In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new general secretary of the CPSU, implementing a planned reform of the Soviet Union. The two reforms were known as "perestroika" and "glasnost", the latter of which granted the freedom for Soviet citizens to express any grievances whereas the former allowed economic reform in the Soviet system. This came at a time when support for the integration of Nagorno Karabakh into the Armenian SSR was high, with the movement for this change dating back to a petition in 1963. Capitalizing on Gorbachev's policies, the leaders of the regional Supreme Soviet of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted in favor of separating itself from the Azerbaijan SSR and unifying with Soviet Armenia on 20 February 1988. A couple days later, Boris Kevorkov, who served as the unpopular First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, was fired by the Supreme Soviet. The actions of the Soviets saw the events at Sumgait to occur as well as marked beginning of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.