G. Ayvazyan: Baku pogroms need international recognition
Twenty-three years after the Armenian pogroms in Baku, Azerbaijani Armenians living in Armenia call for the international recognition of the tragic events. They call on the international community to recognize the atrocities in Sumgait and Baku as genocide
"When we say the question has to receive an international recognition, first of all we speak of raising public awareness of the bloody events," Grigory Ayvazyan, President of the Azerbaijani-Armenians' Association, told a news conference on January 14.
At the same time, he stresses that the Armenian society should be well informed about those atrocities that took place in Sumgait and Baku at the end of the 20th century.
"The Baku pogroms conform to the clauses of the UN Convention on Genocide. We have submitted to the National Assembly a draft law for the international recognition of the pogroms in Baku," he said.
"While Baku seizes every and each opportunity to distort the facts and show the international community that it was Armenia that perpetrated genocide against Azerbaijanis, Armenians of Azerbaijan living in Armenia do not have any opportunity to present to the world what actually happened in 1988-90," he said.
"During the recent Strasbourg-hosted roundtable Azerbaijani representatives claimed that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict started in 1992 with the Khojaly Massacre. But they forgot to say what happened before the Khojaly Massacre. we were also invited to the roundtable discussion but could not attend the event because of ‘technical' reasons," he concluded.
