AYF D.C. "Ani" chapter protests Azerbaijan`s Genocidal Legacy at  Embassy rally 

ArmInfo. On Saturday, February 28, 2026, the Armenian Youth Federation - Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (AYF-YOARF) Washington D.C. "Ani" Chapter held a protest and commemoration outside the Embassy of Azerbaijan, marking the Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, and Maragha pogroms and condemning Azerbaijan's unbroken legacy of genocidal aggression against the Armenian people.  

Armenian-American activists and allies gathered to demand justice for the victims of those massacres,  accountability for Azerbaijan's 2023 genocidal ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, the immediate release of Armenian hostages, and a dignified,  safe, and collective right of return for Artsakh's forcibly displaced Armenian population.  

The protest took place as U.S. and Israeli forces launched major  military strikes on Iran. AYF "Ani" Chapter member Galy Jackmakjian  opened the program with a direct acknowledgment of the crisis before  turning to the day's demands."Our hearts are with the Armenian  community in Iran - and our eyes are on Baku and Ankara. Because we  know what opportunity looks like to them," said Jackmakjian.  

Jackmakjian then turned to the day's commemoration, naming the  pattern of Azerbaijani violence without equivocation. "Thirty-eight  years ago, in Sumgait, Armenians were hunted in the streets. Beaten.  Tortured.  Murdered. Sumgait was not an isolated incident. Neither  was Baku. Neither was Kirovabad. Neither was Maragha. The pattern of  erasure is clear," she said.  

The protest came one week after Azerbaijani security officers  attacked peaceful protesters in Washington outside the inaugural  Board of Peace meeting - a reminder, speakers said, that Baku's  contempt for democracy extends even to the streets of the U.S.  capital.  

"We remember our history because it contains lessons for the future.  The massacre of 1988 - this unforgivable crime carried out in cold  blood - must always remain a lesson for our Armenian nation. As we  mourn the lives of our martyrs, as we remember the innocent Armenian  souls stolen from this world by Azeri hands, let us honor the  Armenians lost in Baku by promising always to uphold justice," said  AYF Eastern Region Central Hai Tahd Council Chair U. Areni Hamparian,  in remarks presented in Armenian.  

Speakers were unsparing in their condemnation of Azerbaijan's  decades-long pattern of denial. "Now, Azerbaijan blames Armenians for  their own slaughter, in a trend of victim-blaming that unfortunately  has carried over to today. This perversion of reality is not just  offensive - it is very dangerous," remarked AYF "Ani" Chapter member  Alek Tekeyan. "History has shown us a clear pattern: violence,  followed by denial - suffering, followed by silence. Every time the  world ignores the truth, the door is left wide open for Azerbaijan or  anyone else to commit the next atrocity." 

The event drew sharp attention to Azerbaijan's ongoing crimes: the  illegal imprisonment of Artsakh's elected leadership, Armenian  prisoners of war and civilian hostages; the systematic destruction of  Armenian churches and cultural monuments in Artsakh; and Azerbaijan's  continued occupation of sovereign Armenian territory. Speakers called  on the United States to sanction the Azerbaijani regime and halt all  military aid to Baku.  

"The constant threat of erasure of an entire group of people should  make us terrified that the events that happened in Sumgait,  Kirovabad, and Baku could happen again - but this time, it could  happen to you, it could happen to us," stated AYF "Ani" Chapter  treasurer Arpa Shahnazarian. "If we do not demand justice for the  crime of ripping Artsakhtsi's from their homes, then we will never  earn justice for the crimes committed in 1988." 

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Government Affairs  Director Tereza Yerimyan called on Armenian Americans to translate  their community's grief into civic power. "Armenian Americans have  power - not just sentimental power, but civic power. We vote. We  advocate. We educate. We organize.  We build coalitions. We demand  that American leadership be measured not by speeches, but by deeds,"  stated Yerimyan. "Let our message be simple and unshakeable: we will  not accept a future where Armenian survival is bargained away by the  U.S. or by Armenia, where Artsakh is erased, where prisoners are  forgotten, where sacred heritage is destroyed, and where Armenians  are told to be quiet in exchange for 'stability.'" 

