sumgait։ pogroms against armenians in azerbaijan

1

SUMGAIT27-29 FEBRUARY 1988(Azerbaijan)

Th e city of Sumgait is just 30min drive from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. By 1988 around 18,000 Armenians used to live there.

February 27 – 29, 1988, the events that took place in this Azerbaijani city turned into another shameful reminder of failure to “Never again!” promise.

According to offi cial fi gures on the Sumgait pogroms, 27 Armenians were killed, hundreds became disabled and many went missing.

More than 200 residencies of local Armenians were looted. Allthe Armenian population of this town was deported.

However, the true scale of atrocities was withheld and stillremains unknown.

Th e photographs of the bodies of Armenians murdered in Sumgait are not published for ethical reasons.

Additional materials can be found on this websitewww.karabakhrecords.info

2

Offi cials and independent sources on “sumgait”

THE PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS ANDTHE SAVAGE ATTACKERS

“In February, aft er the fi rst demands of the reunifi cation of Nagorno-Karabakh were made at a Special Session of the NKAO Council of People’s Deputies, in the town of Sumgait 26 Armenians were mur-dered by rampaging Azerbaijani mobs in a tribal orgy which shocked the country. Azerbaijani police did nothing to prevent it.”SOURCE: “Nagorno-Karabakh is a test that perestroika might not survive”, Jonathan Steele, Th e Guardian, July 1988.

13 FEBRUARY 1988. Th e Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh hold a peaceful demonstration demanding the reunifi cation of the region with Armenia.

14 FEBRUARY 1988. Th e head of the department of Central Committee of Communist Party of Azerbaijan M. Asadov publicly announces that “one hundred thousand Azerbaijanis are ready to storm Karabakh at any time and slaughter” [the population there]. SOURCE: Aurora magazine, N10, 1988, Saint Petersburg , Russia

THOMAS DE WAALBritish Journalist, Leading Expert at the Carnergie Endowment forInternational Peace

“Gangs, ranging in size from about a dozen to more than fi ft y, roamed around, smashing windows, burning cars, but above all looking for Armenians to attack... Th e roving gangs committed acts of horrifi csavagery. Several victims were so badly mutilated by axes that their bodies could not be identifi ed. Women were stripped naked and set on fi re. Several were raped repeatedly.”SOURCE: Black Garden, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/new-sid_4651000/4651717.stm

3


“Th e breasts of two women have been cut off , another’s head, and a young girl has been skinned. Military trainees were passing out whenthey saw how the Armenian bodies’ had been tortured.” SOURCE: Shorthand notes dated 29 February 1988 from a session of the USSR Central Committee Bureau, published in ‘Rodina’ magazine, Issue 14, 1994, Moscow

26-27 FEBRUARY 1988.

In Sumgait, which is located hundreds of kilometres out of Karabakh, demonstrations were staged with the participation of the representa-tives of Sumgait authorities, under the slogan “Death to Armenians!”

DMITRY YAZOVUSSR Minister of Defense

VICTOR KRIVOPUSKOVWriter and Diplomat

“Th ey were killing people in their own homes, although they wouldoft en bring them out into the street or yard to publicly mock them. Occasionally, people died instantly when attacked with axes or knifes. But most were killed in torturous humiliation – they were beaten untilthey lost consciousness, or they were burned alive. Neither childrennor the elderly were spared.”SOURCE: Mutinous Karabagh, see http://armenianhouse.org/krivopuskov/kara-bakh/166-212.html#5)

4


“It is only the barbarians that can do this. Th ere was a woman whowas beaten up severely. Th en I saw dead bodies along the street. A bitfarther there was a naked woman lying, all in blood. It was very scary;I had never seen such things before. Th en I saw a guy trampling on a head of a live man”.

SOURCE: Minutes from a session of the USSR Supreme Court’s Criminal Investigationinto the events of Sumgait, October-November 1988, Moscow

It is a commonly held opinion that Sumgait was a response to the decision of the people’s deputies of Nagorno Karabakh adopted on February 20 1988 at the session of regional council formally requesting to transfer the oblast from the Azerbaijani SSR to the Armenian SSR.

