United Nations A/73/788–S/2019/215

General Assembly Distr.: General 11 March 2019 Security Council Original: English

General Assembly Security Council Seventy-third session Seventy-fourth year Agenda item 34 Prevention of armed conflict

Letter dated 28 February 2019 from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit herewith a statement by the members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) on the thirty-first anniversary of the massacre of the Armenian population in Sumgait (see annex I), as well as a statement by the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh on the twenty-ninth anniversary of the mass pogroms against the Armenian population in Baku (see annex II). From 27 to 29 February 1988, in response to a peaceful and constitutional demand by the Nagorno-Karabakh people to exercise their right to self-determination, the Azerbaijani authorities organized pogroms against Armenians living in various parts of Azerbaijan. These atrocities were followed by unprecedented Azerbaijani military offensives and operations designed to annihilate the Nagorno-Karabakh population. The crimes committed in Sumgait, Baku and other settlements in Azerbaijan were a manifestation of the policy of discrimination, hatred and xenophobia against the Armenian people that was carried out by the Azerbaijani authorities during the Soviet period and continues until now. In this regard, I would like to refer to the letter dated 6 March 2018 from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary General (A/72/780-S/2018/200). I should be grateful if the present letter and its annexes could be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 34, and of the Secretary Council.

(Signed) Mher Margaryan Ambassador Permanent Representative

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Annex I to the letter dated 28 February 2019 from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

Statement by the members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh on the thirty-first anniversary of the massacre of the Armenian population in Sumgait

27 February 2019, Stepanakert Thirty-one years ago, on 27–29 February 1988, Azerbaijani authorities carried out massacre and forced deportation of the Armenian population in Sumgait. Only for national affiliation, hundreds of Armenians were brutally killed and thousands of Armenians, mostly women, children and elderly people, were forcibly deported. The wave of genocide spread in Gandzak, Baku, North Artsakh and other Armenian populated areas of Azerbaijan. In 1988–1990, consistent and repeated crimes with the same signature against the Armenian minority, turned into official policy for the Baku authorities. That was a real threat to the extermination of the Azerbaijani indigenous Armenian community and Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. It was the national liberation movement that was aimed at restoring national dignity and violated rights, preserving its identity, which in those days stirred up in Artsakh. Paying tribute to the memory of our compatriots who fell victim to the massacres in Sumgait and condemning any manifestation of discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia, the factions and independent MPs of the National Assembly of the Artsakh Republic: insist that impunity of acts of genocide committed by Azerbaijan led to massive new crimes and war against the people of Artsakh, reaffirm their commitment to the restoration of the rights of Armenians of Azerbaijan who were exposed to violence and deportation, urge international human rights organizations to recognize and condemn the Sumgait genocide, call upon Azerbaijan to face up to its own past, refuse war rhetoric and stop state-run policy of Armenophobia.

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Annex II to the letter dated 28 February 2019 from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

Statement of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations on the twenty-ninth anniversary of the mass pogroms of the Armenian population in Baku

National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)

18 January 2019, Stepanakert From January 13 to 19, 1990, the state authorities of Azerbaijan committed a massacre against the Armenian population of the Azerbaijani capital Baku. Hundreds of Armenians became victims of ethnic violence, properties belonging to Armenians were subjected to plundering and confiscation. Under the immediate threat of physical destruction, a quarter million deported Baku Armenians have settled down as refugees in different countries around the world. In order to silence the voice of Artsakh people for the realization of their right to self-determination and restoration of historical justice, Baku’s authorities, with the knowledge and approval of Gorbachev regime, implemented a planned genocide against the Armenians living in Azerbaijan. Contrary to the facts recorded by international human rights organizations, the Azerbaijani authorities conceal their genocidal acts, alienate the realities and avoid responsibility. Paying homage to the memory of innocent Armenians who fell victims of the Baku massacre and forced deportation, the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly: • condemns any manifestation of xenophobia, extremism and terrorism, • insists that the violence organized against Armenians of Baku, the whole Eastern Transcaucasia, as well as the Northern Artsakh and Nakhijevan fully corresponds to the legal definition of the crime of genocide defined in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, • calls upon the international community, human rights organizations and parliamentary institutions to provide legal assessment to the massacre of the Armenian population in Baku and take steps against the ongoing anti-Armenian propaganda in Azerbaijan, • reiterates that the massacre in Baku does not have a historical limitation Republic of Artsakh will remain consistent in bringing to justice the organizers and implementers of the genocide of Armenians of Azerbaijan.

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