Azerbaijan Distorts History of Armenian Pogroms in Baku

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian side should furnish the true information on the Armenian pogroms in Baku, rector of the Yerevan State Linguistic University Suren Zolyan told a news conference in Yerevan. In his words, the history has been distorted during 17 years passed since the tragedy.



"The Armenian side will never pursue an anti-Azeri agitation, however these tragic pages of the Armenian history should be always remembered. If crimes are not spoken about for a long time they are given another assessments and comments. Azerbaijan holds mourning events dedicated to the "hard times when the soviet troops entered Baku." However they entered not to defend Armenians but to prevent collapse of the communist regime. Those victims Azerbaijan is speaking about were the people who wished to seize the power," the political scientist underscored.



According to Zolyan, presently the Azeri side tries to lay the blame on Armenians. "These people were killed by Armenians, they say. So, many generations come to the Shahid Alley thinking that people killed by Armenians are buried here. It's essential to talk the truth on the issue, since many people were brought up in anti-Armenian mood and do not know what really happened. Annually a new generation of Azeris are brought to the Alley and shown the graves. But they are not shown the demolished gravestones at the Armenian cemeteries, where new streets have been already built," he said, reports newsarmenia.ru



On January 13, 1990 a crowd of some 50 thousand people divided into groups and started "cleansing" the city from Armenians. The pogroms lasted till January 20, when the soviet troops were deployed in Baku. 300 thousand Armenians used to live in the Azerbaijani capital city till 1990.