Thursday, February 27, 2020- Washington, D.C. – Today, the following statement from Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Representative Katherine Clark (MA-5) was entered into the Congressional Record:

“Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize the 30th anniversary of the anti-Armenian pogroms in then-Soviet Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku.

 In January 1990, a violent seven-day long riot in Baku broke out against the city’s ethnic Armenian civilian population. Approximately 90 Armenians were killed, and hundreds more were brutally beaten and forced to abandon their homes. The Baku Pogrom was just one of several anti-Armenian attacks that took place across Azerbaijan from 1988 to 1990 that were enabled by the Azerbaijani government. From Sumgait to Kirovabad and Baku, Armenian Christians living in the country were murdered, raped, and robbed. These vicious attacks led to the displacement of thousands of Armenian families fleeing the targeted violence as refugees.

These were crimes against humanity that have still gone unrecognized by Azerbaijan. I call upon their government to acknowledge and condemn these acts of violence, actively prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes, and take all appropriate action so that these atrocities never happen again.

Throughout history, the Armenian people have been targets of violence, murder and genocide. We must emphatically condemn these actions and any efforts to erase these atrocities from our collective memory. Failure to do so will only serve to embolden purveyors of violence against religious and ethnic minorities around the globe. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Armenian Caucus to continue pushing policies promoting peace and human rights for Armenians and for all.

If we do not stand up to hate, we cannot end of the cycle of intolerance.”