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'{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = Sumgait Pogrom | image = Sumgaitrioting.jpg | image_size = 290px | caption = Images captured from a videotape show burnt automobiles and the massive throngs of rioters on the streets of [[Sumgait]]. | map = Azerbaijan | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | location = [[Sumgait]], [[Azerbaijan SSR]] | target = Local [[Armenians|Armenian]] population | coordinates = | date = February 26 – March 1, 1988 | timezone = | type = | fatalities = Official statistics: 32 (26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis) | injuries = Unknown | victim = | perps = | perp = | susperps = | susperp = | weapons = | numparts = | numpart = | dfens = | dfen = | footage = }} {{Campaignbox Nagorno-Karabakh War}} The '''Sumgait pogrom''' (also known as the '''Sumgait Massacre''' or '''February Events''') was a [[pogrom]] that targeted the [[Armenians|Armenian]] population of the seaside town of [[Sumqayit|Sumgait]] in [[Azerbaijan SSR|Soviet Azerbaijan]] during February 1988. On February 27, 1988, mobs made up largely of ethnic Azeris formed into groups that went on to attack and kill Armenians both on the streets and in their apartments; widespread looting and a general lack of concern from police officers allowed the situation to worsen. The violence in Sumgait was unprecedented in scope in the [[Soviet Union]] and received heavy coverage in the Western media. The pogrom took place during the early stages of the [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] movement. The official death toll released by the [[Prosecutor General of the USSR|Procurator]] General of the USSR (tallies were compiled based on lists of named victims) was 32 people (26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis), although some have revised this figure up into the tens and hundreds.<ref>De Waal, Thomas. ''Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War.'' New York: New York University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8147-1945-7, p. 40</ref><ref>Cornell, Svante E. ''Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus''. London: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-7007-1162-7. p. 82.</ref><ref>Remnick, David. "Hate Runs High in Soviet Union's Most Explosive Ethnic Feud." ''[[The Washington Post]]''. September 6, 1989.</ref><ref>[[Geoffrey Hosking|Hosking, Geoffrey A]]. ''The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, 2nd ed''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993, p. 475.</ref><ref>[[Peter Kenez|Kenez, Peter]]. ''A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, 2nd ed.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 272.</ref> On February 28, a small contingent of [[MVD]] troops entered the city and unsuccessfully attempted to quell the rioting. The situation was finally defused when more professional military units entered with tanks and other armored vehicles one day later. The forces sent by the government imposed a state of [[martial law]] in Sumgait, established a [[curfew]], and brought the crisis to an end. The event was greeted with astonishment in both Armenia and the rest of the Soviet Union since ethnic feuds in the country were largely suppressed and officially did not exist. In the seven decades of Soviet rule, policies such as [[Proletarian internationalism|internationalism]] and Soviet patriotism were promoted in the republics to avert such conflicts. The massacre, together with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, would present a major challenge to the reforms being implemented by then [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary]] of the Soviet Union, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]. Gorbachev was criticized for what was perceived as his slow reaction to the crisis and numerous [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] rose after the event. ==Background== {{main|Nagorno-Karabakh|Askeran clash}} [[Image:Azerbaijan map sumqayit.png|thumb|right|250px|Sumgait (Sumqayit) is located about 30 kilometers (approximately 20 miles) northwest of Azerbaijan's capital [[Baku]], near the [[Caspian Sea]].]] The city of Sumgait is located near the coast of the [[Caspian Sea]] and was perhaps one of the most polluted in the entire Soviet Union. Sumgait itself is only thirty kilometers north of the capital in [[Baku]], which has many oil refineries in the Caspian Sea. It had been renovated in the 1960s and had become a leading industrial city with oil refineries and [[petrochemical]] plants built during that era. Its population at that time was only 60,000; however, by the late 1980s, with an Armenian population of about 17,000, it had swollen to over 223,000 and overcrowding among other social problems had begun plaguing the city's residents. According to Soviet government officials, at least two thousand former convicts had been relocated to Sumgait during the 1980s.