But Sumgait is a demonstrable manifestation and continuation of consequent policy by the Azerbaijani authorities of discrimination, ethnic cleansings and the ousting of Armenian population.

Lola Avagyan, 27On February 29 aft er attack on her fl at she was taken out of her home; they undressed her, forced her to dance, poked her with knives, cut her breasts, extinguished cigarettes on her body, and raped.Lola Avagyan was 6th month pregnant.

“Th e brutality [of the rioters in Sumgait] was a painful contrast to themore peaceful demonstrations in Armenia.”SOURCE: Black Garden, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/new-sid_4651000/4651717.stm

THOMAS DE WAAL

5


On 29 February the pogrom-makers start to attack the Soviet soldiers.

Th e troops fi nally intervene and try to get the situation under control.

THOMAS DE WAAL

“THE ARMENIAN POGROMS WERE INSTIGATEDBY THE LOCAL MAFIA”

“Case evidence confi rms that, on 27-28 February 1988 in Sumgait, internal aff airs’ bodies were inactive – they were passive observers of a blatant breach of law and order, failing to respond to the numerousreports of rioting in the city, failing to take action against the killing and plundering of Armenians.”SOURCE: Minutes from a session of the USSR Supreme Court’s Criminal Investigationinto the events of Sumgait, October-November 1988, Moscow

“Th e young soldiers were under instruction from Moscow to fi re blanks rather than live rounds. Th e rioters threw Molotov cocktails and lunged with their sharpened metal casings at the soldiers, stab-bing them in the legs. A hundred or so soldiers were wounded.”SOURCE: Black Garden, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/new-sid_4651000/4651717.stm

6


According to offi cial fi gures on the Sumgait pogroms, 27 Armenians were killed, hundreds became disabled and many went missing. However, the facts indicate that the number of deaths was signifi cantly higher.

FIRST. Th e bodies of murdered Armenians were scattered around all the morgues of Azerbaijani towns and villages, which made it impos-sible to determine the real number of victims.

“Th e attackers had 70 cm long rods, with pieces attached, whichseemed to have been specially made for the pogroms. Th ere wereno police in town... the telephone lines were down... rocks had beenbrought... – those pogroms were not organised in the space of one day; they had been preparing for them for a long time.”SOURCE: Minutes from a session of the USSR Supreme Court’s Criminal Investigationinto the events of Sumgait, October-November 1988, Moscow

Irina Melkoumyan, 27 Was raped and taken out of her home naked. She was burnt alive aft er being cruelly tortured and humiliated. Irina was killed on February 29 together with her parents Soghomon and Raisa Melkoumyan and brothers Igor and Edik. All of them were subject to severe tortures and humiliation before death. Th ey all were burned.

“Th e speculations that the fi rst pogroms against Armenians in Azer-baijan were instigated by the local mafi a, which was controlled by former KGB chief G.A. Aliyev, are not far from reality.”SOURCE: Th e Gorbachev Conception, ‘Znamya’ magazine, 1989, Issue 6, Moscow

GEORGE SOROS, Philantropist

7


SECOND. Th e testimonies of people seeking the bodies of their rela-tives as well as the testimonies of medical workers confi rm the fact that in March 1988 there were hundreds of Armenian corpses in the morgues of diff erent Azerbaijani towns.

THIRD. Th e comparison and apparent inconsistency of fi gures in the Sumgait’s deaths registry also proves the fact of criminal falsifi cations with the aim of concealing the real number of people killed.

“IT HASN’T BEEN POSSIBLE TO ASCERTAIN THE REALNUMBER OF VICTIMS”

“Th e response to the tragedy that took place in Karabakh was the bloody events in the industrial town of Sumgait, where more than a hundred Armenians were killed in just one night.”SOURCE: “Heydar Aliyev. Th e Burden of Power”, a documentary fi lm, commissioned by Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Azerbaijan

ANDREI KONCHALOVSKY, Film Director

“In the space of three days, several hundred Armenians were killed. It hasn’t been possible to ascertain the exact death toll.”SOURCE: Mutinous Karabagh, see http://armenianhouse.org/krivopuskov/kara-bakh/166-212.html#5

VICTOR KRIVOPUSKOV

Juriy Avagyan, 52

Aft er attack on his fl at he was taken out into the street, beaten, cut into pieces and burnt on a fi re.

