[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 31 (Thursday, March 3, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  23RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRE OF ARMENIAN CIVILIANS IN AZERBAIJAN

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                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 3, 2011

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, 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.
  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.

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