Sumgait: 24 years later
The blood of the Armenian population of the seaside town of Sumgait in Azerbaijan was shed in February 1988. The pogrom lasted from the 26th of February till the 1st of March 1988 when the Soviet Army proclaimed martial law and stopped the Azeris to do more damage to the Armenian population.
On February 27, 1988, mobs made up largely of ethnic Azeris formed into groups that went on to attack and kill Armenians both on the streets and in their apartments.
Our compatriots were destined to suffice the thirst of the enemy which was irritated by Artsakh's independence bid. Thousands of innocent people became victims of violence and vandalism.
Numerous films, videos and documents have survived depicting the Sumgait pogroms in minutest details. Even Azerbaijan's official media recorded the fact.
About one million Armenians gathered in the Yereblur (a hilltop in the outskirts of Yerevan) on March 8, 1988, to commemorate the victims of the Sumgait Massacre. Most of them were young people who soon realized that the Artsakh war requires sacrifices.
