Sumgait, Baku Pogroms Commemorated in Washington

Protesters Call for Justice for Gurgen Margaryan and All Victims of Azerbaijani Aggression

WASHINGTON—Braving sub-freezing temperatures, Greater Washington area Armenian-Americans honored the memory of the victims of Azerbaijani aggression and pledged ongoing solidarity with the freedom-loving people of Artsakh, at a February 28th protest held in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy.

AYF and Greater Washington Armenian Community Protest Sumgait / Baku Pogroms
AYF and Greater Washington Armenian Community Protest Sumgait / Baku Pogroms

The demonstration, organized by the Washington Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Ani Chapter and St. Mary’s Armenian Church Youth Organization (ACYO), coincided with the 26th anniversary of the Azerbaijani pogroms against the Armenian population of Sumgait, which set the stage for attacks in Baku in 1990 and a cycle of anti-Armenian violence that continues to this day.

The demonstrators called special attention to the brutal axe-murder of Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, as the nation marks the 10th anniversary of his slaying by convicted Azerbaijani soldier Lt. Ramil Safarov. In a move that stunned the international community, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev pardoned, promoted and praised Safarov upon extradition to his homeland in 2012. The AYF global social media awareness campaign last week, #Justice4Margaryan, called attention to this travesty, attracting the participation of thousands, including U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.).

“Today, we gather at the Azerbaijani Embassy to remember those who perished in the Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku massacres between 1988-1990,” explained AYF Ani Chapter Chairman Hagop Simonian. “If we do not remember and spread awareness of these atrocities, events such as the axe-murder of Lt. Gurgen Margaryan and the recent killing of Jr. Sergeant Armen Hovhannisyan will continue to occur again and again. Sadly, the dictatorial Aliyev regime celebrates the deaths of these Armenian deaths, and rewards their murderers. We, as Armenian-Americans, must use our first amendment right to educate the world of these crimes.”

AYF and Greater Washington Armenian Community Protest Pogroms
AYF and Greater Washington Armenian Community Protest Pogroms

A small group of Azerbaijani counter-protesters jeered as St. Mary’s Armenian Church pastor, Fr. Hovsep Karapetyan led Armenian community members in prayer in memory of those who perished in the Azerbaijani pogroms. Police were forced to escort one Azerbaijani provocateur, after he approached Armenian protesters and struck one with a sign. Many of the Azerbaijani protesters were making the iconic “Grey Wolf” sign, signaling solidarity with the Turkish ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist youth organization accused of political killings.

Photos from the protest can be viewed on the AYF Ani Chapter Facebook page.

Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

12 Comments

  1. A really worthwhile demonstration.The Sumgait-Baku AND the Axe murderer Safarov should be condemned Internationally.
    Also case in point to remember-alongside above, is the corrupt Govt. of Hungary that let loose the ax murderer…
    All should be prosecuted at int´l instances and made to pay damages!

    • The spineless criminal coward Safarov should be hunted down, brought to Stepanakert and executed in public with the same axe he used to murder Margaryan in cold blood in his sleep. He must be made to pay for his criminal act by decapitation.

  2. Nobody denies that Armenians too have suffered in the war. But, to go and use the day Azeris remember the Khodjali massacres as the say day they talk about Sumgayit etc is a cheap attempt. You see, Feb 26 is the day when the massacres happened. Did Sumagyi happen on that day? No. So why do you guys pick the same date? It is like Azeris or Turks coming up with their own designation for April 24! Do you ever wonder how Turks can bring themselves to deny the Genocide? Well, look no further than the mirror. Yes, Kodjali was not a genocide. But it was a major massacre that was deliberated done to intimidate the Azeri cilians elsewhere, and it changed the course of the war. Without Kodjali, Armenia would not have won. Your own Sarkissian has admitted this. Human Right Watch and other international organizations have acknowledged Khodjali. So have some respect for the innocent victim of a war … if you want respect for yours.

    • Turks? As far as I know Azeris deny and celebrate the Armenian genocide as well. Why do you do it? Why do you refer to it as sahte soykirim?

  3. When the big brother Russia is busy in Ukraine, this is the right time for Azerbaijan to take back Karabag. I hope they do so.

    • @Ahmet, with or without Russia the Armenians can make you run for your lives like a bunch of stray dogs as you did some twenty years ago. The Armenians took away your hearts back then and that’s why all you do is bark but never able to bite despite all the petrodollars your draft-dodging chicken-hawk fake president Aliyev steals from you spending a fraction to buy expensive but useless toys to keep you preoccupied while he steals the rest stashing them in overseas banks and buying palaces abroad.

      Unlike the Azerbaijani empty-talking cowards, all Armenians need is an abundance of weapons, which they are getting and amassing, and they will soon bring the fight to your backyards to liberate the occupied Armenian province of Nakhichevan as they did in the past when they liberated the Armenian province of Karabakh. You are nothing more than a gas station without your Turkish pimps and in due time we will set that gas station on fire. Like slaves obedient to your next door Turkish masters from Mongolia, keep giving away cheap oil to get protection guarantees from them because without them you will cease to exist.

