During the period of 1988-1991 over 200 thousand Armenians residing in Azerbaijan abandoned their homes. In summer 1991, after "The Ring" operation carried out by the Soviet Army with the participation of the Azeri special forces the inhabitants of dozens of the Armenians villages bordering with Nagorno Karabakh were either deported or killed. Most of the deported people found shelter in Armenia. However, despite this the problem of the Armenian refugees is often ignored. On November 17 the Shahumian-Getashen Benevolent Organization sent letters on behalf of the deported Armenians of the Shahumian and Getashen regions, occupied by Azerbaijan at present , to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan and President of the UN's 59-th General Assembly, Mr. Jean Ping. The letters reaffirm the rights of those who were forcibly removed from their homes in these and other regions and lost all their possessions, to defend themselves in the appropriate international organizations. To remind, the Shahumian region of the NKR is situated to the North of the territories controlled by the Karabakh forces at present. It has been occupied by the Azeri troops since summer 1992 with the help of bribed Russian generals . The Getashen region is to the North of Shahumian; its residents were deported and many killed after the joint operations of the soviet army and Azeri OMON. It should be also noted that both regions were always mostly Armenian-inhabited.