8


According to Mikhail Gorbachev’s instructions the mass killings (that took place) in Sumgait were qualifi ed as «acts of hooligan groups com-mitted with hooligan intentions».

Th us, a crime which was directed from an organised, unifi ed base was reduced to individual criminal cases, most of which were transferred to the jurisdiction of Azerbaijani courts.

Albert Avanesyan, 35

Valeriy Avanesyan, 31

Aft er being severely beaten brothers were killed in the street near their house.

9


Yersilya Movsesova, 86 years31 knife wounds were identifi ed on the body of the aged woman.

Only one of the eighty convicted was sentenced to death; the rest re-ceived prison sentences of a few years, many with parole. Most of the criminals were released in a few months.

Th e organisers of the crime have not yet been revealed.

“THE MOTIVE WAS HOOLIGANISM”

“Th ose responsible for inciting the pogroms (in Sumgait), are now inMilli Majlis [Azerbaijani Parliament] with parliamentary mandates intheir pockets.”SOURCE: “Zerkalo” Newspaper, Azerbaijan, 21 February 2003

ILIAS ISMAILOVAzerbaijan SSR Prosecutor General in 1988

10


“Th is massacre left dozens of Armenians dead, a majority of whom were set afi re alive aft er being beaten and tortured. Hundreds of inno-cent people received injuries of diff erent severity and became physi-cally impaired. Women, among them minors, were abused. More thantwo hundred apartments were robbed, dozens of cars were destroyed and burned, dozens of art and craft s studious, shops and kiosks were demolished. Th ousands of people became refugees.Th ese crimes were never adequately prosecuted by the government of Azerbaijan, and most of its organizers and executors were set free.”SOURCE: Statement to the US House of Representatives, 28 February 2006)http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=905

In nearly two years the portraits of Sumgait perpetrators appeared at rallies held in Baku with the words “Glory to Sumgait heroes!”

Armo Aramyan, 60 Arthur Aramyan, 25 Father and son were killed at the same time, the mother narrowly escaped death.

11


“Sumgait” has no expire date.

Th e non-recognition of genocide and impunity of its organizers is a crime in itself.

Azerbaijan should be responsible for the crimes it committed against humanity.

Emma Grigoryan, 58

Was taken out into the backyard naked, forced to sit on the bench, and then her body was burnt with cigarettes. Th en they raped her, broke the ribs and the head.

Firuza Melkoumyan, 70

She was savagely beaten, then her body was chopped to pieces with an axe. Her screams were heard all around the block, but nobody came to save her.

12


“SUMGAIT” STILL AWAITS ITS ASSESSMENT.

THE “NUREMBERG” FOR “SUMGAIT” IS STILL AHEAD.

“More than two years ago, active persecution against Armenians beganin Azerbaijan. Th e pogroms of Sumgait in February 1988 were followedby massacres in Kirovabad and Baku in November 1988. As recently as January 1990, the pogroms continued in Baku and other parts of Azer-baijan. Th e mere fact that these pogroms were repeated and the fact that they followed the same pattern, leads us to think that these tragicevents are no accidents or spontaneous outbursts.Rather we are compelled to recognize that the crimes against the Arme-nian minority have become consistent practice – if not consistent policy – in Soviet Azerbaijan”.SOURCE: An Open letter to international public opinion on anti-armenian pogroms inthe Soviet Union. New York Times, 27 July 1990

“If anyone was in doubt before Sumgait whether Nagorno-Karabakh should belong to Azerbaijan, then aft er this tragedy no one can havethe moral right to insist that it should.”SOURCE: Th e Letter to M. Gorbachev. “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, 27.10.1992г.

ANDREI SAKHAROVNobel Peace Prize Laureate

sumgait։ pogroms against armenians in azerbaijan

Documents