See Senator Menendez (D-NJ) has demanded justice for victims of anti-Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku and called on the Azerbaijani government to end its aggression against Armenians.
“On the 32nd anniversary of the three-day anti-Armenian pogrom at Sumgait, we remember the horrors of that attack and the subsequent tragedies at Kirovabad and Baku. The United States, international community, and government of Azerbaijan must ensure that Armenians, and other minority groups, never fall victim to such violence again,” Sen. Menendez said in a statement
“On this day 32 years ago in Soviet Azerbaijan, a brutal anti-Armenian pogrom began in Sumgait. Media reports from that time tell of mobs murdering peaceful Armenians in the street. Residences were looted, vehicles were set on fire, and thousands of Armenians fled their homes in fear. Hundreds of innocent Armenians were attacked or killed because of their ethnicity. Through three days of terror in Sumgait, Azerbaijani authorities failed to intervene and end the violence,” he continued.
he added that the pattern of violence against Armenians in Azerbaijan continued with the pogroms at Kirovabad in November 1988 and Baku in January 1990.
“In both cities mobs again targeted and killed Armenian civilians and burned Armenian residences, driving thousands of Armenians from their homes. Human rights activists at the time warned that the pogrom in Kirovabad represented a possible genocide, and eyewitnesses reported that local Azerbaijani police did not stop the violence. The inhuman violence committed during these pogroms, and the failure of Azerbaijani authorities to stop it, is inexcusable,” the Senator said.
“As the Senate did with the resolution commemorating the Armenian genocide, we must tell the truth about these horrific acts in order to prevent them from happening again. The international community, led by the United States, must be unequivocal in condemning violence against Armenians regardless of whether it happened in 1915, 1988, or any other time in history,” Sen Menendez stated.
“The government of Azerbaijan today must acknowledge that these pogroms occurred and that Azerbaijani authorities failed to stop them. Furthermore, I call on the government of Azerbaijan to ensure that the victims and their families see justice and to commit to never permitting such acts of aggression against Armenians, or any other minority group, again. No one can change the past, but we can and must do everything in our power to prevent history from repeating itself,” he concluded.
