Sumgait refugees emphasize importance of not forgetting pogrom

The pogroms in Sumgait became the starting point for the Azerbaijan’s actions against residents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian authorities are not taking any measures to draw the attention of the world community to the problem of genocide. Such an opinion has been voiced by refugees from Sumgait.

In Yerevan, refugees from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) and Nagorno-Karabakh, activists from NGOs, and members of the Armenian parliament – about 200 people in total – gathered near the monument to the victims of the Sumgait tragedy at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex.

“What is happening to the Armenian people today is a direct continuation of what happened to the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Gandja, and other cities, towns, and villages,” stated Nagorno-Karabakh Ombudsperson Gegham Stepanyan.

Larisa Alaverdyan, the head of the “Against Legal Arbitrariness” NGO, has reminded people that “hundreds of thousands of Armenians were expelled from Azerbaijan as a result of massacres and pogroms, and the Azerbaijan’s genocidal policy continues to this day.”

“However, Armenia has not yet made a single decision at the government level to recognize the Azerbaijan’s actions as genocide, although this is a crime not only against Armenians, but also a crime against humanity,” the human rights defender emphasized.

Now a pensioner, Engels Grigoryan used to live in Sumgait until February 1988. His family members fell victim to the pogroms, including his mother who was tortured and killed before his eyes. Engels Grigoryan believes that being the legal successor to the USSR, Russia is responsible for the crimes against Armenians.

The family of Karina Meldjumyan from Sumgait survived the pogroms and moved to Armenia in 1988. According to the woman’s story, “if the world had fairly condemned the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the pogroms of Armenians since 1988,” then perhaps the events in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 would not have taken place.