Marina Grigoryan: Sumgait was the first message given to Armenians and the whole world

Alpha News spoke with Marina Grigoryan, deputy editor-in-chief of the ‘Golos Armenii’ newspaper and expert on Artsakh, about the bloody massacres in Sumgait.

When asked what the meaning behind the Mirzoyan-Bayramov meeting on February 28–29 was, Grigoryan noted that Azerbaijan, which loves symbolism, chose those days not by chance.

“We have seen how they love symbolism both during the 44-day war and after it. I believe that the Armenian side, having at least a little respect for the Armenians killed in Sumgait and other parts of Azerbaijan, should have postponed the meeting for at least 1-2 days.”

The expert noted that Sumgait was the first message given to Armenians and the whole world, that Azerbaijan proceeds with its main goal of continuing the genocide of Armenians that started at the beginning of the 20th century.

“Azerbaijan also wanted to show what will happen if Armenians continue their national liberation struggle for Artsakh. They wanted to show that they would flood Artsakh with blood,” the expert said.

Grigoryan added that the first response was the events of February 22, with a large number of Azerbaijanis marching to Askeran, trying to break through the Armenian resistance and reach Stepanakert.

“They didn’t succeed. Apart from innocent victims, we also had heroic episodes when we were surrounded by Azerbaijanis from all sides and showed strong resistance,” she said.

According to the expert, that crime did not receive the legal and political assessment it needed, but in July 1988, the Supreme Council of Soviet Armenia adopted a document that recognized the events of Sumgait as genocide and directly linked them to the events of 1915.

“It was an assessment that even the parliament of independent Armenia did not give later,” she added.