<ref>De Waal, Thomas. ''Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War.'' New York: New York University Press, 2003, p. 32. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7.</ref> Coincidentally, the issue of the region of [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] had resurfaced in the same period. The new General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev had introduced his new economic and political policies, [[Perestroika]] and [[Glasnost]], when he came into power in 1985. Glasnost that encouraged a general openness in discussing issues that were once considered [[taboo]] under the regimes of earlier Soviet leaders. However, it was these new opportunities that were used as the rationale by the Armenian Chamber of Deputies of the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh, who sought to revive the issue of the enclave's status, to vote to unify the [[autonomous oblast]] with Armenia on February 20, 1988. An autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR since 1923 with a large Armenian majority, many Armenians felt they were correcting a historical wrong, claiming that the region had been unjustifiably been granted to Azerbaijan.<ref>Kaufman, Stuart. ''Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War''. New York: [[Cornell University Press]], 2001 p. 49. ISBN 0-8014-8736-6.</ref> Led by popular Armenian figures such as economist Igor Muradyan, poetess [[Silva Kaputikyan]], and Glasnost-era writer Zori Balayan, a formal [[petition]] was sent to the Soviet government in order to redress the issue of Karabakh.<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', pp. 33, 57.</ref> A formal [[petition]] was sent to the Soviet government in order to redress the issue of Karabakh. Armenians had begun massive protests in the days before the Council's vote and workers had staged strikes in the Armenian capital of [[Yerevan]] and elsewhere, demanding that the region be transferred under Armenian control. The vote by the council and the subsequent protests were condemned by state-run Soviet media however; they resonated more loudly amongst the Azeris who felt that Nagorno-Karabakh was an integral part of their culture and history. Thereafter, the Azeris also launched counter-protests in Baku and elsewhere and strenuously objected to any alteration to their territory. Gorbachev would go on to reject the claims, invoking Article 78 of the [[Soviet constitution]] which stated that the Republics' borders could not be altered without prior consent. ===Radio broadcast=== [[Image:Sumgait city map.jpg|thumb|240px|A map of Sumgait shows a section of the city's apartment districts, notable landmarks, and main streets.]] Although the exact origins of the attacks are shrouded, like many events of Nagorno-Karabakh, there is evidence that government officials had foreknowledge or took part in the organization of the impending attacks.<ref>Kaufman, ''Modern Hatreds'', p. 52.</ref> On February 27, the Soviet Deputy Federal Procurator, Aleksandr Katusev revealed in a report that evening that was carried by Baku Radio and Central Television, that two Azeris, Bakhtiar Guliyev and Ali Hajiyev, ages 16 and 23, were purportedly killed by Armenians in a clash between the two ethnic groups in the [[Agdam Rayon|Agdam]] region of Karabakh on February 22.<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', p. 33.</ref> Katusev would later receive a stinging rebuke for revealing the nationalities of both the young men and the Armenians. The secretive nature the Soviet Union was still attempting to shake off had many Azeris interpret that Katusev's broadcast was most probably underreported. This apparently was the flare that set off the Azeris to riot in Sumgait. ===Rallies in Lenin Square=== Several minor rallies had also taken taken place in Lenin Square on February 26, the city's main plaza. On the streets, the issue of Karabakh was discussed incessantly and many Azeris aligned with the government's stance on Karabakh. At the end of January 1988 many Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia reached Baku, and most refugees were relocated to Sumgait's already overcrowded slums. Before the end of February, two more waves of refugees were to reach Baku.