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HERITAGE: THE 23RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUMGAIT GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
28.02.2011
(Noyan Tapan - 28.02.2011) Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the
Armenian genocide that took place in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait.
Using as a pretext the peaceful and lawful struggle of the people
of Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh), who had stood up for their right
of self-determination and security, the Soviet Azerbaijani regime
organized and carried out in 1988 a horrific operation geared toward
the physical annihilation of its Armenian residents. And as a result
of this action, hundreds of Armenians were either killed or maimed,
and tens of thousands were forcibly deported toward Armenia and other
republics of the former USSR.
But this crime committed in Sumgait was just the continuation of
official Baku's unrelenting policy of persecution against, and the
ethnic cleansing of, the Armenian population which, as a consequence
of Stalin's illegal decision, had found itself-and its indigenous
lands-within the administrative structure of Soviet Azerbaijan.
Indeed, it was because of this policy that the ancestral Armenian
heartland of Nakhichevan was left completely devoid of its native
Armenian population, whereas in Artsakh the absolute preponderance
of the Armenian majority had rapidly decreased. Yet this policy
signified a mere beginning of an ongoing genocide, which resulted
in the large-scale killing and exile of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians throughout the land-from Baku to Armenian Gandzak.
Together with Sumgait and its military aggression against Artsakh,
the now-independent Azerbaijan once more demonstrated its genocidal
nature and proved that Artsakh can never, and under no status, be a
part of that country because that will simply jeopardize the security
of the Armenian population. A state according to which the solution
of its purported citizens' grievances and the fulfillment of their
rights lies in their physical extermination and forcible expulsion
has no right to lay hegemonic claims upon Artsakh.
And as for the international community-and the grand powers in
particular-which has left the people of Artsakh all alone against
Azerbaijani state aggression, today it has no right to demand
that Artsakh give up its political independence and territorial
integrity, which it achieved lawfully and owing to its last stand of
self-defense. Instead, they are obliged to register and recognize
that sovereignty and integrity to be in full compliance with the
letter and spirit of international law.
From: A. Papazian
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
28.02.2011
(Noyan Tapan - 28.02.2011) Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the
Armenian genocide that took place in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait.
Using as a pretext the peaceful and lawful struggle of the people
of Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh), who had stood up for their right
of self-determination and security, the Soviet Azerbaijani regime
organized and carried out in 1988 a horrific operation geared toward
the physical annihilation of its Armenian residents. And as a result
of this action, hundreds of Armenians were either killed or maimed,
and tens of thousands were forcibly deported toward Armenia and other
republics of the former USSR.
But this crime committed in Sumgait was just the continuation of
official Baku's unrelenting policy of persecution against, and the
ethnic cleansing of, the Armenian population which, as a consequence
of Stalin's illegal decision, had found itself-and its indigenous
lands-within the administrative structure of Soviet Azerbaijan.
Indeed, it was because of this policy that the ancestral Armenian
heartland of Nakhichevan was left completely devoid of its native
Armenian population, whereas in Artsakh the absolute preponderance
of the Armenian majority had rapidly decreased. Yet this policy
signified a mere beginning of an ongoing genocide, which resulted
in the large-scale killing and exile of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians throughout the land-from Baku to Armenian Gandzak.
Together with Sumgait and its military aggression against Artsakh,
the now-independent Azerbaijan once more demonstrated its genocidal
nature and proved that Artsakh can never, and under no status, be a
part of that country because that will simply jeopardize the security
of the Armenian population. A state according to which the solution
of its purported citizens' grievances and the fulfillment of their
rights lies in their physical extermination and forcible expulsion
has no right to lay hegemonic claims upon Artsakh.
And as for the international community-and the grand powers in
particular-which has left the people of Artsakh all alone against
Azerbaijani state aggression, today it has no right to demand
that Artsakh give up its political independence and territorial
integrity, which it achieved lawfully and owing to its last stand of
self-defense. Instead, they are obliged to register and recognize
that sovereignty and integrity to be in full compliance with the
letter and spirit of international law.
From: A. Papazian