The Heritage Party will be consistent in getting the Armenian Parliament to adopt a statement that would define the Armenian massacres in Azerbaijan in 1988-1994 as genocide, Larisa Alaverdyan, a member of the Heritage Parliamentary faction, told journalists.

It is high time for Armenia to deal with the matter at a state level. “We need to form a group of lawyers to apply to different international agencies. If we can prove at the international level that the events in Azerbaijan in 1998-1994 were genocide, Azerbaijan will have to pay compensations to Armenian refugees,” Alaverdyan said. She stressed that it is easier to prove the facts in the case of Sumgait – criminal proceedings were initiated on those events and testimonial evidence by Azerbaijanis and people of other nationalities is available. “Armenians were not a national minority in Azerbaijan. They were a state-forming people,” Alaverdyan said.

Armenian pogrom in Sumgait, Azerbaijan took place February 27 to 29, 1988.