<ref>{{ru icon}} International NGO for Socioeconomic and Political Studies [http://www.gorby.ru/rubrs.asp?art_id=13941&rubr_id=173&page=1 The Gorbachev Foundation]</ref>{{Failed verification|date=July 2011}} A contributing factor to the growing animosity were reports of mass violence being committed{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} by Armenians in the largely Azeri populated towns of [[Ghapan]] and [[Masis, Armenia|Masis]], Armenia. The rallies also were attended by other officials including the principal of a middle school. The rhetoric by the [[Ghapan]] refugees incited the crowd and efforts to calm them by Azerbaijani figures such as a secretary of the city's party committee, Bayramova and poet [[Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh]], who addressed the crowd atop a platform, were to no avail. V. Huseinov, an Azeri and the director of the Institute of Political Education in Azerbaijan also attempted to calm them by assuring them that Karabakh would remain within the republic. Huseinov also stated that the refugees' claims were false; however, when attempting to convince the crowds of this, he was heckled with insults and forced to step down.<ref>[[Yuri Rost|Rost, Yuri]]. ''The Armenian Tragedy: An Eye-Witness Account of Human Conflict and Natural Disaster in Armenia and Azerbaijan''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990, p. 27. ISBN 0-312-04611-1.</ref> Jehangir Muzlimzade, Sumgait's first secretary also spoke to the crowd, in which he told them to allow Armenians to "leave the city freely." But according to witnesses, this message only agitated the crowd even further.<ref>Beissinger, Mark R. ''Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 300. ISBN 0-5210-0148-X.</ref> ==Pogroms== Shortly after Muslimzade's speech, he was given the republic's flag and soon found himself leading the crowd. According to Muslimzade, he was attempting to lead the crowd away from the Armenian district and toward the sea but many Armenians saw this act implicating him as being a participant in the riot. Muslimzade, however failed to lead the crowd in that direction and it soon dispersed into various directions of the Armenian district of Sumgait.<ref> It was not until after the rioting was over when Muslimzade admitted that he was unsure of how he should have handled the situation.</ref> Muslim women in the [[Caucasus]] also had a long time tradition of dropping their shawls on the ground as a gesture for men to abstain from participating in violence. Such efforts were made by some Azeri women in the corridors of the apartment but went largely unheeded by the men.<ref>Kaufman. ''Modern Hatreds'', p. 63.</ref> Thsi way there were stopped many violent acts. Many azeri families hide the armenian neighbours at home. ==Government intervention== [[Image:Sumgait police escort.jpg|thumb|270px|Military police escorting Armenian civilians out of the town.]] The Soviet government's reaction to the protests was initially slow. The contemplation of sending military units to impose [[martial law]] into the town was a nearly unprecedented act in the Soviet Union's history. Most Soviets could at most recount to the days of Second World War where such measures were taken by the government.<ref>"[http://www.newsday.com/ Soviets Impose Curfew After Riots]." ''[[Newsday]]''. March 2, 1988 p. 13. Retrieved December 30, 2006.</ref> The spirit of Glasnost had seen the Soviet Union more tolerant in responding to politically-charged issues. However, Soviet officials in Azerbaijan, some of whom were witnessing the attacks, appealed to [[Kremlin]] leaders to dispatch Soviet troops to Sumgait. The Soviet authorities not only failed in preventing bloodshed, but deliberately sought to create a conflict between the two communities, both in Armenia and in Azerbaijan. This was done through the control of the media, by spreading exaggerated and provocative statements on both sides, and by deploying criminals from Soviet prisons in Sumgait to initiate the pogrom.