E174 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks February 12, 2020 While serving our country overseas as a less passion for fighting for what is right and the evening of January 20th, after most of the cavalry scout in Operation Desert Storm, for what our nation’s children need most. Armenian population had fled or been expelled Jamie was involved in an accident that left him Joel’s values and mission will live on in those from Baku, did the Soviet Army intervene to briefly paralyzed and now disabled, and wres- of us who remain in the fight, and we fight in stop the seven-day massacre. tling with severe depression and PTSD. When his honor. Garry Kasparov was born in Baku in 1963. he returned home, he would travel to the local Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join His mother was Armenian. In 1985, he be- VA for treatment where he was issued a cane me in remembering Joel Packer. He was a came the youngest ever World Chess Cham- to use that never held up. So, he decided to true champion for education and his leader- pion. In January 1990, he was excelling in his make his own out of repurposed Christmas ship will never be forgotten. competitions, and ranked as the No. 1 chess trees. f player in the world. Yet in January 1990, he An effort that started out as a necessity bravely returned to Baku, into the midst of 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAKU three years ago has now grown to a team of massacre and carnage, to rescue and evac- POGROMS: REMEMBERING THE 60 volunteers who have made more than 220 uate the families of his friends and relatives. VICTIMS canes. Jamie says crafting these canes is his Describing those events, he has testified that: true calling and they have brought him back ‘‘No one would halt the Armenian pogroms from the brink of taking his own life—and he HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN in Baku, although there were eleven thousand has changed the lives of those around him. OF MASSACHUSETTS soldiers of internal troops in the city. No one I want to honor Jamie today and thank him IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES would intervene until the ethnic cleansing was on behalf of the 25th District of Texas for his Wednesday, February 12, 2020 carried out. The pogroms were happening not continued service to our nation. In God we in a random place, but in the huge capital city Mr. MCGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I rise trust. with blocks of flats. In such a megapolis as today in remembrance of the victims of po- f Baku, the crowd simply cannot carry out tar- groms against the Armenian population in geted operations like that. When the pogrom- HONORING THE LIFE OF JOEL then-Soviet Azerbaijan thirty years ago: These makers go purposefully from one district to an- PACKER attacks against Armenian Christians happened other, from one apartment to another, this between 1988 and 1990 in the cities of means that they had been given the address- Sumgait (February 27 to 29, 1988), Kirovabad HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO es and that they had a coordinator.’’ (November 21 to 27, 1988) and the city of OF CONNECTICUT I don’t mean to simplify the complex history IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Baku (January 13 to 29, 1990). It is clear that the pogrom of Armenians in and people of this region, but these pogroms Wednesday, February 12, 2020 Baku was not a spontaneous and one-time set the stage for more than two decades of aggression by Azerbaijan against Armenians, Ms. DELAURO. Madam Speaker, I rise event, but the culmination sofa series of ethnic today in honor of Joel Packer, a true hero for violence waged against Armenians. In 1988, during which Azerbaijan initiated and lost a education and a dear friend. the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, an eth- war against Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan’s Joel Packer is known across the education nic Armenian enclave forcibly separated from persecution of Armenians continues even community as a champion for education fund- Armenia and incorporated into Soviet Azer- today in attacks against Nagorno-Karabakh, ing. He spent more than 40 years advocating baijan, began to voice their demand for reunifi- now known as the Republic of Artsakh. for students both in the public and private sec- cation with Armenia. Their peaceful protests There has yet to be an independent inves- tor. Starting at the Student Association of the were reinforced by the February 20, 1988 vote tigation of the events that occurred between State University of New York, his career as an by the Soviet of People’s Deputies in 1988 and 1990 that emptied Azerbaijan of its advocate grew with his work in D.C. at the Na- Karabakh requesting the transfer of the region Armenian population. No one has been held tional Education Association, and most re- to Armenia. These events were taking place in accountable for the violence and the deaths. cently, The Raben Group and the Committee the context of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika Azerbaijan remains in turmoil because of the for Education Funding (CEF) before his retire- and Glasnost. Unfortunately, Moscow and Az- fanaticism and thirst to ethnically cleanse the ment in 2016. erbaijani authorities rejected these calls and entire region ofArmenian Christians. Joel worked on critical issues like education strong anti-Armenian sentiment was whipped The U.S. Congress forcefully spoke out dur- funding, higher education, environmental haz- up, including calls for the death and ouster of ing the period of 1988 to 1990 against these ards in schools, and civil rights. He was on the the Armenian population. massacres and expulsions of Armenians by front lines of the push to improve testing in No On February 27, 1988, a massive pogrom Azerbaijan. We have rejected the Azeri war Child Left Behind and was always there to re- was carried out in Sumgait where the Arme- against Nagorno Karabakh and stood in soli- mind us who we need to be prioritizing in the nian population was brutally slaughtered and darity with the Armenian people of Artsakh. Congress: our children and their education. expelled. The Sumgait pogrom was followed We will continue to do so. Joel championed the coalition of education ad- by a pogrom in Kirovabad, the second largest Madam Speaker, today I remember all the vocates at CEF and masterfully represented city in Azerbaijan, where all the Armenians victims and I honor all the survivors of these the interests of a diverse group of educational were expelled. After these tragedies, a mas- terrible acts of ethnic cleansing. May all the institutions. Joel led the CEF’s fight against sive migration of Armenians from Azerbaijan people of Armenia and Artsakh live in peace education budget cuts in 2015, never giving began, along with the migration of approxi- and freedom for which they have sacrificed up on his mission to ensure a genuine federal mately 200,000 Azerbaijanis and Muslim and suffered so much. investment in our children’s education. Kurds who exited Armenia. By 1989, Arme- Throughout his career, Joel’s dedication dem- nians remaining in Azerbaijan stayed only in f onstrated the kind of intensity and willingness those places where they had well-established PERSONAL EXPLANATION to collaborate necessary to win in the fight for communities, as in Baku. education. Moreover, his passion for education In January 1990, a series of Azerbaijan po- and bettering the lives of all students was litical rallies took place, and on January 13th, HON. HARLEY ROUDA clear. Joel was an expert when it came to a crowd of about 50,000 divided into groups OF CALIFORNIA education policy and the Appropriations proc- and began raiding and invading Armenian IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ess; he knew, and helped all of us learn, how homes, brutalizing the inhabitants, including Wednesday, February 12, 2020 good ideas and good policies are not good women and children, and destroying and burn- enough—not without the necessary resources ing houses, businesses and other community Mr. ROUDA. Madam Speaker, I missed to make a difference. structures. The rallying cry was to cleanse the votes on Tuesday, February 11, 2020 as I was I feel lucky to have known such a tremen- city of Armenians. The violence, killings, traveling after attending a memorial service in dous advocate for education in this country. rapes, beatings, looting and forcible expulsion my district. Had I been present, I would have Joel was many things—he was an amazing of Armenians persisted between January 13th voted as follows: Roll Call Vote No. 57 (On husband, a proud father and grandfather, an and 20th. It is still unknown the exact number Ordering the Previous Question): YEA; Roll inspiring mentor and colleague, and an un- of people killed, but estimates place the death Call Vote No. 58 (On Agreeing to H. Res. wavering friend. Joel was taken from us too toll around 450 people. Throughout it all, local 844): YEA; and Roll Call Vote No. 59 (On Mo- suddenly, and my deepest condolences go to militia and Soviet troops stood by as the vio- tion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. his family. We will miss Joel and his bound- lence escalated over a week’s time. Not until 1980, as Amended): YEA. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:42 Feb 13, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K12FE8.010 E12FEPT1 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with REMARKS.