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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING VICTIMS OF SUMGAIT POGROM
______
HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 31st anniversary
of the pogrom against the Armenian residents of the town of Sumgait,
Azerbaijan. On February 27, 1988, and for three days following,
Azerbaijani mobs assaulted and killed Armenians. The violence left
hundreds of Armenian civilians dead and injured, women and girls were
raped, and some victims were burned alive. Thousands were forced to
flee their homes, leaving behind their belongings.
The pogroms came as a direct result of years of vicious, racist
anti-Armenian propaganda by Azerbaijani authorities, dehumanizing the
Armenian residents of Azerbaijan and laying the groundwork for mass
violence. Azerbaijani authorities made little effort to punish those
responsible, instead attempting to cover up the atrocities in Sumgait
to this day and denying the government role in instigating the
killings. Indeed, even today, racist propaganda against Armenia and
Armenians is prevalent in Azerbaijan.
The hateful and dangerous Azerbaijani attacks on Armenians is also
seen in a horrific crime which occurred 15 years ago last week. At a
NATO sponsored training in Budapest, an Azerbaijani Army officer named
Ramil Safarov snuck into the room of an Armenian lieutenant, Gurgen
Margaryan, and hacked him to death with an axe as he slept.
For this brutal and despicable crime, Safarov was sentenced to life
imprisonment in Hungary. Yet after a determined campaign by
Azerbaijan's government, he was extradited to Baku in 2012 where he was
greeted not as a criminal but as a hero, provided back pay, and
promoted in rank. There is no more dramatic illustration of
Azerbaijan's continued posture of hatred and aggression towards their
Armenian neighbor than their celebration of a cold-blooded murderer.
The assault on ethnic Armenian civilians in Sumgait helped touch off
what would become a direct conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
which took thousands of lives and dislocated millions more. The
anniversary of Sumgait is a reminder of the consequences when
aggression and hatred grow unchecked.
Madam Speaker, in two months we will mark the 104th Anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, an event the Turkish government, Azerbaijan's
closest ally, goes to great lengths to deny. We must not let such
crimes against humanity go unrecognized, whether they occurred
yesterday or 30 years ago or 100 years ago. Today, let us pause to
remember the victims of the atrocities of the Sumgait pogroms. Madam
Speaker, it is our moral obligation to condemn crimes of hatred and to
remember the victims, in hope that history will not be repeated.
____________________