Azerbaijan Responded to Peaceful Calls for Self-Determination in Artsakh with Mass Violence Against Armenians

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, made a post on his Twitter page regarding the 32nd anniversary of the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait. He notably stated: “We commemorate the memory of the innocent victims of the Sumgait massacres. 32 years ago, Azerbaijan responded to the peaceful calls for self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh with mass violence and massacres against Armenians. We pay our respects to their memory, pledging to prevent such crimes from happening again.”

The Sumgait massacre was a response to peaceful demonstrations by the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, who were demanding the realization of their constitutional right to self-determination. On February 29, the Soviet army entered Sumgait, but the Azerbaijani authorities had already done their work.

On July 7, 1988, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the Sumgait massacre. It noted the historical fact of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh being part of Armenia (with 80% of the region's population being Armenian) and the arbitrary decision to annex this region to Azerbaijan in 1923, as well as the massacre of Armenians in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait in February 1988, citing that due to the deteriorating political situation in Azerbaijan, there were mass killings and violence against Armenians in Sumgait and Baku, which made it dangerous for Armenians to live in Azerbaijan. The European Parliament condemned the violence and repression against Armenian protesters in Azerbaijan.”