Protesters called on the United States and international institutions  to move beyond statements and deliver enforceable guarantees -  rejecting any peace framework that leaves Armenian prisoners behind,  legitimizes Azerbaijan's occupation of Armenian land, does not  guarantee the right of return of Artsakh's Armenians, or allows the  destruction of Artsakh's Christian heritage to continue unchecked.  

The program closed with a prayer led by Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian,  pastor of Soorp Khatch Armenian Church, who honored the memory of all  Armenians who have died defending the Armenian homeland against  Azerbaijani aggression. Fr. Aktavoukian also offered prayers for the  Armenian community in Iran amid the day's strikes, and called for  peace to return to the region. 

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the regional  council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast resolved to appeal  to the Supreme Soviets of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR to  secede from Azerbaijan and join Soviet Armenia, and to petition the  Supreme Soviet of the USSR for a positive resolution. A few days  later, Azerbaijan "reacted" to this decision in the city of Sumgait,  a symbol of the Soviet Union's internationalism. The right of Artsakh  Armenians to self-determination and to a safe and dignified life in  their homeland was being challenged by pogroms and violence committed  on ethnic grounds.

On February 26, anti-Armenian demonstrations began in Sumgait, with  slogans such as "Death to Armenians" and "Armenians, leave." To  incite hatred against Armenians, special provocateurs posing as  refugees from Kapan began operating in Sumgait, spreading false  rumors about alleged crimes against Azerbaijanis in Armenia. On the  evening of February 27, violent actions against the city's Armenian  population began. Special pogrom groups broke into Armenian homes  based on a pre-prepared list. During the massacres, telephones in  many Armenian apartments were disconnected, and the police  demonstrated criminal inaction, or, according to some accounts, even  complicity. The methods of carrying out the massacres were  characterized by inhuman cruelty. The Armenian population was  exterminated, killed, beaten, tortured, set on fire, raped, and  physically and psychologically harmed. On the evening of February 28,  Soviet Army units entered Sumgait, initially under orders to use  force and weapons against the pogromists. As a result, the  Azerbaijani side attacked Soviet military units, resulting in 140  wounded Soviet soldiers. Only on the evening of February 29 did army  units take decisive action, and the massacre of Armenians ceased.

According to official figures, 32 people (26 Armenians, 6  Azerbaijanis) were killed in the Sumgait pogroms, over 400 people  suffered varying degrees of bodily injury, approximately 200  apartments and over 50 cultural buildings were attacked and looted,  and over 100 vehicles were damaged. The organized trial of the  Sumgait pogroms and its "impartiality" left a number of questions  unanswered, one of which is the veracity of the death toll and  injuries. There are reports and data on the number of casualties and  injuries that contradict official figures.

The Sumgait pogroms resonated greatly with the Armenian public,  primarily associating these events with the Armenian Genocide  committed in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. The  pogroms against the Armenian population were genocidal in nature and  aimed to halt the development of the Artsakh movement and suppress  the right of Artsakh Armenians to self-determination. The Sumgait  pogroms of 1988-1990 were the first in a chain of mass and  large-scale crimes against Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR. The  central authorities failed to adequately assess the mass killings of  the Armenian population of Sumgait, portraying them as the actions of  "hooligan elements" and mass unrest. This was officially reflected in  the trial of the Sumgait pogromists, resulting in the failure to  identify and punish the organizers of the pogroms. This attitude  toward Armenian-Azerbaijani interethnic violence and the resulting  impunity played a significant role in the further expansion and  continuation of anti-Armenian violence in Azerbaijan.

Modern Azerbaijan continues the anti-Armenian policy of Soviet  Azerbaijan.

The most recent such manifestation was the attack on Artsakh and its  complete de-Armenization in September 2023. This was preceded by a  10-month blockade of the NKR. As a result of the Azerbaijani  aggression against Artsakh in 2020-2023, more than 150 thousand  Artsakh residents were left without a home and homeland.