Remembering Maragha

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YEREVAN, Armenia – On April 11th, The Political Science & International Affairs program of the American University of Armenia hosted a public talk to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the massacre of Armenians in the village of Maragha that was committed by Azeri forces on April 10th, 1992. The talk was led by former National Assembly deputy Larisa Alaverdyan, followed by the film screening of, “Maragha: April 10, 1992”, and a Q&A session.

The Maragha massacre never reached the world’s headlines, although the estimates of the actual number of people deceased ranged from 50 to 100. The village of Maragha was located in the Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, just across the border from the Azerbaijani town of Terter (oil-rich Mir-Bashir region), and was one of the region’s largest villages. The villagers, including women, children and elderly, were killed indiscriminately, and their houses were pillaged and burned.

“60 families living in Maragha were forced to be evacuated for the second time because of the recent military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh. After the Sumgait Pogrom, Azerbaijanis were waiting for a reaction from the international community. When they saw no serious accusation, they continued strategic massacres in Baku and Maragha. Starting from 2003 when Ilham Aliev became the President of Azerbaijan, we started to deal with a new society where anti-Armenianism and Armenophobia became a popular phenomenon”, said Larisa Alaverdyan.

Guest speaker Larisa Alaverdyan is former Armenian ombudsmen, and former deputy of the National Assembly (NA). She was born in 1943 in Baku. After graduating from the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Institute, she worked in Baku Children’s Home No.2, and thereafter in a school. In 1968, she moved to Yerevan and worked in various scientific research institutions. From 1998-2004, she was a member of the Council on Missing Persons, Hostages and Prisoners of War adjunct to the Ministry of Defense. From 2000-2003, she was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Human Rights. She was the founder of the Artsakh Union of Co-Patriots in 1988, where she serves as the executive secretary. Since 2012, Ms. Alaverdyan has been the Director of the Institute of Politics and Law of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. Ms. Alaverdyan authors many articles in the fields of human rights and international humanitarian law. She was also one of the authors of the documentary film, “Maragha: April 10, 1992”, the third film in the series “Standard Genocide”.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides US-style education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.