Armenia`s foreign office issues statement on 34th anniversary of  massacres of Armenians in Sumgait. 

ArmInfo. Armenia's foreign office has issued a statement on the 34th anniversary of massacres of Armenians in Sumgait

The statement reads: 

"34 years ago, on February 27-29, with the organization of the Soviet  Azerbaijani authorities and the connivance of law enforcement, the  massacres of the Armenian population in the city of Sumgait were  carried out, resulting in the killing of hundreds of Armenians,  including women, children, elderly, and forcible displacement of  thousands.

"Mass killings and tortures against the Armenians, that were aimed at  forcibly suppressing the democratic expression of will of the  Armenian of Artsakh and the exercise of their inalienable right to  self- determination on the basis of existing legal mechanisms, later  continued in Baku, Kirovabad, and other settlements of Azerbaijan  with Armenian population. Azerbaijan responded to the expression of  the will of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to free and secure life in  their homeland by carrying out a policy of collective punishment  against Armenians, which later turned into full-scale war unleashed  against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The massacres of Armenians in Sumgait received a wide international  response. A relevant condemning resolution was adopted by the  European Parliament.

"In continuation of the same policy, the Azerbaijani armed forces  carried out a complete ethnic cleansing of all Armenian settlements  fallen under their control during the aggression against Artsakh on  September 27, 2020, taking cruel revenge on many detained civilians,  prisoners of war, destroying, vandalizing Armenian cultural and  religious monuments and sanctuaries.

"The decision of the UN International Court of Justice on the  application of provisional measures within the framework of the  "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial  Discrimination" issued on December 7, 2021, demonstrated the fact  that more than three decades after the Sumgait atrocities Azerbaijan  continues its policy of racial hatred towards Armenians and the  destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage.

"Today, we pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the  mass atrocities in Sumgait and other settlements, and emphasize that  Armenophobia and the threat of use of force remain Azerbaijan's state  policy, which clearly contradicts the regional and international  efforts aimed at a peaceful, developing and sustainable region."