In connection with the 30th anniversary of the Baku pogroms, ANCA  called on the US Congress to condemn Azerbaijan`s aggression against  Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh

ArmInfo.. In connection with the 30th anniversary of the Baku pogroms, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) appealed to the US Congress to condemn  the continued aggression of Azerbaijan against Armenia and  Nagorno-Karabakh.

"After the bloody pogroms in Baku, Sumgait, Maraga and Kirovabad, and  then as a result of the failed Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh  - and against the background of the continuing incitement of Baku to  Armenophobia, the aggravation of the situation at the front, open  desecration of Armenian shrines and there can be no talk of returning  to the past" - ANCA Executive Director Aram Hambaryan stated.   According to ANCA's ArmInfo report, Hambaryan also emphasized that  there is no turning back; movement can be forward in the direction of  a free, safe and prosperous Artsakh Republic.  In this regard, ANCA  also launched an online advocacy campaign called "March to Justice"  (https://anca.org/baku).

Recall that exactly 30 years ago, on January 13, 1990, ethnic riots  broke out in the capital of Azerbaijan, which were accompanied by  mass violence against the Armenian population, robberies, killings,  arsons, and destruction of property. According to various sources,  from 48 to 90 (according to some sources - up to three hundred)  people became victims of pogroms. According to Robert Kushen, Human  Rights Watch reporter, "the pogroms were not completely spontaneous,  as the pogroms had lists of Armenians and their addresses." By the  beginning of the Karabakh conflict, about 200 thousand Armenians were  living in Baku with a total population of 1.7 million. At the end of  February 1988, a pogrom with numerous victims among Armenians took  place in Sumgait, which became a landmark event and a turning point  in the aggravation of the Karabakh conflict.