Ashot Melkonyan: Armenians of Baku greatly contributed the town's developmentJanuary 19, 2010 - 17:18 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenians of Baku greatly contributed to the town's development, but what they got in return was genocide and ethnic cleansing, RA NAS History Institute Director Ashot Melkonyan says. "Following our victory in Artsakh war, we somehow forgot about propaganda struggle whereas Baku resorted to wide information campaign to give rebuff to its defeat," he told Tuesday a scientific conference dedicated to January 1990 Armenian pogroms in Baku. At that, he noted that despite falling behind Azerbaijan in propaganda war, Armenian seeks to disclose to the world the true history of 1905, 1918 and 1990 ethnic cleansing and genocides that took place in Azerbaijan. "We must raise the issue on state level, calling for proper assessment on the events," Mr. Melkonyan said. In January 1990, Azerbaijani authorities instigated the Armenian pogroms in Baku. Some 400 Armenians were killed and 200 thousand were exiled in the period of January 13-19, 1990. The exact number of those killed was never determined, as no investigation was carried out into the crimes. On January 13, a crowd numbering 50 thousand people divided into groups and started "cleaning" the city of Armenians. On January 17, the European Parliament called on EU Council of Foreign Ministers and European Council to protect Armenians and render assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. On January 18, a group of U.S. Senators sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev to express concerns over the violence against the Armenian population in Azerbaijan and called for unification of Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia. Top stories David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with Stephan Schütz, Executive Partner at Gerkan, Marg and Partners. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. Partner news | Ameriabank's Trade Finance portfolio enriched with four prestigious awards from EBRD and IFC Ameriabank received the awards from international financial institutions in recognition of its trade finance operations. Armenian Economy Minister to make trip to UAE May 20-22 A delegation led by Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan will travel to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on May 20-22 Armenia Security Council chief traveling to Qatar Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan will travel on a working visit to Qatar. Pillars installed in Armenian border village of Kirants In the Armenian village of Kirants, three border markers have been installed, and border guards stand next to them. |