Anti-Armenian Amendments on Refugees to be Studied by the US Congress

The Judicial Committee of the US House of Representatives has included an amendment by Congressmen Steve Chabot and Stephen Cohen in its agenda related to displaced persons in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan.

According to the amendment, the Secretary of State, alongside the Secretary of Defense, will submit a report to the relevant Committees of Congress regarding the status of displaced persons in those countries. The report must include the number of citizens from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan who have been forcibly displaced from their illegally occupied territories by foreign forces since 1991.

According to the Armenian National Committee of America, the report deliberately omits hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled Azerbaijan as a result of pogroms in Sumgait and Baku. The amendment also fails to reflect Azerbaijan's violations of the ceasefire regime, including the recent aggression against Armenia. The Committee expressed dissatisfaction regarding the amendments.

From February 26-29, 1988, with the actual support of the Azerbaijani authorities and the silent awareness of the Soviet leadership, mass pogroms against Armenians took place in the Armenian-populated city of Sumgait (Azerbaijan SSR), during which, according to official data, 32 people were killed, and hundreds of Armenians were injured. Within a few days, 14,000 Armenian residents left Sumgait.

From January 13 to January 19, 1990, the Azerbaijani authorities organized and executed mass pogroms against the Armenian population in Baku. Approximately a quarter of a million local Armenians suffered violence and displacement due to their ethnicity, resulting in no Armenian population remaining in Baku. As reported by international human rights organizations, over 400 Armenians fell victim to violence.