page_title: Sumgait pogrom
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Sumgait pogrom / Background
caption_attribution_description: File:Azerbaijan_map_Sumqayit-en.svg is a vector version of this file. It should be used in place of this raster image when superior. File:Azerbaijan map sumqayit.png File:Azerbaijan_map_Sumqayit-en.svg For more information about vector graphics, read about Commons transition to SVG. There is also information about MediaWiki's support of SVG images. Alemannisch&#160;| Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| বাংলা&#160;| Català&#160;| Česky&#160;| Dansk&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| Ελληνικά&#160;| English&#160;| Español&#160;| Eesti&#160;| Euskara&#160;| فارسی&#160;| Suomi&#160;| Français&#160;| Galego&#160;| עברית&#160;| Hrvatski&#160;| Magyar&#160;| Հայերեն&#160;| Italiano&#160;| 日本語&#160;| ქართული&#160;| 한국어&#160;| Lietuvių&#160;| Македонски&#160;| മലയാളം&#160;| Plattdüütsch&#160;| Nederlands&#160;| Norsk nynorsk&#160;| Norsk bokmål&#160;| Occitan&#160;| Polski&#160;| Português&#160;| Português do Brasil&#160;| Română&#160;| Русский&#160;| Slovenčina&#160;| Slovenščina&#160;| Српски / srpski&#160;| Svenska&#160;| ไทย&#160;| Türkçe&#160;| Українська&#160;| Vèneto&#160;| Tiếng Việt&#160;| 中文&#160;| 中文（简体）‎&#160;| 中文（繁體）‎&#160;| 中文（台灣）‎&#160;| +/− English: Map of Azerbaijan showing location of Sumqayit
context_page_description: The Sumgait pogrom was a pogrom that targeted the Armenian population of the seaside town of Sumgait in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in late February 1988. The pogrom took place during the early stages of the Karabakh movement. On February 27, 1988, mobs of ethnic Azerbaijanis formed into groups and attacked and killed Armenians on the streets and in their apartments; widespread looting and a general lack of concern from police officers allowed the violence to continue for three days.
  On February 28, a small contingent of Ministry of Internal Affairs troops entered the city and unsuccessfully attempted to quell the rioting. More professional military units entered with tanks and armored personnel vehicles one day later. Government forces imposed a state of martial law and curfew and brought the crisis to an end. The official death toll released by the Prosecutor General of the USSR was 32 people, although other estimates reach up into the hundreds of victims.
  The violence in Sumgait was unexpected and was widely covered in the Western press.
context_section_description: The city of Sumgait is located near the coast of the Caspian Sea, only thirty kilometers north of the capital Baku. It had been renovated in the 1960s and had become a leading industrial city, second after Baku by its industrial importance, with oil refineries and petrochemical plants built during that era. Its population in the 1960s stood at 60,000, but by the late 1980s it had swollen to over 223,000 (with an Armenian population of about 17,000), and overcrowding among other social problems plagued the city. While there was a high rate of unemployment and poverty among the Azerbaijani residents, the Armenians comprised mainly the working and educated sector of the town's population.
  The political and economic reforms that General Secretary Gorbachev had initiated in 1985 saw a marked decentralization of Soviet authority. Armenians, in both Armenia proper and Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed Gorbachev's reform program as an opportunity to unite the two entities together. On February 20, 1988, tens of thousands of Armenians gathered to demonstrate in Stepanakert's Lenin (now Renaissance) Square to demand that the region be joined to Armenia. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to join the Armenian SSR, a move staunchly opposed by the Soviet Azerbaijani authorities. Gorbachev rejected these claims, invoking Article 78 of the Soviet Constitution, which stated that republics' borders could not be altered without their prior consent. The vote by the Council and the subsequent protests were condemned also by the state-run Soviet media; however, they resonated more loudly among Azerbaijanis. As journalist Thomas de Waal wrote in his 2003 book on the conflict, after the appeal of the Council "the slow descent into armed conflict began on the first day."
caption: Sumgait (Sumqayit) is located about 30 kilometers (approximately 20 miles (32 km)) northwest of Azerbaijan's capital Baku, near the Caspian Sea.
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