February 20, 2009 - 12:54 AMT
Karabakh Movement counts 21 years
21 years have passed since the beginning of Karabakh Movement. On 20 February 1988, the Council of People's Deputies of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast addressed to the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, Azerbaijan SSR and Armenian SSR a request for the transfer of the NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia.

The Azeri authorities responded to the request with massacres and pogroms of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku and operation Ring, which drove a half-million Armenian community out of its native land.

The people of Nagorno Karabakh showed resistance to the Azeri aggression, resulting in NKR Independence declaration on Sep. 2, 1990.