Armenia parliament to hold hearings on Sumgait Pogrom

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Assembly will host hearings on the Sumgait Pogrom on Thursday, February 22 at the initiative of the foreign relations committee.

The hearings will be titled “Sumgait Pogrom: Hatred towards Armenians as a state policy for Azerbaijan.”

In his message on Artsakh Revival Day and the 30th anniversary of the Karabakh Movement, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan said: “Azerbaijan responded to our people’s peaceful and legitimate initiative with massacres in Sumgait and other areas. In those days, it became clear that the people in Artsakh were doomed to physical extermination or victory.

“Those who unleashed the war were convinced that they had an advantage [over us], and the Karabakh issue would be resolved swiftly and permanently by exterminating the Armenians and depopulating Artsakh. After three decades, we can confidently state that the Karabakh movement saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”

30 years ago on February 20, the Karabakh liberation movement - a mass movement for the unification of Karabakh with Armenia - reached Yerevan, with massive demonstrations staged in what is now called the Freedom Square.