Sumgait massacre commemorated in Georgia

February 28, 2011 - 11:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - On the initiative of the Armenian embassy in Georgia and the Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a number of events were held in Tbilisi to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian massacre in Sumgait.

A liturgy was served at St. Gevorg Church on Feb 27 morning. Afterwards, embassy officials and representatives of the Armenian community visited Khojivank Pantheon, where Armenian art workers and public figures were buried.

The 3-day rampage, carried out by Azerbaijani nationals in February 1988 left dozens of Armenians dead, a majority of whom were set on fire alive after being beaten and tortured. Hundreds of innocent people received injuries of different severity and became physically impaired. Women, among them minors, were abused. More than 200 apartments were robbed, dozens of cars were destroyed and burned, dozens of art and crafts studios, shops and kiosks were demolished, and thousands of people became refugees.

The Sumgait Pogrom

The Sumgait Pogrom was the Azeri-led pogrom that targeted the Armenian population living in the Azerbaijani seaside town of Sumgait in February 1988. On February 27, 1988, large mobs made up of Azeris formed into groups that went on to attack and kill Armenians in both on the streets and in their apartments; widespread looting and a general lack of concern from police officers allowed the situation to worsen. The violent acts in Sumgait were unprecedented in scope in the Soviet Union and attracted a great deal of attention from the media in the West. The massacre came in light of the Nagorno-Karabakh movement that was gaining traction in the neighbouring Armenia SSR.