Opposition Heritage Party Condemns Azerbaijan’s Genocidal Policy Aga

OPPOSITION HERITAGE PARTY CONDEMNS AZERBAIJAN’S GENOCIDAL POLICY AGAINST ARMENIANS

Tert.am
28.02.11

On the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian pogroms
in Sumgayit, the opposition Heritage party has issued a statement,
condemning the Azerbaijani authorities’ genocidal policy against the
country’s ethnic Armenian population.

Below is the text of the statement.

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide that took
place in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgayit. Using as a pretext the
peaceful and lawful struggle of the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) people
who had stood up for their right of self-determination and security,
the Soviet Azerbaijani regime organized and carried out a horrific
operation geared toward the physical annihilation of its Armenian
residents. As a result, hundreds of Armenians were killed and maimed,
and tens of thousands were deported to Armenia and the other countries
of the former Soviet Union.

But this crime committed in Sumgait in 1988 was just the continuation
of official Baku’s unrelenting policy of persecution against, and the
ethnic cleansing of, the Armenian population which, in the aftermath
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 marked
only the beginning of a continuing genocide, which resulted in the
large-scale killings and exile of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
throughout the land-from Baku to the Armenian Gandzak.

Together with Sumgayit and its military aggression against Artsakh,
the now-independent Azerbaijan once more demonstrated its genocidal
policy and proved that Artsakh can never, and under no circumstances,
be a part of that country because that will simply jeopardize the
security of the Armenian population. This kind of country has no
right to lay hegemonic claims upon Artsakh.

As for the international community (and the grand powers in particular)
which 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 gained
in a lawful manner. Instead, it is obliged to recognize that the
sovereignty and integrity of Nagorno Karabakh are in full compliance
with the letter and spirit of international law.

From: A. Papazian