Interview with Tomris Azeri, president of the Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA), the oldest grassroots organization of Azerbaijani Americans.
Q: Could you tell our readers briefly about upcoming events on Khojaly tragedy?
A: For the fourth year in a row, Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA) partnered with Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC) and other Azerbaijani- and Turkish-American grassroots and student groups to organize the 2011 Khojaly Memorial Week in North America. Khojaly memorial discussion panels are being conducted in Washington, DC, New York, Houston and San Francisco during the week of February 19 - 26, 2011. One successful event was already held in San Francisco on February 19th with the leading role Azerbaijan Cultural Society of Northern California (ACSNC).
Q: Has the attitude of American citizens changed to this tragedy, do they pay more attention to this in comparison with the situation a couple years ago?
A: The activity of Azerbaijani-Americans to raise awareness among all Americans about the Khojaly massacre is increasing every year. Awareness is a necessary component of recognition and remembrance of this tragedy. As a result, in the last two weeks, four U.S. Congressmen made statements in Congress, commemorating the 19th anniversary of Khojaly massacre. These statements are already available in Congressional record.
Q: Azeri Diaspora members have been informing US Congress and the Senate members about Khojaly tragedy. Are you satisfied with their responses?
A: ASA and AAC have joined the first Pax Turcica Capwiz legislative and media campaign to send letters about the Khojaly massacre to the U.S. Congress and local media. So far and over 1500 letters were sent there have been responses from several U.S. senators recognizing the tragedy. Pax Turcica Capwiz is a new system which started in February, so this is already a great achievement in a short period of time. More letters will be sent in coming days further increasing the awareness of Khojaly.
Q: Are there any chances for Khojaly tragedy to be recognized as a Genocide act some day by the Congress?
A: At this point, the primary objective of our campaign is to attract the attention of U.S. public officials to the fact that Khojaly massacre was a crime that was never properly investigated. The victims and perpetrators of this crime were never served justice. There needs to be an independent legal assessment of the case, just as it was done with other crimes against humanity, such as those in Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, and Darfur. Such legal assessment would determine a more concise legal definition of what took place in Khojaly.
As far as the Congressional recognition of the Khojaly massacre as an act of genocide, we believe that such conclusions can only be made by the experts of the International Court of Justice. U.S. Congress is not a proper venue for such decisions.
With that said, it is still important for our community to remind their representatives in Congress about the fact that Armenia continues to deny the war crime in Khojaly. U.S. Congress plays a great role in formulating the U.S. foreign policy, therefore our campaign asks the U.S. policymakers to pressure Armenian government to recognize its role in the Khojaly war crime and to fully cooperate in any further international investigation.
Leyla Tagiyeva
News.Az
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