Head of EU Delegation to Armenia expresses condolences to those who lost relatives in the Sumgait pogroms
ArmInfo. "I express my deep condolences to all those who lost relatives and friends 36 years ago in Sumgait," Head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Vassilis Maragos wrote on his Twitter (X) account.
"We all need to continue with strongest efforts to achieve reconciliation and a sustainable, lasting peace in order to make sure that such tragedies never happen again," the European diplomat wrote.
In response to the desire of the Armenians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to realize their right to self- determination, a wave of Armenian pogroms swept across Azerbaijan, accompanied by murders, violence and robberies of unprecedented cruelty.
The first victims of Azerbaijan's policy of violent suppression of the free will of the people of Nagorno- Karabakh were the Armenians of Sumgait, an Azerbaijani city located several hundred kilometers from Nagorno-Karabakh. The massacre in Sumgayit lasted three days, from February 27 to 29, 1988. In November 1988, the second wave of Armenian pogroms began in Azerbaijan; the largest of them occurred in Kirovabad, Shemakha, Shamkhor, and Mingachevir. During the same period, in November- December 1988, residents of 50 Armenian settlements of northern Artsakh - the mountainous and foothill parts of the Khanlar, Dashkesan, Shamkhor and Gadabek regions, as well as the 48 thousand Armenian population of Kirovabad (Gandzak) were also deported.
The massacres and final deportation of the Armenians of Baku in January 1990 were the culmination of the persecution, violence, pogroms and murders of the Armenian population in Azerbaijan in 1988-1990. They were illegally fired from their jobs and forcibly evicted from apartments and houses. There were beatings, public mockery and murder of Armenians. By January 1990, out of the 250 thousand Armenian population, about 35-40 thousand Armenians remained in Baku. For the most part, these were elderly, lonely, sick or low-income people who did not want or were unable to leave, as well as their relatives who did not want to leave.