YEREVAN (Armenpress/Noyan Tapan)–Karabagh’s Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) youth organization–in cooperation with the Aram Manougian student union–organized discussions between nine Karabagh organizations on the 18th anniversary of the Sumgait massacres.
Discussions focused on the Sumgait massacres of 1988 and Azerbaijan’s destruction of Armenian monumen’s. They spoke in particular about the recent destruction of the Armenian cemetery–and the cross-stones (khatchkars) it contained–in the Julfa region of Nakhichevan.
After the discussion–the organizations released a statement to the European Union ambassadors condemning Azerbaijan’s actions.
In the statement–the organizations said that Azerbaijan should be held accountable for the pogroms it conducted against the Armenian population of Sumgait in 1988. The statement also detailed instances of Azeri attempts to falsify evidence and history in its attempts to rid Armenian territories of Armenia’s.
The statement also said that Azerbaijan is guilty of committing cultural genocide–by trying to erase traces of Armenian existence and heritage on lands that are under its control.
The youth organizations also appealed to the international community to discuss the massacres in Sumgait and Baku during the Karabagh conflict settlement talks. They also called on them to condemn the destruction of Armenian monumen’s in Julfa.
On the same day–the Parliament of Mountainous Karabagh Republic released a statement on the same matter.
In Armenia–the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) spearheaded the collection of 26 organizations’ signatures of the statement and then sent it to the Council of Europe and UNESCO.