RA MFA issues statement on Armenian pogroms in Sumgait

ArmInfo.The RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued the following statement on the 38th  anniversary of the tragic events in Sumgait, Azerbaijan. 

"In these days of remembrance of the victims of the 1988 Sumgait  massacres orchestrated by Azerbaijani SSR forces, we honor the memory  of hundreds of Armenians who were killed. Around half a million were  forcibly displaced. Remembrance is not only about reflecting on the  past. It is a reaffirmation of our shared responsibility to uphold  human rights, reject hatred and hate speech in all its forms, while  working steadfastly toward reconciliation and lasting peace," reads  an X message by the RA MFA. 

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the regional  council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast resolved to appeal  to the Supreme Soviets of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR to  secede from Azerbaijan and join Soviet Armenia, and to petition the  Supreme Soviet of the USSR for a positive resolution. A few days  later, Azerbaijan "reacted" to this decision in the city of Sumgait,  a symbol of the Soviet Union's internationalism. The right of Artsakh  Armenians to self-determination and to a safe and dignified life in  their homeland was being challenged by pogroms and violence committed  on ethnic grounds.

On February 26, anti-Armenian demonstrations began in Sumgait, with  slogans such as "Death to Armenians" and "Armenians, leave." To  incite hatred against Armenians, special provocateurs posing as  refugees from Kapan began operating in Sumgait, spreading false  rumors about alleged crimes against Azerbaijanis in Armenia. On the  evening of February 27, violent actions against the city's Armenian  population began. Special pogrom groups broke into Armenian homes  based on a pre-prepared list. During the massacres, telephones in  many Armenian apartments were disconnected, and the police  demonstrated criminal inaction, or, according to some accounts, even  complicity. The methods of carrying out the massacres were  characterized by inhuman cruelty. The Armenian population was  exterminated, killed, beaten, tortured, set on fire, raped, and  physically and psychologically harmed. On the evening of February 28,  Soviet Army units entered Sumgait, initially under orders to use  force and weapons against the pogromists. As a result, the  Azerbaijani side attacked Soviet military units, resulting in 140  wounded Soviet soldiers. Only on the evening of February 29 did army  units take decisive action, and the massacre of Armenians ceased.

According to official figures, 32 people (26 Armenians, 6  Azerbaijanis) were killed in the Sumgait pogroms, over 400 people  suffered varying degrees of bodily injury, approximately 200  apartments and over 50 cultural buildings were attacked and looted,  and over 100 vehicles were damaged. The organized trial of the  Sumgait pogroms and its "impartiality" left a number of questions  unanswered, one of which is the veracity of the death toll and  injuries. There are reports and data on the number of casualties and  injuries that contradict the official figures.

The Sumgait pogroms resonated greatly with the Armenian public,  primarily associating these events with the Armenian Genocide  committed in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. The  pogroms against the Armenian population were genocidal in nature and  aimed to halt the development of the Artsakh movement and suppress  the right of Artsakh Armenians to self-determination. The Sumgait  pogroms of 1988-1990 were the first in a chain of mass and  large-scale crimes against Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR.

The central authorities failed to adequately assess the mass killings  of the Armenian population of Sumgait, portraying them as the actions  of "hooligan elements" and mass unrest. This was officially reflected  in the trial of the Sumgait pogromists, resulting in the failure to  identify and punish the organizers of the pogroms. This attitude  toward Armenian-Azerbaijani interethnic violence and the resulting  impunity played a significant role in the further expansion and  continuation of anti-Armenian violence in Azerbaijan.

Modern Azerbaijan continues the anti-Armenian policy of Soviet  Azerbaijan.

The most recent such manifestation was the attack on Artsakh and its  complete de-Armenization in September 2023. This was preceded by a  10-month blockade of the NKR. As a result of the Azerbaijani  aggression against Artsakh in 2020-2023, more than 150 thousand  Artsakh residents were left without a home and homeland.