March 1, 2011 - 12:39 AMT
Expert: Armenia should bring to trial those guilty of pogroms of Armenians in Azerbaijan

Political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan said that Armenia should achieve conviction of those who are guilty of pogroms of Armenians in Azerbaijan, specifically, in Sumgait and Baku.

The events in Sumgait can be qualified as genocide, as people were killed only due to their national identity, Melik-Shahnazaryan told a press conference on March 1.

“The Armenian authorities should follow the example of the active propagandistic campaign launched by the Azerbaijani authorities with respect to events in Khojalu,” he said.

The political analyst noted that the Sumgait events showed what can happen to representatives of some civilizations when the suppressing force disappears.

Melik-Shahnazaryan added that in this case the differences between civilizations were not of religious nature, but the difference was in the development of nomadic and native nations.

Azerbaijanis, heirs of nomads, are a nationality, which was artificially created in the beginning of the 20th century and gained its name due to the will of Joseph Stalin in 1936. Turkic peoples, Tats, Talyshes, Kurds and majority of Lezgians have been registered as Azerbaijanis.