Artsakh Parliament made statement on Sumgait pogroms

ArmInfo. The National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh in connection with the 30th anniversary of the massacre of the Armenian population in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, on February 28 adopted a statement on the Sumgait pogroms.

The statement reads: "On 27-29 February 1988, the Azerbaijani authorities carried out massacres and forced deportations of Armenian population of Sumgait city, located just 30 kilometers from Baku." The victims of the planned barbarity were hundreds of Armenians, mainly women, children and the elderly, thousands of Armenians were deported as a result of mass violence, and the property belonging to them was plundered. The crime committed in Sumgait was another manifestation of the policy of discrimination, ethnic cleansing and extortion of the Armenian population with the impunity of the Azerbaijani authorities in the Soviet era, as exemplified by Nakhijevan, which continued in Baku, Gandzak, and other Armenian- populated regions of Northern Artsakh. These barbarisms of the Baku authorities were threatened by the Armenians of Artsakh who rose up to defend their rights, turning the Eastern Transcaucasus into hostages of the Armenians. Meanwhile, the nationwide liberation struggle conducted in Artsakh these days was designed to put an end to encroachments on the national dignity of Armenians and the genocidal policy of the Azerbaijani authorities.

Respecting the memory of innocent Armenians who became victims of the genocide in Sumgait and being convinced that the impunity of the pogroms committed by the Armenian population at the state level led to new mass crimes and the unleashing by Azerbaijan of a war against the people proclaiming the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh condemns any discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, believes that official Baku continues to be the bearer of the genocidal the last evidence of which are the crimes committed against the civilian population of Artsakh in April 2016, confirms that the Republic of Artsakh will be consistent in the issue of restoring and protecting the rights of the Armenians of Azerbaijan who have been subjected to violence and deportation, calls upon parliamentary structures, international human rights organizations in connection with the 30 the anniversary of the mass pogroms of the Armenian population of Sumgait to condemn the acts of genocide committed by Baku against the Armenians of Azerbaijan. "

The pogroms of the Armenian population that occurred in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait from the evening of 26 to 29 February 1988 were the first mass explosion of ethnic violence in modern Soviet history. The Sumgait pogroms lasted three days and were accompanied by mass violence, looting and murder, which led to the first flows of refugees from Azerbaijan to Artsakh and Armenia. As a result of the three-day pogroms, dozens of people were wounded and 53 killed, some of them tortured to death, and their corpses were burnt. On February 29, the Soviet army finally entered Sumgait, which, however, did very little to protect the Armenian population.