Armenian Embassy: Sumgait was one of the first manifestations of  nationalism and the extremist position of Azerbaijan`s political  elite

ArmInfo. February 1988 was a turning point both for the further course of the  Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, and for the security, stability and further development of the South Caucasus. This is stated in the statement of the Armenian Embassy in Georgia, circulated in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Sumgayit pogroms.

The Armenian diplomatic mission recalled that in February 1988 the  Azerbaijani authorities reacted to the just desire of the Armenian  population of Nagorno-Karabakh to withdraw from the composition of  Azerbaijan, which was expressed by peaceful rallies, by the  organization of violence against the peaceful Armenian population, in  those cities of Azerbaijan where Armenians lived in large numbers.

"From that moment on, the development in the region was practically  predetermined - the escalation, which in Azerbaijan itself and in  Nagorno-Karabakh, later developed into attacks on civilians from  bandit groups that had been set up by the Azerbaijani authorities,  and then by the regular army. According to official data, 32 victims  of the Armenian pogroms continued for three days, and according to  independent sources - hundreds of Armenians.As a result of open  support and connivance the Serbian authorities with respect to the  insulting of the apartments and streets of the city were killed by  women, men, elderly people.Although 30 years later, when you read  horrific eyewitness accounts, it is impossible to get used to the  idea that a human being is able to act in this way with another  person , who yesterday was his neighbor, colleague, acquaintance, and  these days the most fundamental human right, the right to life, was  violated. People became targets and were killed because of their  nationality. The motto of the frenzied crowd was one: "The Armenian  has no right to life." And Soviet military units within their own  country took three days to get to Sumgait and put an end to these  atrocities, while it was enough for them even one night to reach the  country of the socialist camp of Eastern Europe and Afghanistan, "the  statement of the Armenian Embassy says. 

At the same time, the statement notes that even after 30 years from  these events, no answers have been given to the questions - who was  behind all this, who was directing the crowd and, for what purpose?   "Sumgait was one of the first manifestations of nationalism and the  extremist position of Azerbaijan's political elite." It became clear  that the hatred towards Armenians among the Azerbaijani society was  hidden only by the thin veil that was torn. Armenianophobia was also  directed against the historical and cultural values of the Armenian  people, as a result which in Azerbaijan was leveled with unique  monuments dating back many centuries, unfortunately, that wave of  violence, which began in Sumgait, was continued (in Ganja), and in  many other settlements, with a large Armenian population, The  European Parliament responded to the Sumgait massacre, which, in the  resolution adopted on July 7, 1988, qualified it as pogroms directed  against Armenians, in themselves a threat to security for In  addition, the European Parliament in its resolution condemned the  violence against Armenians and expressed its support for the demand  of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh for reunification with Armenia.  Two years later the European Parliament reacted to the Armenian  pogroms in Baku and adopted another resolution, in which it confirmed  this position,- Armenian embassy statement says.

The office also recalled that in July 1988, the US Senate approved  changes to the 1989 law on financial compensation for external  actions that related to Nagorno-Karabakh, which called on the Soviet  authorities to respect the legitimate aspirations of the Armenian  people and it was recorded that dozens of Armenians were killed and  hundreds wounded during the pogroms that occurred several months ago.

"Perhaps even more appalling than these atrocities was the fact that  both in Azerbaijan and the whole of the Soviet Union, the authorities  did all the concealment of the truth about Sumgait.This atmosphere of  impunity and permissiveness once again confirmed that behind these  pogroms there was a state The further development of the events  showed that the Sumgayit way of solving the problems became the main  one for the Azerbaijani leadership.In May, the forced deportation of  Armenians from Shushi began, in November a wave of Armenian pogroms  passed throughout Azerbaijan. Alas, the past 30 years after the  Sumgayit pogroms show that the style of action of the Azerbaijani  authorities has not undergone any changes, moreover, the continuous  Armenian-hate rhetoric, the preaching of hatred led to the  dehumanization of Armenians in the eyes of the Azerbaijani The  heroization of such a cold-blooded murderer as Safarov, the use of  artillery against innocent children during the four-day April war,  the brutal murder of the elderly and the maiming of the old rupov say  that crimes in the spirit of Sumgait have become part of the policy  of the Azerbaijani authorities. So long as the authorities and  society of Azerbaijan are not confronted with those tragic pages of  their history that are thirty years old, it will be impossible to  talk about security, peace and stability in the region, "the Armenian  embassy in Georgia summed up.