  4. Ahmet,
    It again seems that you’ve been smoking a bit too much of your favorite vegetable, hashish. Smoking so much of that stuff, will deliver you false hopes. Anyway, for your own education, whether Russia is busy in Ukraine or not, its troops are not the ones defending the Republic of Artsakh. It’s the Artsakh Republic Defense Army, who’s defending Artsakh.

    In terms of the Azeris capturing Artsakh, they’re just not capable of doing it. They were extremely incapable of doing it twenty years ago. As for the present, they’re still extremely incapable of doing it. And, twenty years from now, they will still be extremely incapable of doing it.

    Hey Ahmet, you and your Turkbaijani compatriots can hope all you want, however, you will all continue to be horribly disappointed.

  5. Ahmet:

    You have been howling for war and invasion of Armenian lands by your putative Turkbaijani nomadic cousins on the pages of AW for at least a year that I can remember.

    From the safety of your Virginia, USA office.

    Time for you to act, keyboardoasker: dry clean your uniform, polish your combat boots and head on out to Baku.
    They will locally provide the assault rifle, ammo, and the yatağan.
    Be ready: the minute your Sultan Aliyev II gives the order, make sure your are in the vanguard of the invaders.

    The men and women of NKR military will have prepared a very hot reception for you and your InvadoNomad gray wolf packs.
    btw: before you go, make sure all your affairs are in order, because chances are better that 50/50 you will stay in Artsakh: permanently (lead poisoning).
    And don’t count on Russia being busy on saving your pelt.
    Mountain warriors of Artsakh don’t need Russian help to shred Turkic invaders.

    Here is a real life sample of what will happen to the mangy wolves when they encounter Armenian gamprs:

    On Jan 19-20, 2014, two groups of Turkbaijani special forces simultaneously attacked two separate Armenian defensive positions in NKR at Mardakert and Hardut.

    At Mardakert, the Turkbaijani special forces group of about 30 men was intercepted by a squad of 9 Armenian conscripts.
    Conscripts.
    A sharp firefight ensued.
    At least 7 invaders were rewarded for their uninvited visit to Armenian lands with Eternal Peace.
    An unknown number were wounded, and survivors withdrew (judging by the large number of bloodied weaponry & equipment they left behind).
    Sadly, Junior Sergeant Armen Hovhannisyan was KIA.
    He was 20 years old.

    At the Hadrut engagement, at least 4 Turkic invaders were killed.
    No Armenian losses there.

    Interestingly, days after the engagement, Azerbaijan started announcing deaths of their troops from ‘accidents’, ‘illness’, ‘stepping on a mine’…..
    The usual BS to cover up their horrendous losses: 1 Armenian KIA; 11 Turkbaijani KIA, an unknown number WIA.

  6. Dear AW moderators,

    Thank you very much for trashing all of my recent comments arbitrarily. I really mean it — Thank you! I knew I was wasting my time and killing time, instead of doing what I really needed to do with my personal time. Call it lack of self-control and procrastinating. And getting them posted was only encouraging my waste of time. By ‘waste’, I don’t mean anything negative about AW. You are running an excellent publication! I just mean my own waste of time. I sincerely hope that now I should be able to avoid wasting time on the internet like this (with your help). After all, why should Armenians care what an Azeris like myself has to say, or vice versa. Both sides know where the other side stands.

    Thanks again for your time reading my posts.

    • Since you have filled the comment pages of ArmenianWeekly with dozens and dozens and dozens of voluminous comments past 2 years or so, and obviously they were most generously published by AW moderators, I find it hard to believe they would, quote, “trash all of your recent comments”.
      You are an ingrate: you yourself have thanked AW moderators more than once for being very generous with your posts.
      If they have been “trashing” your posts recently, then you must have really gone over the edge with your Anti-Armenian rants.

      And if AW moderators have flushed your recent rants, I applaud them: you insulted one of the most respected columnists of ArmenianWeekly; we (readers) kindly asked you to apologize; you refused and even went further and upped the ante, in effect boasting “….what are you guys gonna do if I don’t apologize…”(paraphrased).

      There you go, Karim.

      And don’t kid yourself about supposedly “thanking” AW for you not wasting your useless time.
      Sour grapes.
      You are _dying_ to have your posts published @AW: it’s your 15-minutes of fame, over and over again.
      We know you do, because you said “goodby” , “this is my last post”,……, I don’t know how many times already, yet you keep coming back.
      You _love_ to post @AW: the proof is in your post.
      You claim you have been posting repeatedly and it supposedly has been “trashed”: if your time is so valuable, why did you keep posting and posting and posting and…….

      Where else but ArmenianWeekly you get the chance to publish your views, whatever they may be – for free – to be read by people from all over the world.

      Apologize to Ms. Gunaysu honestly and with genuine contrition.
      Maybe AW moderators might take that into consideration in their future assessment of your rants.

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