In the 1990s, Azerbaijan tried to ‘export’ genocide perpetrated against the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku and Karabakh. This is what President of the Assembly of Azerbaijani Armenians Grigory Ayvazyan told reporters today.

He expressed certainty that it will be impossible to advance any idea of the self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh so long as Armenia isn’t able to get the message about genocide across to its Western partners.

“The genocide of the Armenians in Azerbaijan isn’t just a humanitarian issue. I hope this year the Armenian government officially recognizes the events of Sumgait and Baku as genocide once and for all,” Ayvazyan stated.

From February 26 to 29, 1988, Armenians were massacred in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, and based on official statistics, hundreds of Armenians were killed and wounded. In a matter of days, 18,000 Armenians left Sumgait. Based on other data, there may be up to 200 victims in Sumgait. From January 13 to 20, 1990, Armenians were also massacred in Baku.