<ref name="Cornell">Cornell, Svante E. [http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/inside/publications/1999_NK_Book.pdf The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict]. Uppsala: Department of East European Studies, April 1999.</ref> In a Soviet [[Politburo]] session on the third day of the rioting (February 29), Gorbachev and his senior cabinet, conferred on several subjects before even discussing the events of Sumgait. When the issue was finally raised, Gorbachev voiced his opposition to the proposal of sending in troops but his cabinet members including the State's Foreign Minister [[Eduard Shevardnadze]] and [[Defense Minister]] [[Dmitry Yazov]], fearing an escalation between Armenians and Azeris, eventually persuaded him to do so.<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', pp. 38–39.</ref> By February 29, the situation had worsened to the point where the Soviet government was forced to call in more professional, heavily armed troops and given the right to open fire. The contingent was made up of elements from the [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]] Division of the [[Internal Troops]]; a company of Marines from the [[Caspian Flotilla|Caspian Sea naval flotilla]]; troops from [[Dagestan]]; an assault landing brigade; military police; and the 137th Parachute Regiment of the [[Russian Airborne Troops|Airborne Forces]] from [[Ryazan]] &ndash; a military force composed of nearly 10,000 men headed by a Lieutenant General Krayev.<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', p. 39.</ref> Additionally, tanks moved in and ordered to cordon off the city. Russian journalist for the ''Glasnost'' news publication, Andrei Shilkov, reported seeing at least 47 tanks and also troops wearing bulletproof vests patrolling the town, an implication that firearms were present and used during the rioting.<ref>Bortin, Mary Ellen. "[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html Witness Tells of Aftermath of Bloody Armenian Riots]." ''[[Seattle Times]]''. March 11, 1988. p. B1. Retrieved September 15, 2006.</ref> ==Criminal proceedings== Soviet authorities arrested 400 men in connection to the massacre and prepared criminal charges for 84 (82 Azerbaijanis, one Russian and one Armenian).<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', pp. 39, 43.</ref> Tale Ismailov, a pipe-fitter from one of Sumgait's industrial plants, was charged with premeditated murder and was the first to be tried by the Soviet Supreme Court in Moscow in May 1988. By October 1988, nine men had been sentenced, including Ismailov, who was sent to 15 years in prison with a further 33 on trial.<ref name="Keller">Keller, Bill. "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0713FC355F0C728FDDA10894D0484D81 Riot's Legacy of Distrust Quietly Stalks a Soviet City]." ''[[The New York Times]]''. August 31, 1988. Retrieved April 19, 2007</ref> Other sentences were more harsh: Akhmed Akhmedov was found guilty and sentenced to be shot by a firing squad for leading a mob and taking part in the murder of seven people.<ref>"[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Soviet Riot Leader Sentenced to Death]." ''The Washington Post''. November 20, 1988. Retrieved April 19, 2007.</ref> Most Armenians and Azerbaijanis were, however, dissatisfied with the trials. Armenians complained that the true instigators of the pogrom were never caught whereas Azerbaijanis stated the sentences were too harsh and were upset with the fact that the trials were not held in Azerbaijan.<ref>Kaufman. ''Modern Hatreds'', p. 65.</ref> Some Azerbaijanis even went on to campaign for the "freedom for the heroes of Sumgait."<ref>Kaufman. ''Modern Hatreds'', pp. 67, 205.</ref> ==theories== One of the prominent proponent of one of these theories was Azerbaijani historian and head of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences [[Ziya Bunyadov]], who claimed that the massacre had been premeditated by the Armenians to cast a negative light against Azerbaijan.<ref name="De Waal">See De Waal. ''Black Garden'', p. 42.</ref> In an article that appeared in the Azerbaijani journal ''Elm'', Bunyadov claimed that Armenians had organized the pogroms: "The Sumgait tragedy was carefully prepared by Armenian nationalists...Several hours after it began, Armenian photographers and TV journalists secretly entered the city where they awaited in readiness."