While Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived side by side under Soviet rule, the collapse of the Soviet Union contributed to racialization and fierce nationalism, causing both Armenians and Azerbaijanis to stereotype each other, shaping respective sociopolitical discourses. Before, during and after the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the growth of anti-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijan sentiment resulted in ethnic violence, including pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan, as in Sumgait and Baku, and against Azerbaijanis in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, as at Gugark and Stepanakert. The incitement of hatred and promotion of hate speech is one of the main obstacles to creating the necessary conditions for a peace process.