Sherman: we need to acknowledge horrific acts of the past

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee member Brad Sherman (D-CA) made an address in commemoration of Armenian massacre in Sumgait.

“I speak today in solemn remembrance of a dark chapter in modern history. This past weekend marked the 23rd anniversary of the massacre of Armenian civilians in Azerbaijan. On the evening of February 27, 1988, a three-day rampage against Armenian civilians living in Sumgait, in Soviet Azerbaijan, began,” he said.

“Armenian civilians were maimed, raped, beaten, and burned alive at the hands of rioters. International media outlets reported that Armenians were "hunted" down and killed in their homes.

The calls for help for those innocent Armenians were ignored by the local police, and the victims' fate was left to those who ruthlessly and senselessly ended their lives.

The official figure from Soviet authorities, who had prohibited journalists from entering the area, was just over 30 people dead and over 200 injured. However, many believe that in fact hundreds were murdered.

Sadly, Sumgait was not the end to the tragedies. Anti-Armenian pogroms followed in Kirovabad on November 21, 1988 and in Baku on January 13, 1990. During the Nagorno Karabakh War of 1988 to 1994, Armenian civilian population centers were indiscriminately attacked.

If we hope to stop future massacres, and conflicts, we need to acknowledge those horrific acts of the past, make sure they do not happen again, and make sure that we do not have renewed war between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno Karabakh. That is why I would like to commemorate the victims of the Sumgait massacre,” Sherman said.