The Sumgait Massacre: Prelude to Ethnic Cleansing in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Background and Context
The Sumgait Massacre refers to a brutal, state-enabled pogrom against the Armenian population of Sumgait, Azerbaijan, that took place from February 27 to 29, 1988. Occurring amid rising ethnic tensions in the final years of the Soviet Union, this massacre marked the beginning of a violent campaign of persecution against Armenians living in Azerbaijan. It also foreshadowed the full-scale war over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and the mass displacement and ethnic cleansing that followed.
Sumgait, a city located near Baku on the Caspian Sea, was home to a sizeable Armenian minority who had coexisted with the local Azerbaijani population for decades. However, nationalist rhetoric in Azerbaijan — coupled with growing resentment over Armenians’ calls for unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia — ignited violent anti-Armenian sentiment.
Events of February 1988
Following peaceful Armenian demonstrations in Yerevan and Stepanakert calling for self-determination in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani nationalist mobs in Sumgait began targeting Armenian residents. Over the course of three days, Armenian homes and apartments were burned and looted, and dozens of Armenians were raped, tortured, and killed — many burned alive or bludgeoned to death.
According to survivors and independent investigations, Azerbaijani authorities and Soviet security forces failed to intervene in time. In many cases, attackers operated with impunity, often using detailed lists of Armenian residents — suggesting premeditation and organized participation. Soviet authorities delayed intervention until the third day, when military forces were dispatched to impose martial law.
Casualties and Displacement
Official Soviet reports minimized the scale of the violence, claiming 26 deaths (mostly Armenian), but human rights organizations and eyewitness accounts suggest a far higher death toll and significant numbers of injured and missing. Over 18,000 Armenians fled the city, many abandoning all personal possessions.
The Sumgait Massacre triggered a wave of anti-Armenian violence across Azerbaijan, including similar pogroms in Kirovabad (Ganja) in 1988 and Baku in 1990, leading to the mass exodus of nearly 350,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan by the early 1990s.
International Reaction and Soviet Cover-Up
Despite being one of the first major ethnic pogroms in the late Soviet period, the Sumgait Massacre received limited international media coverage at the time. The Soviet government attempted to downplay the event, framing it as a spontaneous riot rather than a targeted ethnic massacre.
Few perpetrators were held accountable, and many trials were either closed to the public or led to light sentences. The failure to deliver justice contributed to deepening mistrust between Armenians and Azerbaijanis and paved the way for further violence.
Historical Significance
The Sumgait Massacre is widely regarded as the starting point of the modern Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and a precursor to the ethnic cleansing and genocidal actions that followed in the 1990s and again in 2020 and 2023. It is also seen by scholars and historians as an attempt to terrorize and expel Armenians from Azerbaijani territory — a continuation of anti-Armenian violence rooted in earlier 20th-century events, including the Armenian Genocide.
Legacy and Memory
To this day, the Sumgait Massacre remains unacknowledged and unrepented by the Azerbaijani state. In Azerbaijan, perpetrators have been hailed as national heroes, and the Armenian victims have been erased from the public record. Survivors and descendants continue to live in exile, many resettled in Armenia, Russia, and the Armenian Diaspora communities around the world.
The massacre stands as a critical reminder of the dangers of hate-fueled nationalism, unchecked propaganda, and the international community’s silence. For Armenians, it is not simply a historical episode but part of an ongoing pattern of denial, displacement, and destruction.
A Continuing Pattern of Violence
The Sumgait Massacre must be seen as more than a spontaneous outburst of mob violence — it was part of a broader, deliberate attempt to execute a modern-day Final Solution to the Armenian Question. As a Turkic nation with close historical and political ties to Turkey, Azerbaijan followed a familiar pattern of dehumanization, incitement, and organized ethnic violence. The events in Sumgait in 1988 reflect a continuation of the genocidal legacy that began in 1915, this time under Soviet cover and with modern political tools.
At the Armenian Genocide Museum of Canada, the Sumgait Massacre is remembered not only as a tragedy of modern Armenian history but as a continuation of the genocidal policies Armenians have endured for over a century. It forms part of a broader narrative of state-sponsored Armenophobia, which remains an urgent concern for human rights organizations and global policymakers today.