The Parliament of the Republic of Artsakh issued a statement on February 28, on the 30th anniversary of the massacre of the Armenian population of Sumgait.
The statement says in part:
“On 27-29 February 1988, atrocities against and the forced deportation of the Armenian population was carried out by Azerbaijani authorities in Sumgait, just 30 kilometers from Baku. Hundreds of Armenians—mostly women, children and elderly citizens—were killed in a pre-planned massacre; thousands more were forcibly deported and their properties were plundered.
“This crime committed in Sumgait was yet another manifestation of the policy of discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion of the Armenian population, which, following the example of Nakhijevan, was carried out with impunity by the Azerbaijani authorities during the Soviet period. These later continued in Baku, Gandzak (Kirovabad), and other Armenian settlements of Northern Artsakh. Through these atrocities, the authorities in Baku kept the Armenians of Eastern Transcaucasia hostage and threatened the Armenian population of Artsakh, who took a stand to defend its rights. The national liberation struggle, which was unfolding in Artsakh at the time, was launched put an end to the Azerbaijani authorities’ policy of genocide and its oppression of the Armenian people and their national dignity.”
On the same day, Armenia’s National Assembly issued a Statement on the 30th Anniversary of Sumgait Pogrom, which reads in part:
“Thirty years ago, the Sumgait pogrom was planned and perpetrated by the Azerbaijani authorities. The act was yet another manifestation of Azerbaijan’s consistent policy of extradition and extermination of the Armenian people from its cradle—a policy that has commenced since Azerbaijan’s establishment in 1918, through the massacres of 30,000 Armenians in Baku (1918) and 20,000 Armenians in Shushi (1920);
“This policy continued in the Soviet era through the forcible eviction of Armenians of Nakhijevan and other regions, as well as repressions against the Armenians of Artsakh. This process gained momentum, particularly with the massacres committed against the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, and Gandzak (Kirovabad) from 1988 to 1991, and, since 1991, with the large-scale aggression against Artsakh[…]”