[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 33 (Thursday, February 27, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       26TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HORRIFIC ATTACK AGAINST ARMENIANS

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 27, 2014

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, the 27th of February marks the 26th 
anniversary of the horrific attack against Armenians in the town of 
Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan. Dozens of Armenians were killed and 
hundreds more were wounded. During the pogrom, Armenian women and 
children were raped, people were set on fire and beaten to death, while 
police stood by unwilling or unable to intervene.
   The violence touched off a broader attack against Azerbaijan's 
ethnic Armenians, ultimately resulting in a war with Nagorno-Karabakh 
in which tens of thousands of people were killed. The conflict remains 
unresolved today and the military blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh 
Republic continues. The pogroms precipitated a massive refugee 
situation displacing hundreds of thousands of people, virtually 
eliminating Azerbaijan's once-significant Armenian population.
   Mr. Speaker, as people of conscience, this is a remembrance we must 
all engage in. For me, it is also a very personal remembrance. My own 
family fled the slaughter of the Armenian Genocide under the Ottomans, 
and when we learned of the massacres against Armenians in 1988, we saw 
history repeating itself. These vicious acts of murder, targeted at 
ethnic groups, must be forcefully condemned whenever and wherever we 
see them.
   Without our recognition and our forceful condemnation, the cycle of 
violence will continue. Even today, Christians and other minority 
groups are being driven from Syria by extremists, and the once large 
and diverse ethnic mosaic there is all but eradicated. Without our 
attention and action by the world community, there will be no end in 
sight.
   Today, Mr. Speaker, let us remember the Armenians who lost their 
lives in Azerbaijan 26 years ago. And then let us take up the work that 
our principles demand of us, standing united against ethnic violence, 
discrimination, extremism and brutality, wherever we find it.

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