<ref>{{ru icon}} Buniyatov, Ziya. "Concerning the events in Karabakh and Sumgait." ''Elm''. No. 19, May 13, 1989, p. 175. Excerpts of this text can be found in Levon Chorbajian; Patrick Donabedian; [[Claude Mutafian]]. ''The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh''. London: Zed Books, 1994, pp. 188–189. ISBN 1-85649-288-5.</ref> Bunyadov's thesis was hinged on the fact that Sumgait Armenians had withdrawn more than one million rubles from their savings before the attacks. To support his thesis, he had also drawn attention to the fact that one of the participants in the riots and killings was Eduard Grigorian, a man of mixed Russian-Armenian lineage who had three previous criminal convictions and pretended to be Azerbaijani citizen. Grigorian officially was a factory worker who took part in gang rapes and mass attacks and was subsequently sentenced to 12 years for his role in the massacres.<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', pp. 42–43.</ref> Grigorian had been brought up in Sumgait by his Russian mother following the early death of his Armenian father, and his ethnic identity is considered irrelevant since he appropriately fit the profile of a "''pogromshchik'', a thuggish young man, of indeterminate nationality with a criminal past, seeking violence for its own sake."<ref>De Waal. ''Black Garden'', p. 43.</ref> Davud Imanov, an Azerbaijani filmmaker, expanded on this theory in a series of films called the ''Echo of Sumgait'' where he accused Armenians, Russians and [[United States|Americans]] of conspiring together against Azerbaijan and claiming that Karabakh movement was a plot organized by the [[CIA]].<ref name="De Waal"/> According to [[CPSU Politburo]] member [[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev]], the Sumgait pogrom was arranged by KGB [[agents provocateur]] to "justify the importance of the Soviet secret services"<ref>{{ru icon}} [[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev|Yakovlev, Alexander N]]. ''Time of darkness'', Moscow: Materik, 2003, p. 551.</ref> ==See also== *[[List of massacres in the Soviet Union]] *[[List of massacres in Azerbaijan]] *[[Anti-Armenianism]] *[[Dushanbe riots]] ==Notes== {{Reflist|2}} == External links == *[http://sumqait.com/ sumqait.com] {{az}}, {{ru}}, {{en}} *[http://sumgayit1988.com/files/book.pdf Aslan İsmayılov. Sumqayıt – SSRİ-nin süqutunun başlanğıcı. Bakı: Çaşıoğlu. 2010. 204 səhifə. ISBN 978-9952-27-259-8] {{az}} *[http://sumgayit1988.com/files/book-en.pdf Aslan Ismayilov. Sumgayit – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR. Baku: Çaşıoğlu. 2010.] {{en}} *[http://sumgayit1988.com/files/book-rus.pdf Аслан Исмаилов. Сумгаит – начало распада СССР. Баку: Чашыоглу. 2010. 220 стр. ISBN 978-9952-27-276-5] {{ru}} *[http://sumgayit1988.com/files/cinayat1.pdf Уголовное Дело № 18/55461-88. Сумгаит. 1989. (I)] {{ru}} *[http://sumgayit1988.com/files/cinayat2.pdf Уголовное Дело № 18/55461-88. Сумгаит. 1989. (II)] {{ru}} *[http://www.sumlib.az/Sumqayit60.doc Həsənova Rəna, Cəfərova Nazxanım. '''Sumqayıt danışan tariximizdir.''' ''Sumqayıt şəhərinin 60 illik yubileyinə həsr olunmuş Biblioqrafik göstərici''. Sumqayıt-2009.] {{az}} *[http://sumgait.info/sumgait/sumgait-eng/sumgayit-victims-eng.htm Incomplete list of victims of the massacre] *[http://www.sumgait.az/ Azerbaijani perspective of the Sumgait events]. *[http://sumgayit1988.com/ sumgayit1988.com] *[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2970324.ece Vladimir Kryuchkov. Hardline Soviet Communist who became head of the KGB and led a failed plot to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev] {{Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict}} {{coord missing|Azerbaijan}} [[Category:Conflicts in 1988]] [[Category:Massacres in Azerbaijan]] [[Category:History of Soviet Armenia]] [[Category:Nagorno-Karabakh conflict]] [[Category:Anti-Armenian pogroms]] [[Category:1988 in Armenia]] [[Category:1988 in the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Sumqayit]] [[az:Sumqayıt hadisələri (1988)]] [[bg:Сумгаитски погром]] [[cs:Sumgaitský pogrom]] [[de:Pogrom in Sumqayıt 1988]] [[es:Pogromo de Sumgait]] [[eo:Pogromo de Sumgait]] [[fa:کشتار سومقاییت]] [[fr:Pogrom de Soumgaït]] [[hy:Սումգայիթի ջարդեր]] [[it:Pogrom di Sumgait]] [[pt:Pogrom de Sumgait]] [[ru:Сумгаитский погром]] [[simple:Sumgait pogrom]] [[sv:Sumgaitmassakern]] [[tr:Sumgayıt Pogromu]]'