[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 40 (Friday, February 28, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       COMMEMORATING THE VICTIMS OF THE SUMGAIT AND BAKU POGROMS

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                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 28, 2020

  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 32nd anniversary 
of the pogrom against the Armenian residents of the town of Sumgait, 
Azerbaijan. On February 27, 1988, and for three days following, 
Azerbaijani mobs assaulted and killed Armenians. The violence left 
hundreds of Armenian civilians dead and injured, women and girls were 
raped, and some victims were burned alive. Thousands were forced to 
flee their homes, leaving behind their belongings.
  Two years later, it is estimated that only 40,000 of the 250,000 
Armenian residents of Baku remained in Azerbaijan. On January 13, 1990, 
organized Azerbaijani mobs turned on those remaining, many of them 
elderly or disabled, and killed hundreds and injured many more.
  The pogroms came as a direct result of years of vicious, racist anti-
Armenian propaganda by Azerbaijani authorities, dehumanizing the 
Armenian residents of Azerbaijan and laying the groundwork for mass 
violence. Azerbaijani authorities made little effort to punish those 
responsible, instead attempting to cover up the atrocities and denying 
the government role in instigating the attacks.
  The pogroms accomplished their purpose in displacing the entire 
Armenian community from their homes in Azerbaijan, but in the decades 
since, Azerbaijani authorities have continued to fan the flames of 
ethnic hatred, using it as a tool to distract their populace from the 
corrupt and repressive regime in Baku. The anniversary of Sumgait is a 
reminder of the consequences when aggression and hatred grow unchecked.
  Madam Speaker, in less than two months we will mark the 105th 
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, an event the Turkish government, 
Azerbaijan's closest ally, goes to great lengths to deny. We must not 
let such crimes against humanity go unrecognized, whether they occurred 
yesterday or 30 years ago or 100 years ago. Today, let us pause to 
remember the victims of the atrocities of Sumgait and Baku pogroms. It 
is our moral obligation to condemn crimes of hatred and to remember the 
victims, in hope that history will not be repeated.

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