Sumgait massacres on February 27-29, 1988

27 February, 2023

On 27-29 February, 1988 in response to the peaceful and lawful demanding struggle of the population of Mountainous Karabakh (Nagorno Karabakh) for their rights, massacre and forcibly deportation of the Armenian population were organized in Azerbaijani Sumgait, later in Kirovabad and Baku as well by the provocation of the authorities of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In the aftermath of the mass killings, the Azerbaijani cities once densely populated by Armenians were evicted and half a million fugitives lost their properties. According the statistics of the soviet sources before the mentioned massacres Sumgait had 18 thousand Armenian population, Baku 250 thousand and Kirovabad 48 thousand.
The mass killings perpetrated against Armenians were targeted to forcefully suppress the democratic and peaceful struggle of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to have a free and safe life in their historical motherland. The struggle commenced on February 1988 by the appeal of Council of People’s Deputies of Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) to the Supreme Councils of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic stating “ to acknowledge the aspirations and desires of the Armenian population of NK and settle the issue of replacement of NKAO in Armenian SSR administration instead of Azerbaijan SSR administration”. It had been a decision forced to the Armenians of Artsakh being subjected to discrimination and suppressions by the authorities of Azerbaijan SSR for decades.

Worth to mention:

The mass murders of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, Baku and other cities were pre-planned in state level by their nature.
Sumgait massacres were organized and called for by the local authorities, the police either contributed or had an endangered conduct.
Heroism of the perpetrators of the crime and leaving them unpunished were stimulus to perpetrate more atrocities.

The second wave of the Armenian massacres in Azerbaijan started in November 1988. The largest ones took place in Kirovabad, Shamakhi, Shamkhor and Mingechevir. The savagery, persecution, massacres and murders against the Armenian population in Azerbaijan during 1988-1990 reached its climax by mass murders and final expulsion of 250.000 Armenians of Baku in January 1990.

Not punishing and heroism of the perpetrators and organizers of the Armenian massacres of Sumgait and other Armenian populated cities of Azerbaijan have made grounds for Azerbaijani authorities in their highest level to exercise the anti-Armenian state policy.
The atrocities and mass crimes against Armenians by Azerbaijanis have been repeated in 27 September, 2020 against the Artsakh people during the unleashed large scale war and the following time periods.

Yet after three decades Azerbaijan is applying the same style against the justly struggle of the people of Nagorno Karabakh that is trying to settle the issue of Nagorno Karabakh by using force, the difference is that the murders of innocent civilians are being committed not by supervised mobs but by servicemen of Azerbaijan and are displayed in social media.

Now, Nagorno Karabakh, over than two months having been blockaded by Azerbaijan, facing the humanitarian crisis and ethnic cleansing the safety and securing the rights of the Armenians in Artsakh is an imperative. Pointing the above mentioned issues is one of the guarantees for a long term stability and peace in the region.

Hence, the unleashed large scale war against Karabakh in 2020 and its humanitarian consequences once again prove that reasons and dangers rooted in the decision of the Council of People’s Deputies of Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in 1988 are existing in the present day.

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