Statement on the Day of remembrance of the victims of the crime of genocide committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people (January 13, 1990)

The beginning of each year is marked by two tragic dates – the period of the establishment of Soviet power in Transcaucasia and its collapse:

– January 9-12 – the days of memory of the Shamkhor massacre that terrified even Stalin himself.  Troops were returning to Russia from the Caucasian front were they fought against Turkey. Thousands of Russians (mostly Cossacks) were brutally killed in January 1918 by those who seized power in Azerbaijan four months later by force with the weapons taken from the killed, and later in September 1918 they committed the massacre of 30 thousand peaceful Armenians in Baku;

– January 13-20 – the days of remembrance of the victims of the genocide acts against Armenians in Baku in 1990.

The mass pogroms of Armenians in Baku in 1990 became only one of the episodes in the centuries-old chain of genocidal crimes of Azerbaijan and therefore they should be considered in conjunction with others, as well as in the context of world processes.

Thousands of materials have been written about the indicated genocide crime in Baku as well as about others, including ones by the authors of this Statement, however, a political and legal side of the crime remained open, and the flywheel of the propaganda machine of Azerbaijan continues to spin and spread total lies and falsifications in different countries, including Russia, taking advantage of the inaction of the authorities of these countries.

Confirming the provisions noted in various documents, in that number:

– a list of the main crimes of Azerbaijan against the Armenian people, against humanity and civilization over the past 100 years (from 1918 to the present day) [1],

Stating in accordance with the strategy of recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and compensation for it, that:

– these crimes “are a copy of the handwriting and program of the changing governments of Turkey” [2 – chapter 5, 3];

– these genocidal acts took place “on the part of successive governments of all three republics of Azerbaijan (also) in Artsakh, Nakhichevan and other Armenian territories” [2 – chapter 2],

– the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey “to this day pursue a policy of the Armenian Genocide, Armenianophobia and persecution, the destruction of Armenian cultural and civilizational values, as well as a policy of falsification of Armenian culture and appropriation of cultural heritage. Moreover, the same policy of state terrorism is carried out in relation to other ancient peoples of the Greater Middle East – Greeks, Assyrians, Talysh, etc. ”[2 – chapter 2];

– the genocidal policy of Azerbaijan and Turkey was and is a direct consequence of their state “policy of spreading and propaganda of Armenianophobia, national superiority and arrogance, racist ideology of pan-Turkism” [2 – chapter 4, 4];

– besides the Armenian states, the world community does not have a legal and political assessment of the crimes of Azerbaijan;

– “the impunity of criminals … leads to similar crimes committed against innocent people,  against humanity” [5],

We consider that:

– All states, all authoritative international organizations, all people of good will are obliged to condemn the crimes committed by Azerbaijan in order to prevent any acts of genocide in the world [5].

In addition to assessing and condemning crimes, an imperative is:

“The inclusion on the agenda of a peaceful settlement of the Artsakh problem (the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) the obligation of Azerbaijan, as the state that committed the Genocide, to compensate all Armenian refugees for territorial, material and moral losses in accordance with international law. ” [6]

Guided by UN documents, in that number:

– The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide [7];

– The program and strategy for the prevention of the crime of genocide and responsibility to protect [8] and the active involvement of civil society institutions in their implementation [9];

– materials of three UN Global forums against the crime of genocide, held in 2015, 2016, 2018 in the Republic of Armenia;

– the establishment (since 2015, at the suggestion of the Republic of Armenia) of a new International Day for the Remembrance of the victims of the crime of genocide, to honor their dignity and to prevent this crime [10]

we, the undersigned, in the year of the 30th anniversary of the massacre in Baku and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of citizens, in the year of the 100th anniversary of the massacre of 20,000 peaceful Armenians in Shushi, in the year of the 105th anniversary of the peak of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey

Declare that:

– in the context of the ongoing genocidal policy of Azerbaijan, military threats and the active spread of lies around the world, it is unacceptable to continue to be limited only to general verbal declarations and appeals;

– further silencing on the part of state officials, the media, human rights and other public organizations of the truth about acts of crime and threats of genocide by Azerbaijan, the indulging daily flows of lies is a direct aiding to ideologists and plans for new crimes of genocide, is a complicity in planned crimes

and urge

the international community to harshly condemn Azerbaijan as a genocidal state that has continued its genocidal policy for more than a century under the guise of unceasing flows of lies and falsifications.

 

Coordinating Council of Russian-Armenian Organizations (CC RAO) www.russia-armenia.info

Public organization of sociological and political science initiatives “Khachmeruk” (“Crossroads”) www.crossroadorg.info

Public organization “Assembly of Armenians of Azerbaijan”

www.facebook.com/groups/391936514504630/

Organizing Committee “In Defense of the Republic of Artsakh”

Armenian international information-analytical, cultural, educational and legal center “Arminfocenter” www.arminfocenter.org

“Lusavor Avedis” News Agency (“Good News”, France) www.lousavor-avedis.org

Standing Committee on the recognition, condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and its compensation of the National Assembly (Parliament) of the Republic of Western Armenia www.parliament-wa.info

Web portal on the Armenian Genocide in Azerbaijan www.AGA-Tribunal.info

Facebook Group “The International Armenian Forum”

www.facebook.com/groups/TheArmenianForum/

January 12, 2020

This Statement is open for joining.

******

References

  1. Statement by the CC RAO on the 25th anniversary of the pogroms of Armenians in Baku dated January 20, 2015 https://aga-tribunal.info/crimes/
  2. The Strategy of the Republic of Western Armenia in regarding the issues of recognition, condemnation and compensation of the Armenian Genocide, pp. 120-128 http://gov-wa.info/?p=519&lang=en
  3. Materials of the first International Scientific Conference September 14-17, “Baku 1918. Continuation of the Armenian Genocide”, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the massacre of Armenians in Baku in September 1918 https://aga-tribunal.info/conf_14-17-9-2018/
  4. Statement of the RAO Constitutional Court on the 30th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Sumgait dated February 27, 2018 http://russia-armenia.info/node/5346
  5. Statement of the CC RAO on the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Sumgayit pogroms of 1988 dated February 28, 2014 http://russia-armenia.info/node/5346
  6. Appeal of a number of public organizations to the National Assembly of Armenia dated December 9, 2019 https://aga-tribunal.info/na_9-12-2019/
  7. https://www.un.org/en/documents/decl_conv/conventions/genocide.shtml
  8. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/
  9. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/civil-society.shtml
  10. https://www.un.org/en/events/genocidepreventionday/