Presentation of film ‘A century-long Genocide. The Black January of Baku’ held

The film ‘A century-long Genocide. The Black January of Baku’ has been presented.

The film was created under the Common Genocide project on the 25th anniversary of Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan.

Interviews with Armenian refugees from Baku in the United States feature the film. But a collection will be released this summer.

Marina Grigoryan, head of the Common Genocide project, said that the project was launched a year ago.

They tried to find Armenian refugees from Baku in the United States – 55,000 Armenian refugees are known to be residing in the USA now. 

“Turkey, and its successor Azerbaijan, continue their genocidal policy. Emotionally, it has been a most difficult project. People had to think back to what happened to them. Some of them refused, while others were grateful to Armenia for launching such an all-important project,” she said.

Larisa Alaverdyan, Executive Director of the Foundation Against the Violation of Law (FAVL) and joint scriptwriter of the film, said that the Armenian pogroms in Baku - which, after the Sumgait pogroms, were qualified as genocide by world leaders - were later consigned to oblivion.

“Not only those guilty remained unpunished, but also the matter was dismissed,” she said.

The Madrid principles do not contain a single word about the refugees. All the aforementioned problems should be raised at the government level as an issue on political agenda.

“This impunity is the result of our passiveness,” Ms Alaverdyan said.

The film has been translated into Russian and English, with translations into other languages planned.

The Armenian TV channel is to premiere the film on Tuesday.