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OTTAWA—The Armenian Youth Federation of Canada has organized a demonstration at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ottawa, on Friday, March 23, at 3 p.m. Hundreds of Canadian-Armenians from across the country will hold a demonstration voicing their concern over Azerbaijan’s ongoing aggression towards Armenians.

The government of Azerbaijan has actively continued a policy of hostility against Armenians; from exile and pogroms in the late 1980s, to the constant war-mongering rhetoric threatening to end the cease-fire with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. More recently, the planned destruction of Armenian Khachkars (cross-stones) in the Nakhichevan region, which are now declared as items of world heritage by UNESCO, proves to the world that Azerbaijan has been taking active steps towards erasing the memory of Armenians from their country.

The planned demonstration will also mark the 24th anniversary of the deadly pogroms of Sumgait, which took place February 27, 1988, and marked the beginning of a systematic campaign by Azerbaijan’s OMON Special Forces to use massacre and violence to forcefully uproot Armenians from Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. The Sumgait tragedy and its bloody repetitions in Azerbaijan, lasting through the years of 1988 to 1991, led to the disappearance of 450,000 inhabitants living in an established Armenian community in Azerbaijan.

The Armenian-Canadian community believes that peace in the region must be built on a solid foundation of truth and that Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence must be universally recognized. Furthermore, governments around the world must condemn Azerbaijan for their continued display of religious intolerance, aggression, and constant destabilization of the Caucasus.

The demonstration will take place at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ottawa, on Friday, March 23 at 3 p.m. The embassy is located at: 275 Slater Street, Suite 904, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H9.

Founded in 1934, the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada is the largest and most influential Armenian-Canadian youth organization in Canada, working to advance social, political, educational, and cultural awareness among Armenian-Canadian youth.