SLS 14RS-4074 ORIGINAL
Page 1 of 3
Regular Session, 2014
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 166
BY SENATOR MURRAY
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. Expresses sympathy in support of the families of victims
of massacres and atrocities perpetrated against the Armenian people in Azerbaijan.
A RESOLUTION1
To express sympathy in support of the families of victims of massacres and atrocities2
perpetrated against the Armenian people in Azerbaijan.3
WHEREAS, the Armenian populated area of Nagorno-Karabakh is located between4
the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan; and 5
WHEREAS, in 1920 the Soviet Union forcibly established control over the areas of6
Armenia and Azerbaijan; and7
WHEREAS, the Soviet Union created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast8
within Azerbaijan in 1923 and this region became a source of dispute between Armenia and9
Azerbaijan; and10
WHEREAS, in 1988, the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh peacefully demonstrated11
against Azerbaijan for the right of self-determination and individual freedom from repression12
and discrimination; and13
WHEREAS, in February 1988, in the seaside town of Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan14
a pogrom targeted the Armenian population when mobs composed of largely ethnic15
Azerbaijans formed groups which attacked and killed hundreds of Armenians on the streets,16
in their apartments in a situation that was allowed to continue by Soviet and Azerbaijan17
officials for three days before government forces imposed a state of martial law and curfew18 SR NO. 166
SLS 14RS-4074 ORIGINAL
Page 2 of 3
bringing the crisis to an end; and1
WHEREAS, the crimes committed against Armenians in Sumgait remain unpunished2
thereby opening the door for similar atrocities against the Armenian people starting in the3
capital Baku and spreading to other areas of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh; and4
WHEREAS, Azerbaijan seeks to avoid responsibility for the violence and atrocities5
by falsifying historical events and by portraying the involvement of Soviet troops to Baku6
to restore order on the seventh day of the Armenian atrocities as a crackdown on the alleged7
independence movement in Azerbaijan; and8
WHEREAS, it is well known that there was no large scale movement for9
independence in Azerbaijan due to the fact in a March 1991, referendum that more than 94%10
of the Azerbaijan constituencies favored preserving the Soviet Union; and11
WHEREAS, Azerbaijan continues to distort events of other atrocities, including the12
events in the village of Khojaly in which Azerbaijan troops fired on their own population13
and the deportation of Armenian villages in Nagorno-Karabakh.14
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana15
does hereby express sympathy in support of the families of victims of massacres and16
atrocities perpetrated against the Armenian people in Azerbaijan.17
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate requests that the President of the18
United States and the Congress exert all available influence on the government of Azerbaijan19
to cease the falsification of the historical facts and bring those in Azerbaijan who are20
responsible for the Armenian massacres in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, Maragha, Nagorno-21
Karabahk, and of the citizens of Khojaly.22
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution shall be transmitted23
to the President of the United States of America, the secretary of the United States Senate,24
the clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the Louisiana25
delegation to the United States Congress.26 SR NO. 166
SLS 14RS-4074 ORIGINAL
Page 3 of 3
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Thomas L. Tyler.
DIGEST
Murray SR No. 166
Express sympathy in support of the families of victims of massacres and atrocities
perpetrated against the Armenian people in Azerbaijan.