancestral homeland.”

With Azerbaijan heightening the tensions along the line of contact with Artsakh and Armenia-Azerbaijan border, it has been effectively continuing its aggressive policy against the Armenians that started with the violent massacred in the late 1980s. ANCA-ER is planning to organize more proactive commemorative events and activities in the future to bring the world’s attention to those crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Promoting truth about the massacres is important especially amid the recent active Azerbaijani attempts at falsifying the history and terrorizing the region through ongoing aggression. Through ongoing commemorations, vigils, demonstrations, pro-Artsakh Fly-ins and other forms of political activism, the ANCA amplifies the voice of the Armenian-American community and conveys a united message in support for Artsakh’s freedom and justice for the Armenian Genocide and Baku-Sumgait Pogroms all across the world.

For the interview with The New Meridian weekly (in Russian), please, click here.