Foreign

Foreign

Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas in US send letters to Congress Members concerning March 31 genocide

17 March 2011 09:06 (UTC +04:00)

â€œThis massacre by Armenians is recorded in history as the "March Events" and thousands of Muslims [Azeris], old people, women and children lost their lives", reminds the letter quoting distinguished professors who covered the genocide at the time.

"The truth is that the Armenians, under the guise of Bolshevism, rushed on the Muslims and massacred during a few frightful days more than 12,000 people, many of whom were old men, women, and children...The March Events, as this episode became known to history, touched off a series of massacred all over Azerbaijan", quotes the letter.

According to the Diaspora members, after the proclamation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (ADR) on May 28, 1918, the "March Events" were investigated by ADR Government. In 1919-1920, the ADR observed March 31 as a national day of mourning. â€œThis was the first-ever genuine attempt to give political and legal assessment of the policy of genocide against Azeris. No other nation has commemorated genocide as early as 1919 but the Azeris, the first victims of the crimes against humanityâ€.

â€œBeing unable to commemorate the tragedy during Soviet years, observation of March 31 was re-established since, to commemorate not just that particular massacre, but the policy of genocide against Azeris carried out since the 19th century and throughout the entire 20th century, with the final act being the Khojaly Massacre of 1992â€, the authors said.

The position of Azerbaijani-Americans is that close to a million Azeris have been massacred in the 20th century as the result of Armenian genocidal campaign. â€œThis makes for a total of 2,5 million Azeris, Turks, Kurds, Jews, Georgians, Circassians, Tats, Talysh, Lezgins and other people who fell victim to the Armenian policies of ethnic cleansing for the creation of their state, which was supposed to stretch from the Black sea to the Caspian to the Mediterraneanâ€.