19 YEARS AFTER THE MASSACRES OF SUMGAIT
Tatul Hakobyan

"Radiolur"
28.02.2007 13:51

Why the Sumgait events occurred 19 years ago is still a matter
of dispute.

The perpetrators of the massacres were mainly common Azerbaijanis,
to put it in a Soviet way – the working class. However, up to now
it is not completely clear who incited the massacre of Armenians in
Sumgait. But one thing is clear: in Sumgait an attempt was made to
terrify Armenians and oppress the Karabakh movement.

Seven decades of Soviet history are full of bloody episodes, but
the events in Sumgait are unprecedented in many regards. First,
the massacres occurred at a completely peaceful period. Second, the
slaughter was of ethnic nature and not of political one, that is to
say Azerbaijanis were killing Armenians for being Armenian. Third,
the central and republican authorities of the Soviet Union were not
organizing the bloodshed themselves as it was the case in Tbilisi in
April 1989, but with their idleness they were inciting the working
class to carry out killings.

In the morning of February 29, when massacres were under way in the
city of Sumgait, the Political Bureau was holding a sitting in Moscow,
presided over by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev informed the Soviet political elite: "The measures we
undertook, including the messages to Armenia and Azerbaijan played
their role. Moments ago there were no less than half a million people
in the streets of Yerevan. In Karabakh a clash occurred between
Azerbaijanis and Armenians, two were killed. Leaflets distributed in
Yerevan were saying: Armenians, stop the meetings, take weapons and
oppress the Turks. We know there are extremist elements there. But
I should say that even when there were 500 thousand people in the
streets of Yerevan, the orderliness of Armenians was on a high level,
there was nothing anti-Soviet. The masses were marching, holding the
portraits of the Political Bureau. The topic of Karabakh’s joining
Armenia was touched upon in all speeches…"

Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov suggested announcing martial law
in Sumgait.

Mikhail Gorbachev informed the members of the Political Bureau that
there were already 14 victims in Sumgait, many were hospitalized:
"Now it is important to involve the working class in the fight against
those who breach public order."

On his return from Moscow on February 28, leader of the Communist Party
of Sumgait Jahangir Muslimzade assured the crown gathered in the centre
of the city that Karabakh will be never given to Armenia. However,
this assurance did not suffice the crowd. They told Muslimzade that
Armenians should be allowed to freely depart from Sumgait.

According to official data, 29 Armenians and 6 Azeris were killed as
a result of massacres in Sumgait, about 400 Armenians were wounded,
18 thousand became refugees. Only a small part of Sumgait Armenians
moved to Karabakh or Armenia.

Official of the Central Committee Grigori Kharchenko was impressed
by one fact: most of the Sumgait Armenians were wishing to leave
for Russia.

"None of the Armenians we spoke to expressed the will to leave for
Armenia. All of them were asking to let them move to Krasnodar,
Stavropol or Rostov regions.